'Seraphina' by Rachel Hartman

My thirteen-year-old son and I have started reading this book and we are both enjoying it very much. It is forty years since peace was made between the humans and the dragons, and the two species co-exist uneasily in Goredd, with the dragons taking human form. As the anniversary visit by the dragon leader approaches, the Goreddi prince is found murdered in a way that suggests the work of dragons. Sixteen-year-old Seraphina, a gifted musician, assistant to the court composer, is drawn into an intrigue indiciative of the disintegrating relationship between humans and dragons, aware that she must hide her secret: her father is human but mother was a dragon, and this not only gives her special gifts but also puts her in immense danger, both from the species-hatred of many Goreddis and from the peculiarly peopled landscape of her own mind, scattered with memories left for her by her mother. Hartman’s exploration of difference (both internalised and politicised) is nuanced and immensely sympathetic, and the book’s world is particular and convincing (discovering its characteristics reminds me of the convincing wonder I experienced as a child discovering the characteristics of Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea). Hartman’s writing frequently achieves flights of great beauty. I look forward to each evening’s instalment.

April 2016