I was given an advance copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
After having read Seraphina and really was impressed by Rachel Hartman's world-building, I looked forward to reading a continuation of Seraphina's story. However, I was not as impressed with the second book as I was the first, for several reasons.
Although Hartman's world-building does continue in this second book, the reader is left with many more questions than answers. The "inside-out house" solution to Seraphina's mind-garden problem, for instance, was unsatisfying, as the problem seemed more complex than what could be so easily fixed.
Indeed, the root of my issue with this novel was that things were wrapped up so neatly and quickly. I did not go into this book thinking this was the end of the story, and was extremely disappointed to find out that this second book was the conclusion, and not the second book in a trilogy. There should have been much more detail about the dragon battles, more about how the half-dragons all worked together after Jannoula was out of the picture, more about Seraphina's relationship with the Prince, more about Pandowdy and their sainthood--just more. Instead, things were hastily wrapped up in a couple of chapters that left me wanting more story and more answers.
As a comment on some of the solutions, I disagreed with the author's solution for the royal relationship, and the idea that Seraphina was to always be a mistress or part of a threesome (not sure what the solution implied, honestly), did not give Seraphina the respect and truly happy ending all her own that I felt her character deserved.
As a middle school librarian, there is little in this title that would prevent me from stocking this book; however readers should note there are mild homosexual references and a couple of chaste kisses between same sex characters.
After having read Seraphina and really was impressed by Rachel Hartman's world-building, I looked forward to reading a continuation of Seraphina's story. However, I was not as impressed with the second book as I was the first, for several reasons.
Although Hartman's world-building does continue in this second book, the reader is left with many more questions than answers. The "inside-out house" solution to Seraphina's mind-garden problem, for instance, was unsatisfying, as the problem seemed more complex than what could be so easily fixed.
Indeed, the root of my issue with this novel was that things were wrapped up so neatly and quickly. I did not go into this book thinking this was the end of the story, and was extremely disappointed to find out that this second book was the conclusion, and not the second book in a trilogy. There should have been much more detail about the dragon battles, more about how the half-dragons all worked together after Jannoula was out of the picture, more about Seraphina's relationship with the Prince, more about Pandowdy and their sainthood--just more. Instead, things were hastily wrapped up in a couple of chapters that left me wanting more story and more answers.
As a comment on some of the solutions, I disagreed with the author's solution for the royal relationship, and the idea that Seraphina was to always be a mistress or part of a threesome (not sure what the solution implied, honestly), did not give Seraphina the respect and truly happy ending all her own that I felt her character deserved.
As a middle school librarian, there is little in this title that would prevent me from stocking this book; however readers should note there are mild homosexual references and a couple of chaste kisses between same sex characters.
