I read Shadow Scale

This week's novel is Shadow Scale, the sequel to last week's novel, Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman.

Seraphina gets word that the half dragons can all work together to form a kind of energy net that will stop dragons in mid air, which could come in handy when the dragon civil war finally makes its way to their kingdom.  She sets out to round up all the half dragons, traveling from country to country.  Along the way, she clashes with Jannoula, who can invade people's minds, go through their memories, and take control of their bodies.

Although the sequel didn't have a lot of the things I loved about the first novel, it was still fun and well executed.  I especially liked the world building that went into the different countries Seraphina visited.  The history and geography of each area directly tied to how each nation dealt with and thought about dragons, and therefore half dragons.  For example, while Seraphina's home country of Goredd is directly south of dragon territory and--up until the peace treaty--was regularly burned to the ground by dragons so everyone had to live underground, the countries to the south used Goredd as a buffer, and they were able to create elaborate cities and art.  Each culture is distinctive, which makes it fun when Seraphina travels into somewhere new and fresh and completely different.

Along the same lines, even though there are seventeen half-dragons, they all have distinctive personalities and experiences.  Not only do they all look different and have different abilities, but they all interact with their world and react to Seraphina's plan in different ways.  Furthermore, their actions make sense given the cultures in which they were raised.  Some of them have been outcasts so long that they latch onto the constructed half-dragon family, while others are so jaded by their persecution that they refuse to have anything to do with the plan.  Still others already have loving families, so they don't really see the point in helping Seraphina.  Everything flows from world building to characterization.

I also appreciated that most of the weeks of traveling were glossed over in a couple paragraphs.  The destinations, the stops in capital cities where she would poke around trying to find people, were the important parts and the narrative reflected that.  I've talked before about my personal preferences and how I don't care about long journeys on horseback or cooking out on the trail.  Those sound boring and smelly and tedious.  So I appreciate stories that feel the same way.

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Next week: Of Fire and Stars, YA fantasy romance by Audrey Coulhurst