Quick Review: Seraphina

MOAR FANTASY! I am binging on SF/F and loving it. Today's Quick Review: dragons+music+math=Seraphina! There are, as usual, spoilers, so beee warned!

Summary from Goodreads: Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

Seraphina is one of those books I’m seeing everywhere: it’s a six-stars book, it topped the Cybils SF/F list, it’s a serious contender for the Printz. It got terrific reviews and you can hardly click onto a YA blog without tripping over a post about it.

All this made me really hopeful—not necessarily high expectations hopeful, but pretty certain that I would like and enjoy it and my writer and reader brains would both be impressed.

So, I was sort of surprised that, while Seraphina is smartly-done and well-conceived, I didn’t have much of a reaction. I’m not sure if this is a matter of taste, honestly, because other than the Graceling series and A Song of Ice and Fire, I’m not super into fantasy (magic, dragons, royalty, rinse and repeat). Seraphina did bring some new things to the table, with its focus on music and, to a lesser extent, math, and, like I mentioned, the writing is smart and crisp. But I couldn’t work up any passion for the story, and I have a few theories why.

First, the story immediately sets up that there’s something unique about Seraphina, and based on the available information, I knew by the end of the prologue (as I imagine most readers did) that Seraphina was half-dragon. But that information isn’t explicitly said until three chapters later, and it’s set up as a big reveal. So for the first portion of the book, I read build up to something I already knew, immediately making me bored and, after my suspicions were confirmed, disappointed that there wasn’t more of a payoff to the build up.

This is the problem with dangling information over a reader’s head: the payoff has to match the build up. I saw this a few more times in Seraphina—when they confirm the rogue dragon is Seraphina’s grandfather, when Basind turns out to be a traitor. The problem with tantalizing clues is that they build expectations for the reader, and if those expectations aren’t met, the reader will get disappointed.

The solution to this is either make the payoff better or don’t tantalize. Put the information out in the open, and the reader won’t build up expectations. There’s a temptation to tease the reader, but writers have to be careful that they’re teasing the right things. Had the book started off with something like “It’s not easy bein’ a half-dragon,”* the reader still could learn about Seraphina’s childhood and how she discovered who and what she was, but there wouldn’t be that annoying feeling of “I’m not telling you something you already know.”(is this a small point? maybe, but it was also the very first thing I felt about the book and colored a lot of the following narrative)

I also didn’t understand why Seraphina felt a sense of responsibility to figure out who killed Prince Rufus. Time and again, I asked myself what she was trying to accomplish.** Her primary concern seemed to be ensuring that she avoided detection, so drawing herself into a high-profile investigation with, by her own admission, one of the most-perceptive people in the kingdom didn’t make a lot of sense.

Too often it felt like there were coincidences of timing or of Seraphina not asking questions when she should have,*** which helped the plot move along even if they didn’t seem plausible. For example: The coin that Orma receives from his father is supposed to warn him not to recognize his saar and interfere in the plot. But Imlann’s been in hiding for sixteen years without anyone finding him—why would he worry about detection now? Especially since Orma admits he didn’t recognize him and that the coin becomes the first real piece of evidence linking Imlann to the Prince’s murder.

One other small point that bothered me: most people seemed to be charmed by Seraphina and her beauty, even though we’re regularly treated to Seraphina’s “Oh I’m a monster!” criticisms. Although I could understand her self-hatred, the emphasis on her beauty and charm seemed a little too forced, bordering on Mary Sue-ish-ness.**** Every time I read another compliment, I felt like I could see the author’s hand, reminding readers that despite what Seraphina says about herself, she’s actually a looker.

And since I don't want to be all Debbie Downer on what is, truly, a very well-done book, I will add: exquisite world-building, lovely musical descriptions, the mental garden of grotesques was very smartly done, and Seraphina herself is a terrific heroine—resourceful, intelligent, compassionate, and appealing. This is the first in a series, and I’m curious to see where the story goes next. Even despite my concerns, I can understand the positive reaction the book has gotten (even if I couldn’t feel the same passion--which, again, not a big fantasy fan here).

I know this book has big fans, so, folks—what did you think?

*Hopefully sung by a banjo-playing amphibian.

** I also couldn’t figure out her relationship with the royal family—was she a close intimate of Princess Glisselda, as it seems she becomes by the end? Or was she just the music master’s assistant? If she’s close to the family, why doesn’t she know Kiggs better? And why wouldn’t she have already developed some kind of relationship with him?

***I hate when characters say things like “I wanted to ask him more about it but decided not to.” And Seraphina did it several times (example: Ch 17, “Whom did he imagine I was in love with? I wanted to know, but not so badly that I would willingly keep the conversation trained on myself.”)

****Quick refresher! One of Mary Sue’s most telling characteristics: an insistence that she’s plain and nothing special, even as all males fall madly in love with her, so she can be both incredibly beautiful and humble, too. I wouldn't call Seraphina a Mary Sue, but the insistence on her beauty despite her criticisms felt uncomfortably close to that trope (especially since, other than her looks/scales, Seraphina has a lot of pride in herself, notably her intelligence and musical ability--both of which she points out to be above average).