Shadow Scale (Seraphina #2)

Summary:

The kingdom of Goredd: a world where humans and dragons share life with an uneasy balance, and those few who are both human and dragon must hide the truth. Seraphina is one of these, part girl, part dragon, who is reluctantly drawn into the politics of her world. When war breaks out between the dragons and humans, she must travel the lands to find those like herself—for she has an inexplicable connection to all of them, and together they will be able to fight the dragons in powerful, magical ways. 

As Seraphina gathers this motley crew, she is pursued by humans who want to stop her. But the most terrifying is another half dragon, who can creep into people’s minds and take them over. Until now, Seraphina has kept her mind safe from intruders, but that also means she’s held back her own gift. It is time to make a choice: Cling to the safety of her old life, or embrace a powerful new destiny?  (Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)

Please note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review courtesy of the publisher.

Review:

I have very mixed feelings on “Shadow Scale” much as I did for “Seraphina”.  After “Seraphina” I was intrigued, but felt like Hartman could have done so much more with such a rich universe.  That being said, I couldn’t stop thinking about the book and was eagerly looking forward to reading the sequel.  In the beginning, the search for the half-dragons moved slowly and I missed the dragons.  Despite this, it was great to see Seraphina’s pre-conceived notions challenges.  Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like she learned all that much until FINALLY at the end she rearranges things in her own mind garden. 

Once we got to Seraphina searching for Orna, I was once again sucked into the story, but that did not last long before Seraphina was sent back to the capital.  Even then, when I would hope Seraphina would get to interact with Glisselda and Kiggs again to keep it interesting (or at least Abdo!), she is separated by Jannoula.  I was disappointed that there was only the barest attempt to maintain the romantic aspect of the story and it was a bit oddly handled in my opinion.  There was one fun reveal, but I found the ending dissatisfying.  All in all, this was a very plot-driven sequel and I found myself with a lot of questions at the end.

Warning: Contains violence

Rating: 3 stars!

Who should read it? Folks looking to find out what happens next!  It is a solid read, but gets dropped a star due to general questions.

Want to read the whole series?

• Seraphina (Seraphina #1)