Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Review and Giveaway: Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman

Series: Seraphina #2
608 p.
Publisher: Random House Children's
Published: 3/10/15
Source: ARC from publisher for review
The kingdom of Goredd: a world where humans and dragons share life with an uneasy balance, and those few who are both human and dragon must hide the truth. Seraphina is one of these, part girl, part dragon, who is reluctantly drawn into the politics of her world. When war breaks out between the dragons and humans, she must travel the lands to find those like herself—for she has an inexplicable connection to all of them, and together they will be able to fight the dragons in powerful, magical ways.

As Seraphina gathers this motley crew, she is pursued by humans who want to stop her. But the most terrifying is another half dragon, who can creep into people’s minds and take them over. Until now, Seraphina has kept her mind safe from intruders, but that also means she’s held back her own gift. It is time to make a choice: Cling to the safety of her old life, or embrace a powerful new destiny?
My thoughts:
 I enjoyed the first book, Seraphina, but I think I ended up enjoying this one even more. The worldbuilding continues in this book and the worlds, both inner and outer, get even more detailed. I really loved traveling along with Seraphina.

Seraphina also comes much more into her own. The growth continues and she really questions ambitions and wants in a new way. She learns to discard things that were once a crutch to get through life and have now become a hindrance. We also see her reevaluate her idea of a utopia for half dragons. She finds that she never even considered how the others would view her utopia. I loved this growth in her. We also see that while the outer changes occur, they only anticipate the inner changes within everyone. It is a new world for dragon and human kind.

My only complaint is the romance. It doesn't quite live up to everything going on and I really didn't like how the romance was "solved" in the end. However, since it is a minor subject to the adventure at hand, it didn't bother me as much as it may bother some. The scope of the whole tale seemed to outweigh my need for romance in this book.

I give this book 4 1/2 stars. I enjoyed the first but this one really gave me more of what I craved. Answers take a while to get to but they are there! We not only see our heroine have inner growth but almost everyone she meets. I highly recommend this series to those that want to get into fantasy and those that already love it. It is a great story for the YA and adult crowd.

Giveaway!
The publisher has allowed me to give away this book to one lucky person! The giveaway is open to those in the US and CAN only. Just fill out the rafflecopter form below to enter. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

30 comments:

  1. That's always so exciting when the follow up book is even more entertaining/enjoyable.

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  2. So glad you loved this Melissa! I struggled with it a touch more than I did the first book, and I think part of it was that it had been so long since I'd read Seraphina, it took me a while to settle back into this world. The romance was a bit of a disappointment for me as well, but I know that's because I like the romance to be a bigger element if it's going to be present at all. Still, the worldbuilding was astounding and I can't wait to see what Rachel writes next!

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    1. I can see that. I read them back to back. :) I also loved the worldbuilding and think it was the duology's strong suit.

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  3. Loving the cover. Despite what sounds like a romance that didn't quite hit the mark this sounds like a great read.

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    1. I love the cover too! The romance was my only real quibble.

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  4. I'm so glad you enjoyed this one more, Melissa! I didn't have the same experience but I love Seraphina's relationships with those around her and her growth arc is phenomenal. Wonderful review, dear!

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  5. Oh good, it sounds like book two is stronger making me think I will pick them up. I was waiting for your thoughts :)

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    1. It was for me, but not everyone. Still, even those that didn't have the same experience still seemed to really enjoy the book.

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  6. Yay! So happy you loved this one too! I agree about the romance, but I was satisfied that this was the way the characters would have logically taken things. And OMG that ending was amazing. :-)

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    1. Still not my kind of romance solving, but yea, I can see why they did that. Still... LOL Did love the ending!

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  7. It's been so long since I read the first book that I have forgotten so much. But I'm hoping that when I read this it'll come back to me.

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    1. I was lucky enough to read it back to back. Might have to do a reread. :)

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  8. I struggled a bit with the first one, but it sounds like this one is better. I am disappointed about the romance. I have a copy and I just need to convince myself to read it.

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  9. I've read the short prequel story Seraphina: The Audition, and I really liked it, and I have Seraphina on my TBR pile to read soon. So I'm looking forward to more in this series. :D

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  10. this series sounds fantastic! Thanks for sharing!

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  11. Really loving the covers of these books and looking forward to reading them both! Thanks for the giveaway! :)

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  12. It's great that you were able to read all the books like that! Too bad for the romance but it don't seem to be really disappointed s eeing your rating so I confess that I'm curious. thanks for the review!

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  13. I have heard so many great things about these books. Honestly I do not know why I have not picked them up yet, as I am a HUGE fan of anything with dragons in it <3 Thank you so much for the chance to win and feed my addiction :)
    Rafflecopter: Elizabeth Holme

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  14. So I haven't read my copy of Seraphina, but I might as well have both, right?? Glad this one cleared up some of your questions from the world building of the first book. Is this the last in the series or are there more. Guess I need to investigate. Bummer on the romance though. Love to have a good romance but if the story is strong, I can live without it.

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  15. I really enjoyed the first book and look forward to reading this one.

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  16. Sweet! I'm glad this was such a strong sequel. I'm looking forward to starting the first one.

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  17. Yay for the second book being even better! So rare!

    Karen @For What It's Worth

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  18. I just got my hands on the first one, so I'm going to have to read it first. But you are making me think I'll enjoy both of them.

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  19. I would love to win this! Part Dragon - Part Girl! Genius!

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  20. This sounds like a fantastic book!

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Thanks for commenting! I ❤ comments!