Review: Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman

Favorite Quotes:

"Such was the contrarian nature of Tess--especially against Seraphina--that she would have tossed out ten babies and drunk their bathwater rather than take a hint. She would have cut off someone else's nose and swapped it with her own, the better to spite everybody's face. She would have walked twenty miles backward through a snow storm for a bowl of bitterness if there were a proverb about that--and maybe even more so if there wasn't. The proverbs were going to have to keep up with Tess. She outstripped them at every turn." ~ p. 84

"Even though she knew, or thought she knew, that the little quigutl was humoring her, Tess clasped a hand to her heart (she felt it beating even through Florian's jacket) and wished with all her might. Not for the classical piratical standbys--vengeance, fame, or fortune--but that she might shed the past like a skin and walk on with nothing, empty and new. The breeze tickled her newly shorn scalp, as if in answer. It seemed a good sign. She would walk on one more day." ~ p. 152

Synopsis:
Tess of the Road picks up a few years after the events of Shadow and Scale. It is set in the familiar world of Seraphina--with dragons who can take human form and the quigutl (a subspecies of the great dragons that have hands instead of wings). Our intrepid heroine is Tess Dombegh, the younger half sister of Seraphina, who has a cameo role in the novel. Tess's story is very different from Seraphina's. Tess is troubled, prickly, and refuses nearly all of Seraphina's attempts to help her. She may be very young, but she has already lived through quite a lot. Her backstory unfolds slowly throughout the novel, though it's clear from the beginning that she is viewed as "ruined" or a fallen woman by her family, especially her mother. Finally, with the help of a new pair of boots from Seraphina, Tess does exactly what she needs to do--run away from home. She is joined by her childhood friend, a quigutl, Pathka, and together they set off to find one of the World Serpents--part of quigutl storytelling and mysticism, but Tess believes in Pathka and his dreams of the giant serpent. On the road, Tess will find more than giant serpents. She will find pain and hunger, embarrassment, but also kindness and understanding, until she will eventually find her calling and herself.

My Two Cents:
This book features some heavy subject matter (not that Seraphina or Shadow Scale did not, but Tess much more so than the other two). You can tell right away that Tess is someone who has known great loss--and eventually her story is told. I appreciated the slow revelation of Tess's devastation, her out of wedlock, teenage pregnancy, the loss of her baby, and her realization that she is strong enough to keep moving no matter what has happened to her or what she has done in the past. One thing I could not get off my mind while reading this book was the connection to another Tess--Tess of the D'Urbervilles. At first I thought there would be no other connection besides the very tenuous similarity in the title and the application of "fallen woman" to the main character, but more and more similarities popped up as I read on. However, I will say that this is definitely not a straight retelling of Tess of D'Urbervilles. It seemed more like Hartman creating a new Tess to reclaim some of the themes of previous one and setting it in the world of the great dragons, quigutl, and giant serpents. Maybe if Hardy's Tess had had a talking, reptilian, childhood friend and a half-dragon older sister, things would have gone a bit better for her. Also...there was no reiteration of Angel Clare for our Tess of the road. THANK GOODNESS. (Unless you count Brother Jacomo, who is not a love interest, but like Angel skips out on seminary).
All in all, I absolutely loved Tess and her story. Hartman deftly weaves sorrow and loss into a tale of adventure and talking reptiles.

Up next I will be reading The King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo. I can't wait to return to the world of the Grisha! Nikolai was one of the more intriguing side characters of the Grisha trilogy, so it will be interesting to now follow the thread of his own story.

Review: Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman

**Note: all of my reviews have some spoilers**

Favorite Quotes: 

"'And you?' she said, leering. 'What do you do?'
'I do what I have always done,' I said, suddenly realizing the truth of it. 'I reach across and bring the worlds together.'" ~p. 581-2

"We produced the most unholy cacophony, like fighting tomcats or the blast furnaces of the Infernum, The music brought tears to my eyes, not because it was teeth-grindingly dissonant but because they were all so swept up by it. They reached for each other as they sang, with hands and tails--one wrapped around my ankle--and with their crooning notes. If I closed my eyes, I could hear what they were doing, tendrils of sound curling and responding to each other, like pea shoots spiraling around a stake....This was art, quigutl art, and in some oblique fashion it was what I'd been looking for, what Dame Okra had once mocked. I'd found my people and they weren't even mine." ~p. 427

"'Soft-mouthed Mootya, you mean,' said the serving girl in Goreddi...'If you expect us to roar at each other, you'll be disappointed. We've transposed Mootya into sounds our soft mouths can make, but it's the same language.' Kiggs was enough of a scholar to know this already, but he bowed his head politely. The girl stared at him, her eyes bulging, 'That's why you know our names for things, like Tanamoot or ard,' she continued unnecessarily, 'whereas in hard-mouth Mootya, ard sounds like this,' She threw her head back and screamed. The circle of saarantrai, who'd been chatting together, went silent. 'You're screaming at a prince of Goredd,' said Ikat, crossing the lawn and taking the girls by the shoulders as if to lead her away, 'It's all right,' said Kiggs, trying to smile, 'We were discussing linguistics.'" ~p. 349-350


Synopsis:
Shadow Scale is the sequel to Seraphina and chronicles her journey across the continent to find the other half-dragons that she has been able to see in her "garden" and in visions all her life. Seraphina is running out of time to find her own kind and finding them is not easy--half-dragons technically shouldn't exist and must essentially remain in hiding except for in the city-state of Porphyry where they are accepted and/or revered. Seraphina sets out to find them all for the mounting war effort between the Old Ard (a group of extremist dragons that wants to wipe out humans, half-dragons, and any tolerant dragons) and the Southlands--apparently they can make together what is called St. Abaster's trap, which would repel the attacking dragons and save many lives. However, she is also looking for each of them to hopefully connect, to find the family and acceptance that she never knew--always living in fear of being discovered. Seraphina's journey takes her through the Southlands and Porphyry and even Tanamoot. What she does not account for is the one half-dragon she never wanted to find. Jannoula--who had invaded her mind as a child and has now begun to control the minds of the other half-dragons and everyone Seraphina loves and cares for. Seraphina must save her world not only from the extremist group, but from an enemy within--an enemy that dresses herself in light and sets herself up as a Saint. To do this, Seraphina must change her way of thinking about her own mind and unleash powers she was never aware of before.


My Two Cents:
The world of Seraphina, continued and expanded in Shadow Scale, is truly one of the most interesting and compelling fantasy worlds centered around dragons that I have ever read. Goredd, the other countries, their history, culture, and languages--are all fascinating. My absolute favorite characters in this sequel were the quigutl (essentially they are a techie, lisping, lizard-like, sub-species of dragon and wholly adorable). I wouldn't mind reading a quigutl novella. I enjoyed Seraphina's journey through the world immensely and her constant, continual struggle against Jannoula (Abdo's as well). I loved the transformation of Seraphina's "garden of grotesques" to the living breathing inhabitants, rather than the avatars, and their stories. And of course, I just love the dragons--Ardmagar Comonot, Eskar, the hatchling Brisi (featured above in the quote about the dragon language Mootya). My only complaint is that the writing and plot weren't quite as tight as Seraphina. Well, with a 587 page book I know that may be a tall order. Maybe it was just me, but I felt like there could have been enough material in there to split it and make it two books--and then maybe we could have seen a bit more of Tanamoot, the quigutl, and the other fabulous places/people that Seraphina meets. I have to say that the final showdown between Jannoula and Seraphina and the other half-dragons was epic. It's not every day that I giant metallic slug (?) saves the day, but that's Goredd for you!

Next up, I have decided to read Rachel Hartman's latest, Tess of the Road, which was nominated for a Hugo. I can't wait! (Hoping for more quigutl!)