Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

The setting is reminiscent of Renaissance Europe, and it is about dragons. Rachel Hartman puts an interesting spin on dragons, that they can have a human form. There is a peace between the dragons and the humans; however the humans view the dragons as malicious and evil and not to be trusted. They stick to themselves humans and dragons ever really crossing. However one young girl named Seraphina is half human half dragon, she lives among the humans but must hide that she is part dragon as she would not be accepted.  She has scales on her torso and arm that is the only signs of her dragon side and she cannot make them go away. Another thing about Seraphina is that for some unknown reason she has this ability to enter into a part of her mind which she calls a garden. There are people in this garden which she once feared but now accepts. She has no idea who they are or even if they are real all she knows that if she doesn’t attend to this garden and keep the people inside calm it can bring her great pain. The story is about how she hides and the difficulties that she faces. As the book progresses you start to learn more about the people in her garden and who they are and what it all means. The peace that is between the dragons and humans is ripped apart when a royal prince was murdered. The humans blame the dragons. Seraphine feels drawn towards this investigation and tries to help, and tries to unveil the truth behind the murder. As she searches she unveils a much darker plot then just a murdered prince but one that can threaten the entire kingdom. Discovering the truth has put her own life in danger and is now a fight to survive and to stop the terrible plans that they have for the kingdom, all while trying to keep her secret safe.

This book is a very interesting take on mythical creatures, it explores a new world that none has seen before. I Admire Hartman’s creative thinking and how she was able to create this world and keep it so engaging. None of it felt too over done, she managed to pull together a great book with many different and interesting characters. Hartman is a skilled writer and has defiantly proved herself in this book.

Something that I liked about what this author did is at the back off the book she has put a sort of glossary that lists all the important characters, who they are their role in the story, and it also has the places that are mentioned in the book, so you are able to know what the place is while reading and are able to refresh on characters if you have forgotten, it is quite clever.