Reviews with content warning for Grief - Seraphina

Glorious—soaring like a iridescent dragon against a moonlit sky or a sheer harmony resolving at the crescendo of an epic score. Seraphina is an incredible protagonist who might live in a fantasy world based on medieval times, but she faces the same ghastly, unfounded biases which plague our world today. Being an ityasaari in Goredd is analogous to being queer or transgender today—reviled for no reason, only for who you are, something which you cannot control and which should only ever be a source of pride. Rachel Hartman’s prose is both so technically brilliant and poetically marvelous that I kept wondering if she was an ityasaari to be able to write with such skill. Music is not really expounded upon so much in novels, so for this novel to revolve around a music mistress is quite refreshing. Seraphina Dombegh is also simply hilarious, and her cast of friends, rivals, and colleagues is a joy. Some of my favorite lines were…

I was half lawyer; I always noticed the loopholes.

So funny.

“Can I attain that level of petty vindictiveness?”

I aspire to.

As fascinating as this polite, courtly aggression was…

So fascinating.

He did not know the truth of me, yet he had perceived something true about me that no one else had ever noticed. And in spite of that—or perhaps because of it—he believed me good,believed me worth taking seriously, and his belief, for one vertiginous moment, made me want to be better than I was.

So relatable.

“There are two sacred causes in this world,” he said, holding up his pinkie and ring finger. “Chance and necessity. By chance, I was there to help when you had need.”

Beautiful.

For the first time, I understood the point of dancing. I was so used to music being the vehicle for expression, but here he was speaking to me not with his mind but with his body: I feel this music in my very blood. This is what it means to be me, right here, right now, solid flesh, ethereal air, eternal motion. I feel this, and it is true beyond truth.

Incredible, so poetic.

We were all monsters and bastards, and we were all beautiful.

Dame Okra Carmine is a gal! She is the greatest, and I love her and her refusal to tolerate anyone else’s nonsense so much! Her sort of grandmotherly disapproving relationship with Seraphina is fascinating as well. Her unique power is so captivating.

I love the unique supernatural almost-magic characteristic of Seraphina’s garden, Dame Okra’s stomach, Abdo’s agility, and Lars’s mechanical brilliance which are born of dragon blood.

But regardless of the supernatural elements present, the dichotomies are so omnipresent in our world. Please read this and remember how diversity makes us more incredible, that monsters and bastards are wonderful, and no love is a disease.

Content Warnings

silver_valkyrie_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

2022 Re-Read:
Bumping this up to 4.5 stars as I still enjoyed this very much on re-reading it. Though, it was almost like reading it for the first time again because of my terrible memory...

Ready to finally read the sequel now that I remember the first book! (And how the sequel goes may retroactively affect how I feel about the ending of this book...)

Edit: AND I'm dropping the rating back down a bit now. After reading the sequel I can't recommend the duology to anyone, and unfortunately, while this story is still enjoyable, it's incomplete on its own.

Original Review:
An enjoyable and engaging story over all, I especially enjoyed the unusual Spock-like take on dragons. It did fall prey to one of the classic blunders of writing a romance where one person is already in a relationship, but in the end I *mostly* liked how that was handled. I'm definitely planning to read the companion book.

There's enough content to caution younger readers, but nothing graphic. Sex is referenced several times, always in an indirect or veiled way, though sometimes the implication is quite dirty. Nudity is mentioned, never described. Same with kisses, they happen, but with little detail. There is implication of a homosexual couple. There is some violence, danger, injury, and even death, but the descriptions stay basic and don't go overboard on detail.

Content Warnings

mxrumphius's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

obviousthings's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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