Hello guys!
Happy Saturday! I'm having the weekend off and I'm hoping to catch up on some reading and writing some reviews because as of late I've been rather busy with things about the apartment, with visits to the bank, getting estimates for the kitchen... and I wasn't very much in the mood to read!
Today as the first Saturday Pages entry I have a review of an eARC that I got thanks to my friend Linda from La La In The Library because she let me know that this one was as a Read It Now on NetGalley!
As a book for review it counts towards my 105 Challenge in my books for review category!
Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Being lucky enough to grab this eARC as a Read It Now on NetGalley was the push I needed to finally read Seraphina, the first book in this (so far) duology and loved it.
Shadow Scale is a very interesting sequel and one that I ended up really enjoying even if I had to stop reading for a while. Once I reached 35% I hit a part where my dear Seraphina was missing some really obvious clues about something, and that quite bothered me. It took me a while to get back to the book but once I got back to reading and passed that point, I got hooked on the narrative, world building and the fantastic characters once again.
I must confess that I felt the book was a lil slow sometimes, not so much through the traveling in search of the other half-dragons and where we get introduced to Goredd's neighbouring countries and we explore their differences in customs and leyends and religion... but the way the plot and pace slows down while Seraphina tries to figure out anything that involved Jannoula.
I love me a great villain, and Jannoula IS a great villain, and I understand that for Phina it is very hard to be her usual analytical self when it comes to Jannoula given their past history and how very manipulative and what a great strategist she is. Like Phina, there were occasions when I felt bad for her, but it was really frustrating when it seems that Jannoula is progressing her plans and no one seems to even think of something that could be done!
I adored that we got more world building and information about the saints and I love that I guessed a twist just a paragraph before it was revealed, and that's always rewarding, because you feel like you guessed the twist before it's revealed but not too early or you'll end up feeling irritated.
The rest of the half-dragons where quite fascinating and I was glad to meet each one of them and see how they differed from their corresponding avatar in Phina's mind garden. All of them felt very well crafted and had a very unique voice. And seeing the changes once Jannoula entered the picture gives you an even bigger sense of urgency to figuring her plan.
I loved that the romance was mostly equally as subtle as it was on book one, even if there is a certain resolution of the so called love triangle that we have in the series. And I love how unconventionally it was done and how it avoided all the cliches!
And another thing that I absolutely loved was how it included all kinds of diversity and how well it handled how differences can be both unite us and segregate us, and how we need to see the potential of those that are not like us, instead of treating them as inferior because we fear them.
Well worth reading despite that snag at the beginning. Very well deserved 3.5 to 4 stars to this final book! Although I've heard that there might be companion books with other secondary characters!
View all my reviews
Happy Saturday! I'm having the weekend off and I'm hoping to catch up on some reading and writing some reviews because as of late I've been rather busy with things about the apartment, with visits to the bank, getting estimates for the kitchen... and I wasn't very much in the mood to read!
Today as the first Saturday Pages entry I have a review of an eARC that I got thanks to my friend Linda from La La In The Library because she let me know that this one was as a Read It Now on NetGalley!
As a book for review it counts towards my 105 Challenge in my books for review category!
Shadow Scale by Rachel HartmanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Being lucky enough to grab this eARC as a Read It Now on NetGalley was the push I needed to finally read Seraphina, the first book in this (so far) duology and loved it.
Shadow Scale is a very interesting sequel and one that I ended up really enjoying even if I had to stop reading for a while. Once I reached 35% I hit a part where my dear Seraphina was missing some really obvious clues about something, and that quite bothered me. It took me a while to get back to the book but once I got back to reading and passed that point, I got hooked on the narrative, world building and the fantastic characters once again.
I must confess that I felt the book was a lil slow sometimes, not so much through the traveling in search of the other half-dragons and where we get introduced to Goredd's neighbouring countries and we explore their differences in customs and leyends and religion... but the way the plot and pace slows down while Seraphina tries to figure out anything that involved Jannoula.
I love me a great villain, and Jannoula IS a great villain, and I understand that for Phina it is very hard to be her usual analytical self when it comes to Jannoula given their past history and how very manipulative and what a great strategist she is. Like Phina, there were occasions when I felt bad for her, but it was really frustrating when it seems that Jannoula is progressing her plans and no one seems to even think of something that could be done!
I adored that we got more world building and information about the saints and I love that I guessed a twist just a paragraph before it was revealed, and that's always rewarding, because you feel like you guessed the twist before it's revealed but not too early or you'll end up feeling irritated.
The rest of the half-dragons where quite fascinating and I was glad to meet each one of them and see how they differed from their corresponding avatar in Phina's mind garden. All of them felt very well crafted and had a very unique voice. And seeing the changes once Jannoula entered the picture gives you an even bigger sense of urgency to figuring her plan.
I loved that the romance was mostly equally as subtle as it was on book one, even if there is a certain resolution of the so called love triangle that we have in the series. And I love how unconventionally it was done and how it avoided all the cliches!
And another thing that I absolutely loved was how it included all kinds of diversity and how well it handled how differences can be both unite us and segregate us, and how we need to see the potential of those that are not like us, instead of treating them as inferior because we fear them.
Well worth reading despite that snag at the beginning. Very well deserved 3.5 to 4 stars to this final book! Although I've heard that there might be companion books with other secondary characters!
View all my reviews
I am so happy you liked this because part of running out of steam with Seraphina was because reviews were saying that Shadow Scale was even more difficult to get through than Seraphina (you know I am taking a break from it). I have new found vigor to get them read now. Do you think it will be just a duology? Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteI had to take a break from Seraphina too, but I devoured it in two big chunks, so pull through!
DeleteAnd yeah, it's a duology as far as I know, but the author said in an interview at The Midnight Garden that she plans to write more companion novels, with secondary characters as the main characters!
Great review Pili :D I really loved this book. <3 But aw, I understand why you had some issues with it :\ Probably. Maybe. I had none, hah, but yeah. I'm sorry you didn't love it :\ but glad you loved a lot of it, even so :D And yess. I loved how the romance ended. <3 Thought it was pretty amazing :) Thank you for sharing your thoughts about it sweetie. <3
ReplyDeleteI liked it loads, it just felt a lil slow at times, but I loved a lot of things in the book!
DeleteThank you sweetie!
I was a tad let down by this one. I had waited SOO long after Seraphina I had entirely too high of expectations. And I got a bit bored. I hate it when that happens. I agree that the world was very interesting and I liked meeting the new characters. I think we felt about the same on it Pili
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was both interesting and boring at the same time!
DeleteI've heard great things about this series and I really need to read it. The characters and romance sound wonderful, I mean Seraphina being a dragon herself sounds fantastic. But too bad this one was a tad slow! Hopefully the next one will meet your expectations. Great review Pili!
ReplyDeleteI hope so too, Jeann! I hope you'll read Seraphina and Shadow Scale and like them!
DeleteI NEED TO READ SERAPHINA!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYESSSS!! DANA.... DRAGOOONS!!
DeleteHmmm, I'm glad you liked this one. I liked Seraphina when I read it (like fifty years ago when it first came out), but I can't see myself reading this one. I was excited when it was announced that there would be a sequel but... at some point, I lost interest LOL. Maybe someday.
ReplyDeleteFantastic review, Pili!
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!
We can talk about some interesting information in the book at some point if you want, but if you're not particularly interested... it is a book that can feel a bit slow, so you better want to read it!
DeleteThank you Alyssa!
Ooh, so good to see the sequel is as good as the first book! I honestly cannot wait to get my hands on this one... I want it badly <3
ReplyDelete