Seraphina - Rachel Hartman

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Series: Seraphina #1
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: July 10, 2012
Source/Format: Borrowed from the library || Hardcover

For decades, dragons and humans have managed to live in peace, thanks to a treaty that was formed years back. However, this does not mean that the humans trust the dragons... or vise versa. As the anniversary of the treaty draws nearer, tension and conflict start to arise. For Seraphina Dombegh, however, there is a whole lot more at stake - her secret could mean losing the life that she loves.

Seraphina is a remarkable, addicting debut novel that has easily become one of my favorites of this year. It is certainly no easy feat to attempt to find the words that can properly convey the awe and amazement I felt while reading this book, mostly because it was out of this world awesome (and yes, I believe that is a legit category on my blog).

While it would certainly be easier if I could just shove this novel at various people and go "READ IT. NOW." while giving them the "look", I am hoping that this review will convince you that this fantasy novel is definitely worth the time you'll spend reading it.

Obviously, the reason that I picked this book up in the first place was because it featured dragons. Dragons are probably one of my top favorite fantasy creatures, and it's basically an automatic reflex to check out any novel that features them prominently. The dragons in Seraphina certainly retain many of the qualities typical to a dragon - the ability to fly, breathe fire, the size, the draconian appearance. But there are also new things introduced, like their ability to morph into humans and their agreement with the humans that results in a semi-peaceful co-existence. This play on their qualities is certainly one of the most intriguing aspects of the novel, and it kept me interested from beginning to end.

As the title and synopsis suggest, Seraphina is our main character - and she's simply amazing. The challenges she faces as someone who is different from everyone else are so easy to relate to, especially in how heartbreaking they are. She is also supremely intelligent, sublimely musically talented and determined to do the right thing in any given situation. It was a joy to follow her journey - she might have started out being lonely and different, but by the end of the novel, she knew who she was and what she wanted to do with that knowledge.

Despite the number of pages, readers should not feel intimidated at all, because the story moves along at a perfect pace. There's a nice mix of action-packed scenes, more serious encounters and a little bit of romance here and there. It's certainly never boring, that's for sure. 

I honestly did not even realize how long it was until I was very nearly done with the book - it's that gripping. I love the way it was written, as there was such a lovely flow from word to word, from scene to scene, and it was easy to get caught up in this fantastic world the author created for us. It spoke to me of a musical influence, which was certainly liberally sprinkled into the story!

All in all, I highly recommend Seraphina as one of the best debut novels of this year. It's inventive, it's lovely, it's emotional, it's different. I absolutely loved this novel! I certainly will tote it as one of those books that I could read again and again, and I absolutely am dying to find out what happens in the next installment.