Shadow Scale

Rachel Hartman
Star Rating
★★★★★
Reviewer's Rating
May 28, 2015

Such great world building. Such excellent character development. Such a detailed, compelling story. Such a refreshing pleasure every moment I spent with it.

While the first Seraphina book largely focused on Seraphina's efforts to keep her half-dragon identity hidden, Shadow Scale is all about finding and revealing her world's half-dragons. Seraphina and those close to her believe the half-dragons share a mental/psychic bond that may be a useful military defense in the war that is headed their way--and she longs for the kinship she hopes to feel upon meeting them after a lifetime of isolation believing she was a unique abomination. It's a quest that takes her across all manner of international, geographic, cultural, and interpersonal landscapes, each fraught with peril; it's a quest that gradually reveals secrets about the half-dragons much more momentous and significant than their existence and identities--much more pivotal, in ways both good and bad, than anyone ever imagined.

An immensely satisfying reading experience.

(If you're interested in a bit more detail, this review from NPR articulates my full thoughts almost perfectly.)

Written by Chris K.

Experts estimate that the average cruising airspeed velocity of an unladen European Swallow is roughly 11 meters per second, or 24 miles an hour.

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