Seraphina is a story about a young woman, Seraphina, whose secret could potentially disrupt peace of the kingdom she lives in. Rachel Hartman draws a world where dragons and humans barely co-exist after years of war and antagonism. The peace treaty between dragons and humans is that of cautious exhibition but weary in private. Seraphina's unique position in life, work and as a person, brings her to the forefront of the plot. The plot, warped with historical anecdotes, old grudge and an increasingly anti draconian narrative in the kingdom, at its core is a murder mystery. 
 Hartman presents lengthy chapters where pretty much nothing happens except for we learn a little bit of information that could have been easily slipped in a conversation. Hartman's plot becomes wayward with its first person point of view where the characters exist only to play off Seraphina's personal journey. This is incredibly flawed since everything I have understood about the protagonist has come from her mouth, her point of view. The plot (and the dust jacket of this book) insists the dragons are mathematical. Throughout the book the author reiterates this sentiment via different characters but the sentiment that's prevalent when it comes to dragons is that they are highly logical and rational creatures, and they have no interest in emotions. Of course there is a naive axiom that starts all this - Dragons have no souls. This superficial and almost lazy exploration of what seems to be second dominant species in this world with high visibility in human kingdom, made the second act of the book absolutely boring. The third act recovers quickly and takes a direction that has been blatant since the very beginning. 
 I enjoyed the overall plot but it took too long to get where it ended. The protagonist is refreshing, the supporting cast are written better than the protagonist and the primary conflict made a very fascinating narrative.