This book is fantastic. Hartman comes up with a completely original idea, nothing like other dragon series such as Christopher Paolini, and it is just such a good idea. It starts out a bit slow, but is mysterious enough to keep you reading. Seraphina is a completely believable character. An appreciation for music and art would be helpful in reading this book. Hartman tries to put a lot of background in throughout the story which can seem a bit overwhelming, but altogether it's such a great read. I can't wait for the next one! Some themes: emotion and art vs. reason and rationality, lies vs. truth, racism, religion ... so many things to absorb but a great experience. The love story, as others have said, is very real, and not completely central to the book, which also makes it great.

In many ways I like to think of myself as not the typical guy worried about being seen as strong and tough and all those "manly" things--I have the "girliest" job in a female-dominated profession, after all, and tend to champion sensitivity and intellectualism. When it comes to reading and book preferences, however, I do generally find myself liking "boy" books better than "girl" books. Even in some of the action-oriented, smart fantasy/sci-fi titles I've really liked--Graceling and The Hunger Games, for instance--I've been annoyed at the narrative lull late in the story while the mushy love aspect develops; don't even get me started on the glut of paranormal romances lately clogging up what used to be my favorite genre. So if you had described Seraphina to me before I read it as a fantasy involving a paranormal race about a teen girl trying to find her place in the queen's court, where most of the plot is concerned with palace intrigue and social positioning and relationship drama, and the girl is a musician who just wants to play pretty music, oh, and the girl (surprise, surprise) falls in love with the prince along the way, well, I would have said this is probably a fine book for some but it's not for me. --- I would have been dead wrong. --- Seraphina pulled me in right away and engaged me to the end. It's not the kind of breathless action-suspense where you keep reading because you have to know what happens next, then forget about it as soon as you're past it; the action is more social and intellectual, but there was very real danger the entire way and it was all the more satisfying for its weight and depth. This book had real characters and strong issues. Complexity. Believability. And best of all? The love story felt organic and natural to the characters and not just like an idealized wish fulfillment fantasy to make readers go gooey; and it never required a pause in the action of the larger story's development, either. --- Most importantly, this is a truly original (in my experience, at least) fantasy realm with a unique take on dragons and nuanced world-building. All the characters, from protagonist to minor, had complicated motivations and concerns informed by this strange world with its race issues and political dynamics. Seraphina, by accident of birth, finds herself squarely in the bull's-eye of those issues and dynamics and, no matter how much she just wants to have a quiet, ordinary life, cannot escape the intrigue. The pending conflict that is about to explode. --- The forty-year-old peace treaty between dragons and the southern human countries has always been tenuous at best, largely held together by force of will of its authors, the Queen of Goredd and Comonot, the dragon Ardmagar. Many on both sides have not forgotten their old wounds and hatreds and would secretly love to see the peace fail; some, even not so secretly. The dragons can assume human shape and some few live among the humans as ambassadors and integrators, but the human form and mannerisms, senses and emotions, are so foreign to the animalistic dragons ("Let this signify my submission to your tutelage, since I doubt you would agree to bite the back of my neck.") that they can't really pass as human and always stand out. Plus, there are the largely ignored quigutl, a dirty, smelly subspecies of dragon that lives in the slums of both societies, hated by all and antagonizing the ill-will that exists. No one trusts anyone and everyone suspects imminent betrayal. The Ardmagar is coming to the Queen's palace to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the treaty, and Seraphina--the new assistant to the irascible court composer--is right in the center of the preparations for the celebration. --- A highly satisfying read.

Be patient; Hartman takes her time to get to the action, and in the end, not too much really HAPPENS. But the author does successfully create a rich world with complex, compelling characters—I'm still thinking about them a few books later.

Seraphina is a fresh take on dragons in a teen fantasy context. Time is taken to develop certain characters, dragon and human. It's the first in a series, so you'll be hanging on for the sequel. There are twists enough to keep you involved and plenty of puzzles (is this a good guy or a bad guy?) to keep you guessing. If you are intrigued by half dragons or mixed blood fantasy you might want to try the adult fantasy Halfblood Chronicles trilogy by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey, starting with Elvenbane.

I am a sucker for well-written dragon books and I loved this original take on the subject. In this world, humans and dragons tolerate each other in a fragile truce that some on both sides would like to see end. Seraphina is half-breed, child of a human father and a dragon mother. If the humans with whom she lives discover that secret, her life would be in danger. But she could be the key to defusing the rising tensions between the two groups. Don’t expect a fast-paced action story. Hartman brings to life a world that is intricately detailed and believable. The depth and richness of this story will reward multiple readings. This is one of my favorite books published in 2012.

This is the 2nd time I started reading this book. It is very slow, with not much happening for the first 200 hundred pages! When the story finally revs up, it is an interesting read but I really can't get as excited as many of the reviews have been. I was also somewhat disappointed to find after 450 pages that the story doesn't wrap up and is poised to be sequelled. A frustrating experience all in all.

Seraphina is a fantasy set in a world where dragons and humans live with a tenuous peace. As the book opens the forty year peace treaty between humans and dragons is about to expire and Seraphina, a gifted musician with a secret she yearns to keep finds herself in the court of the king. Seraphina is something that should not be, she is half human half dragon and has spent her life in layers of long dresses to hide the patches of dry scales that grow on her wrists and abdomen. She tries to remain unnoticed in the court, but her exceptional musical ability betrays her by drawing the attention of the royal family. Her own external and internal battles (she has an imaginary garden of characters in her head that she calls her grotesques and each night after she applies lotion to her scales to keep them from irritating her she must put all of the grotesques in her garden to bed so keep them from happy until the next night) are matched by a kingdom in turmoil. This intricately woven novel is a slow build but the author creates a rich fantasy world where we accompany Seraphina on a memorable journey.

Original and fabulous.This book was clearly written by someone who knows the meaning of the words plot and characterization (unlike many teen lit. authors nowadays if I may be so bold as to say). I was especially impressed with the way she wrote the main love interest, Prince Lucian Kiggs, Captain of the guard. Not only was he kind and honorable to Seraphina, but intelligent, talkative and witty. One of my biggest gripes about teen lit. nowadays is the overabundance of dark, brooding, insulting, one-dimentional, stalkerish, emoish heroes and their ability to draw women to them like flies even with their nasty attitudes. Prince Lucian Kiggs can now be looked at as proof that yes, you CAN write compelling male characters that aren't a bunch of dicks. Sweet and kind does not have to equal boring! My one and only tiny objection with this book is that (in my own personal opinion), the declarations of love happened a little fast. But I am the kind of reader that enjoys a long buildup of romance :) On a side note, Seraphina was a likeable heroine who's "Garden of Grotesques" was quite a unique creation that in turn plays an important role in a satisfying plot twist.

At first, I was interested in this book because of Christopher Paolini's Inheritence series. After I started reading the book, though, I found it very intriguing, not because it was similar to the other books. I'm also sure that these are going to be a series because at the end, on the characters, it says '5 more to be named in future publication'. So it's obvious that she's going to write more. This book is really great; I recommend it highly.

Great new fantasy -- an antidote to Christopher Paolini's ripoff of Anne McCaffrey's Dragon- Human Bonding. Here the humans and dragons were always at war until a truce was called 40 years ago -- and Seraphina has a special role to play in what happens next. Muscular, interesting prose. Great characters -- pungent and unique. Can't wait for the next one -- she's clearly prepared the way for more books on Seraphina.