Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman

Title: Shadow Scale

Author: Rachel Hartman

Type: Young Adult Novel
Genre: Fantasy

Series: Seraphina #2

Pages: 608
Copyright:  2015

Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Rating: 3.5 out of 5


Summary: from Good Reads
Seraphina took the literary world by storm with 8 starred reviews and numerous “Best of” lists. At last, her eagerly awaited sequel has arrived—and with it comes an epic battle between humans and dragons.

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?

Feelings:
I was suprised by this book. I remember thinking after finishing the first in the series that it would be hard to have a second one that was as good as the first. I don't think this book was as strong as the first in the series but I did enjoy it.

Seraphina was still an interesting character to me and I was glad to see more of the dragon and half-dragon side of the story included in here. We focused less on Goredd and the people there are more on the kingdoms around Goredd, where Seraphina is searching for half-dragons.

The book didn't draw me in until the second half when Seraphina is traveling with the dragons. Seraphina herself seemed conflicted in this book, like the first, but she seemed to be doing less about it in this book. "I'm worried about this," seemed to be her way of dealing with it. She didn't really take action when it seemed like she should have been taking action.

The end of this book surprised me in how it wrapped everything up. I'm used to the trilogies that keep coming out and I didn't realize there wouldn't be a third until I got to the end and all of the conflicts had been solved. This was a fun series. I recommend it.