Saturday Pages: ARC Review of Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman!!

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!



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Friday Reads: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman!!

Hello there guys!

Friday is here and not unusually for me, it means I'll be working the weekend, but after seeing my apartment on Wednesday, I'm still in a planning high! I forgot to take pictures because I was crazy looking around, checking for flaws and measuring everything! What a twat!

To start this week's Friday Reads entries, I have a review that can be counted towards my 105 challenge in the Physical Books from my TBR pile catergory! I must thank LaLa from LaLa in the Library for letting me know about Shadow Scale being a Read it Now on Netgalley and that pushed me to finally start this one!

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had wanted to read Seraphina for quite a while because well, DRAGONS! And when thanks to one of my bloggy friends I got the eARC of the sequel, I knew it was the right moment to read it!

Seraphina is a wonderful fantasy novel, the perfect mix of historical fiction fantasy and the one full of magic, because once again, dragons!
It's got a brilliantly woven mix of medieval times with a strong emphasis on religion and the orthodox way of it, with saints and heretics and a strictly prejudiced society.

Dragons can shift into humans (so maybe we should call them weredragons) and they're now living in relative peace after a truce was reached between the human Queen and the dragon's leader some forty years ago. But there's still a lot of fear and mistrust and prejudice between the two races. Dragons think humans are beneath them because they are controlled by their emotions and humans think that dragons need to die because they're dragons. Excess of logic versus not enough of it.

In this lovely enviroment we have Seraphina, who discovers she is the only thing that both dragons and humans agree on, and that means her life would be in danger if her secret was discovered. She has rebelled against her father's wishes to have her hidden, and now she's living at court being assistant to the music master and being the Princess' music teacher.

Seraphina is both a study in human nature and how the differences and the unknown very quickly turns into a case of us versus them, as well as a murder mystery! It's also the journey of Seraphina to find her own place and realize about who she is and what her place in the world would be.

I loved Phina's journey of self acceptance and self knowledge and how she managed to make friends despite he need to keep people at arms lenght to keep her secret. In the end, she finds people to trust with the truth of who she is and those alliances and friendship become stronger for that.

The pacing of this book is more leisurely than neck-breaking, but it's not in any way boring or feels too slow, we need the time to absorb the detail in the world. It's such a rich and lush world building and so pieces are given here and there and everything ends up coming together very nicely and there are quite a few "aaahaaaa" moments.

The ending was both a closing of the murder mystery so there's enough of a closure, but there's also enough unresolved threads to ensure we'll want to return to this world in the sequel! I'm just very happy that I didn't have to wait as long as the people that read Seraphina when it originally came up for the sequel!

Very well deserved 4 stars and perfect for any fantasy lover!



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Tell Me Tuesdays #26!!

Tell Me Tuesdays is a meme/feature created by the awesome ladies of Please Feed The Bookworm and La La In The Library, where we can share how we choose the book we are currently reading from our TBR pile!

I'm always curious about that, cause as much as I tend to make myself a rough schedule for books to read and the like, I'm quite a mood reader and sometimes I just HAVE to ignore my schedule and read something else!

 The Boy Next Door by Katie Van Ark

Maddy Spier's been in love with the boy next door forever. As his figure skating partner she spends time in his arms every day. But she’s also seen his arms around other girls—lots of other girls. How can she make him realize that they can be partners off the ice as well? Gabe’s relationship with Maddy is vital. He can’t imagine skating with anyone else, and together they have a real chance at gold–maybe even making it to the Olympics! So he’s decided to think of her as a sister. After all, family is forever, but he’s never dated anyone for more than two weeks. Then their coach assigns a new romantic skating program, and everything changes. Will this be the big break that Maddy’s been hoping for or the big break-up that Gabe has always feared?

 Pointe by Brandy Colbert

Theo is better now.

She's eating again, dating guys who are almost appropriate, and well on her way to becoming an elite ballet dancer. But when her oldest friend, Donovan, returns home after spending four long years with his kidnapper, Theo starts reliving memories about his abduction—and his abductor.

Donovan isn't talking about what happened, and even though Theo knows she didn't do anything wrong, telling the truth would put everything she's been living for at risk. But keeping quiet might be worse.

 Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

In her New York Times bestselling and Morris Award-winning debut, Rachel Hartman introduces mathematical dragons in an alternative-medieval world to fantasy and science-fiction readers of all ages. Eragon-author Christopher Paolini calls them, "Some of the most interesting dragons I've read in fantasy."

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

The Boy Next Door is this month's book for The Reader's Lounge Book Club and I've just read the first 10 chapters but so far I really like it! I'm loving all the ice skating terms and the ballet references! Pointe is this month's Alyssa Recommends book and again with all the ballet references it's got points with me already! This one is gonna be a tough book to read because of the topics. And Seraphina is historical fantasy with dragons, although slow but VERY fascinating!

So what are you all guys reading and how and why did you decide to pick up that book? Shiny new ARC? Comfort read? Scheduled for review? Must have new release? Tell me!!