Readers will want to savor every word of Shadow Scale, Rachel Hartman's worthy follow-up to her Morris Award–winning debut, Seraphina. The sequel continues the exploration of the fantastic, quasi-medieval world where dragons, saints and humans collide.
At the start of Shadow Scale, an uneasy peace shared by dragons and humans for the last 40 years has just been broken. Dragons rebelling against a longstanding treaty have poisoned the Queen of Goredd and her daughter, and attempted to assassinate the great dragon general himself, Ardmagar Comonot. Narrator Seraphina, half-dragon and half-human, is appointed emissary of the Crown and sets off to find others of her kind. The hope is that they will be able to link minds, "[l]ike beads on a string," forming a barrier that will protect the city from the coming dragon attacks. But politics and intrigue abound, as does a pervasive prejudice against all ityasaari (half-dragons). Seraphina perseveres, though many of the other half-dragons prove more difficult than she had anticipated. And one of them, an ityasaari with great "mind-fire," is plotting against her, manipulating humans and half-humans, pitting dragon against dragon, and bringing all of the Southlands to the edge of ruin.
Shadow Scale's multi-layered, complex plot further exposes Hartman's highly original world. Seraphina's feelings of loneliness and alienation feel all too human, as does the love story. While the romance is compelling, it never dominates the narrative. It features prominently in the conclusion, however, and readers can only imagine what lies ahead. --Lynn Becker, host of Book Talk, the monthly online discussion of children's books for the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators