DRAGONS! DRAGONS! DRAGONS!

Did you know that one of wee spogs of Jennifer Gardner and Ben Affleck is named Seraphina? She's so adorable that I forgive her for making my attempts to find this book cover on the Google Image Search just that much more difficult.

No relation to Ben Affleck

Seraphina is the debut YA novel by Rachel Hartman (who lives in Vancouver - start stalking now, Miss Maiar. Let's arrange some sort of Misery thing so that we can get the sequel out faster). It is a wonderful book about music and belonging and Byzantine political intrigue and dragons.

So many amazing dragons. They can take human form and live among them as diplomats, scholars and teachers but they must wear a silver bell on their shoulder (what a wonderful image! So tinkly!). 

Seraphina lives in a world that balances on a knife-edge of war with dragons. On the eve of the anniversary of the precarious peace treaty, the heir apparent to the kingdom is murdered. His body is found showing the tell-tale signs of a dragon attack.

No one does dragons like Alan Lee

Apprentice to the court composer, Serphania has secrets to hide. Despite her prodigious musical talent, her father has kept her locked away from the outside world. She can understand dragon speech and can hear voices in her mind. Her only friend is her dragon teacher, Orma, who guides her on how to control some of her emerging powers.  On top of her court duties in instructing the princess, there's also Prince Lucian who wants to use her vast knowledge of dragon lore to track down his cousin's murderer.

This is a brilliant, delicious book full of court intrigue, wonderful writing, heartbreak and DRAGONS! DRAGONS! DRAGONS!


(I like dragons)