** spoiler alert ** 
 Read this review on my blog! http://www.inkwingz.com/?p=29 
 Shadow Scale, the long awaited sequel to Seraphina, is finally here! I (along with all of Rachel Hartman's other fans) was eagerly counting down the days till it arrived in the bookstore. 
 Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the Shadow Scale cover to share on here as I got the ebook version, so enjoy an awesome shot of Seraphina! This review will be a sort of overview of both books, but mainly focusing on the second. But before I begin, BEWARE OF (sort-of-mini-not-too-important) SPOILERS. I would recommend reading Seraphina prior to Shadow Scale because without the background, the story is pretty much impossible to really grasp. 
 As soon as I found out there was going to be a sequel to Seraphina, I went into full fangirling book-stalker mode. I had every online bookstore bookmarked to the Shadow Scale page so that each day I could check to see if, for some reason, the book had been released earlier than expected (okay, not really, but that's not too far from the truth). 
 Finally, it was released. I bought the book and breezed through the 400+ pages in just a few days. Breathlessly, I took a step back from the story. It was beautiful, I loved it, but there were just a few little bugs that itched in the back of my mind. 
 To start off, let's talk about our favorite half-dragon heroine! Seraphina, once again, was a delightful, poetic, and slightly humorous narrator in Shadow Scale. However, she seemed less of a strong character in this book. She had a naivety about her that didn't really fit my previous image of her being an independent, clever girl with a good head on her shoulders. She also made many dangerous "mistakes" throughout her quest, on order of the queen, to find her fellow ityasaari, or half-dragons, that I would have expected for her to foresee. The "excuse" that Hartman gave for her sudden emotional dependence was that she secretly had a more personal reason to find the half-dragons- she wanted to be with others of her kind, who've shared her experiences (being disgraced by society, having to hide their true selves, etc.). I guess that sort of excuses it, right? Sort of. Maybe. It's iffy. Besides her minor emotional instability flukes, though, I enjoyed this second venture into Seraphina's mind. 
 Speaking of minds, that's what this story mainly revolves around- Seraphina's mind garden. Now, I don't know about you, but the idea of a mind garden in the first book did seem a little... odd. Apparently, it was where she kept and religiously tended to avatars of various other half-dragons in order to prevent from seeing random, and often dangerous, visions of said characters. As the story went along, I just kind of got used to it, and luckily, because if not, I wouldn't have been to able to keep up with this second installment. The plot mainly revolves around Seraphina traveling the fictional globe to seek out these ityasaari for their magic-like abilities to aid her home country of Goredd in the upcoming dragon civil war. I especially loved how Jannoula, an old enemy of Seraphina's, got involved in the fray, invading other half-dragons' minds and manipulating them for her own uses. She was an amazingly well-rounded villain, and her antics kept me on the edge of my side, dying to see what happened next. 
 Like in Seraphina, the world-building in Shadow Scale was beautifully done- one of its best features, in my opinion. It especially shone in this book, due to Seraphina's traveling to neighboring countries. It was interesting to see how Hartman crafted each country's unique belief system and culture, and how they contrasted. 
 I'm sure I was not the only reader a bit curious to see how Seraphina's relationship with Lucian would play out. I have to say, though, that I was not impressed. I will not reveal too much about the outcome, but I knew it could have turned out better. It goes back to what I was saying about Seraphina's weird emotional problems that just seem to pop up in this book- I don't think her and Lucian's decision was really true to either of their personalities, personally. I just kind of expected Seraphina to be more independent and not so low-down and desperate, ya' know? 
 Overall, I give this book four stars... err, owls. I really liked it a lot, even if some of the characterization was off. The human-dragon world of Goredd is amazingly crafted. But besides that... It's medieval dragons, for crying out loud! Who wouldn't enjoy that?! I don't know if there will be any more books in the series, but if there are, count me in. 
 My Rating: