Not my favorite book. The main character, Tess, is so unlikeable, it is hard to find yourself invested in her story. Although i thought it was well written and there are some interesting plot points, I just couldn't get into it.

I haven't read either of the Seraphina books, but I still followed this one just fine. A well written book with a richly imagined world that sucked me in from the beginning. I really enjoyed this and kind of liked Tess as a character? Engrossing, fun, and at times heart breaking. 5 out of 5 stars.

I keep hoping for more from Ms. Hartman's books. I love the writing, but there isn't enough action to entice my students to finish them.

DNF for now, at 30%.

The main character, Tess, has an interesting background story, and seems to be on a road to an adventure. But the problem is, I'm at 30 percent and the adventure hasn't presented itself, and Tess' past was never fully revealed either. It's just a bit slow. Also, there are hints about Tess older half sister Seraphina, and it's frustrating to read information about her when I haven't read her story. That being said, there's no confusion about the worldbuilding. You can definitely understand most of the world without reading Seraphina first.

I guess I'm just not the target audience for this series, for I've never been a big fan of strictly fantasy YA fantasy, so to speak. I reckon YA fantasy lovers would enjoy this way more than I did.

While I liked Tess's character, the story was fairly slow and I missed a lot of the elements and interactions with dragons that the Seraphina books had. I probably enjoyed the flashback scenes the most.

Tess of the Road was a book I really wanted to like. However, I did not enjoy it. If I didn't hold myself to a strict policy to finish any book I start, I would've closed this on my Kindle and never looked back.

Tess, to me, was an unlikeable heroine. In some cases, that is good because the reader is still drawn to the story to see how it plays out. In this case, I really just didn't care. I will more than likely not read any other books with her as a character.

TESS OF THE ROAD was an engaging coming of age story set in the same fantasy world as SERAPHINA and SHADOW SCALE. Tess is Seraphina's younger half-sister who has inherited the role of the "bad one." She's not as smart as her sister Seraphina or as gentle and good as her twin Jeanne. Raised by a mother who is a religious fanatic, Tess has never been able to do anything right. She is impulsive and imaginative in a society that doesn't reward that sort of behavior.

Her last two years have been spent at court trying to find someone to marry her sister Jeanne. Her impulsiveness has caused her to disgrace herself and she uses alcohol to bury all the memories and pain. It looks like her only life choices will be to act as her sister's support and help raise her children or head off to a convent for the rest of her life. Neither of those choices appeal. So she decides to run away.

She meets up with her friend Pathka who is a Quigutl on a quest of his own. Since Tess's main goal has been to get away from her home and even herself, she joins him in the search for one of the seven world serpents who live deep in the earth. Most consider them to be imaginary and the many stories about them just fiction.

While on the hunt, Tess gets a chance to meet a number of people and work in a variety of places. She comes to see the Road as a goal in and of itself. She has experiences that help her come to terms with her memories and to find her purpose in life.

The language is lush and descriptive. The journey is fascinating. Tess's relationship with Pathka is an unusual one because few people ever bother to learn to quigutl language or philosophy. I thoroughly enjoyed this fantasy story. It will reward the thoughtful reader.

I tried with this one, but ultimately, I was unable to finish it. I love Rachel Hartman, but reading this was like wading through molasses. While the characters were complex and original, particularly Tess, I just couldn't get into it enough to read more than a few chapters. The prose just caused my mind to wander and trying to decipher the meaning from certain passages left me exhausted.

I'm disappointed in myself with this one, and I think down the road I will give it another shot. For now, after three months of struggle, I'm putting this on the shelf as DNF. Hopefully it won't stay that way forever.

For other Hartman fans, I hope you enjoy this and show it more love than I was able to.

I've reviewed this in a video here: http://www.thebookrat.com/2018/01/lunch-chat-tess-of-road-by-rachel.html, but quick written thoughts are:

BookRatMisty
6 days ago
For those who want my basic thoughts without the soup-noises, basically:
I loved Tess. Some people have a problem with Hartman's plotting and pacing, but I decidedly DO NOT. I think it's brilliantly done, focusing on internal struggles and external struggles in a really nice balance. I think it has a lot to say, and handles it well. I think the personal growth story is one of the best I've read in recent memory. And I may even like it more than Seraphina & Shadow Scale (which you don't have to read first, but you probably should). So obviously, I recommend it.

Interesting new book set in the world of seraphina and dragon scale. Tess is initially very unlikable, but i thought that made her character development even more noteworthy. I definitely hope there’s a follow-up.

My apologies but I could not finish Tess of the Road; while it is well-written, I eventually gave up as nothing seemed to really be happening.

This was the type of book that I wanted to fall in love with especially with such a beautiful cover. It just was not for me. There was no pull for my personal interest and I couldn't read it. While I usually love Medieval inspired stories, this just did not appeal to me. Maybe I'm a little tired of such a setting with some other books I've started to read lately. I do hope that somebody else finds their love for this book.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley.
Here is the thing I was one of the readers whom absolutely loved Seraphina but unfortunately it can’t be said about Tess of the road.
The writing style is really similar to the one that author used in her debut novel and while I enjoyed it there, because it simply worked with Seraphina’s story, I still like it with it terse edge and lush atmosphere, the whole thing just doesn’t fit with this plot. A plot that started out great and promising but quite quickly turned into something boring and dragged out. There are a lot of underlying thing going on behind the actual events but all of this just not enough to keep me engaged. I had a really hard time to keep progress with this story even so I was quite excited for it. For such a long book there are just too little dynamic and driving things happening in it.
I really liked Tess character and not because she is a likeable one but because she is different, completely different from the usual YA characters. She is relentless, curious, has an inquiring mind and stubborn. She is a rebel in her time, acts rashly and sometimes even irrationally but that’s exactly why her character was so attracting to me. Even if usually this kind of personality would annoy me to hell. Her character development didn’t exactly went as I hoped it would go but it still was the only reason I finished the book and didn’t DNF it.
It was a shame really because I generally like the author style but I also think that this world she writes her stories in, is not complex enough to be the set for so many and such long stories. But that’s just my opinion.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Tess of the Road was not the dragon-fantasy-work that I was expecting from the author of Seraphina. I was hoping to delve deeper into the people of the Southlands, saars and political conspiracies. I sought an adventurous light but well-developed read. Instead, at a semi-torturous pedantic pace ToTR was imbued with the hero/journey archetypes of classic literature. I give it 2.5 stars for story content and reader engagement...then rounded up for prose (Rachel Hartman can write!).

Seventeen year old Teresa, “Tess,” is a typical gothic hero-misunderstood, deeply unhappy with a tragic past. She runs away from home and embarks on a journey (pilgrimage) seeking penance and identity. At times her self-pity over past mistakes and character flaws is overbearing but her guilt and self-doubt is strangely relatable. In this way she is a refreshing YA heroine. I’m not sure that I always liked her, but I did admire and respect her.

The flow of the story bothered me. I generally prefer a linear plot to the odessey-esque flashbacks where the majority of the “action” occurred. In addition to stretching out and then winding back on itself ( much like a road) The various uses of “road” (road literal, road as life, road as journey, spiritual road) made the story heavy and too philosophical for my taste. Each of Tess’ encounters along her road was so brief yet compelling, I felt that I was getting robbed of the chance to really make their acquaintance. Even so, I could appreciate the many intentional metaphors that shape Tess’ story.

<spoiler> By making the conscious decision to “walk on” every day and every instance Tess finally reaches self actualization at the end of her 9month journey. She is reborn, no longer a child (turned 18), and finally recovering from her rape/infant’s death. She finds enlightenment, “vocation” as she termed it. </spoiler>

I asked for this book on NetGalley without knowing that it was the spin off of Seraphina, and even though it did not bother me for understanding the story, I came out disappointed.

I must say that the construction of the universe is rather well done, there are dragons in this universe, some can take the appearance of humans, others have smaller and reptilian forms, others are giant and I, who loves dragons, have been happy with it. I want to reassure those who have not read the Seraphina's duology, it is quite simple to delve into this universe, especially as the book have many similitude with the 17th century.

Tess, the heroine, is the sister of Seraphina, impulsive, she is the ugly duck of her family because of her behavior. Following an accident, she goes on the road and the book revolves around her personal journey. Tess is a character who has a thirst for knowledge, and that is a bothers in a society where women are just stooges. She is a character who also sacrificed a lot for her family and who in return did not have much recognition for what she did or lived. I think that some will find her very superficial at first, but we will discover her fragility and suffering and she becomes more human.

Where I'm disappointed is in the plot, I found this book an incredible length and most of the time too slow and I think that those who knew the universe we found it worse. However, I find that the book has important and appreciative feminist sides, but I came out of my reading by thinking that we were at the same place as at the beginning. The end announces a sequel and unfortunately, I do not think I will read it because of my impression of this first volume.

Amazing book. The writing is amazing and the storyline even more. I really enjoyed it and I felt really happy whilst reading it.

I picked up this book because of the cover and because "girls dresses up as a boy and runs away" is a trope that will catch my attention every time. I have not read Seraphina and so had no idea what I was getting into, but it was not necessary -- I followed along with the worldbuilding fine. There were clearly characters and references to the Seraphina novels that I would have recognized if I had read them, but not knowing them beforehand didn't detract from the story.

Tess is a strong character, with a ton of flaws and a traumatic backstory that we don't learn the full extent of until close to the end of the book. Hartman deals excellently with issues of underage pregnancy, sex- and body-shaming parents & societies, drinking as a coping mechanism, coercive sex, coping with trauma, cultures with varying gender roles & expectations, disability, etc. Tess is loveable in her flaws and her feelings, and her attempts to dissociate herself from traumatic memories are presented realistically and relatably. When she finally does have the strength to deal with her past, there is no magical cure-all that makes everything 'all better,' but instead an acknowledgement that life & recovery & hope are things we have to work on in order to survive.

Highly recommended, and I will definitely be going back to pick up the Seraphina duology now as well.

I enjoyed this read during the first two chapters. Tess was scrappy, inquisitive and full of mischief. Amazing qualities for a young main character. I just knew her character would develop into someone worth following. Yet, as the chapters continued her character wilted, her fire diminished. I get it she made mistakes, and everyone seemed to dislike her for them. I just cringed when she began to believe them. Moving forward from the seemingly reversal of her character strengths, I suspiciously began to wonder. "Ok, so where are all the dragons?" The introduction of this gender fluid lizard-ish creature/childhood friend/moral compass was a poor substitute and simply just too much for even my imagination. DNF @35%. At this point I could not rustle myself to pick it up again. Maybe it gets better, maybe there are more dragons later but I ended it there.

From the winter 2018 issue of home/school/life magazine, "8 New Books for Your Winter Reading List:" Return to the kingdom of Goredd with this new book from the author of Seraphina, which focuses on one of the half-dragon heroine’s human half sisters. In a world where women are second-class citizens valued for their virtue, Tess trades life in a nunnery for an adventure of her own.