Tess of the Road dances on the fine line of what makes a book adult and young adult. That is if you can forgive Tess' age. It is, by and large, a coming of age story that is ripe with adult situations (Tess is 16 at the start of this story). The book launches where Shadow Scale left off - with Seraphina living with the Royal family, but focuses on a new strong female MC, Tess Dombegh, Seraphina's half sister.

Tess reminds me a bit of Tess Of d'Ubervilles although the author has said that this wasn't her intention. Both protagonists were vilified for having premarital sex and getting pregnant. Both are born into societies where the woman is at fault and the man has zero responsibility. Although headstrong Tess Dombegh makes the most of her situation and tries to absolve her guilt by giving her soul and happiness to see her sister successfully married. Tess is flawed and sometimes impetuous but this makes her even more relatable. Tess hits a breaking point at the wedding and this launches us into story.

Told through flashbacks and through Tess' experience on the road south, Hartman unravels Tess past while also helping her find herself. Through nature, hard work and with the help of an old friend, Tess forgives herself and finds strength, compassion and courage to face the future on her own. For anyone who hasn't read the Seraphina duo logy you will love Hartman's world building, prose and humor - Tess in spite of losing everything has not lost her sense of humor.

All your failures and hope, your suffering and striving, the great coils seemed to say, are inconsequential, compared with this. They are nothing. You are nothing.

It was a relief to be nothing; it felt deep and beautiful and true.

Hartman uses something of colossal beauty to ground Tess. I compare this to hiking up a mountain and feeling catharsis after for having conquered not only the height but your owns troubles.

Tess of the Road will connect with anyone who has felt overwhelmed by circumstances. As a daughter of Russian immigrants, my family puts family obligations above all else. You are considered selfish if you put personal needs ahead of family. My mother is far more forward-thinking than my grandparents and has helped me with my feelings but I can relate with Tess' guilt. Although I never quite had to sacrifice my future for my family, I have felt overwhelmed by family obligations, career and personal happiness. As I've gotten older I have learned to say "no" but it took years and still takes time to not feel guilty.

5/5 stars. I cannot wait for the next book!

Tess of the Road follows Tess through a fantasy world where her half-sister is a Saint and a dragon. Her twin is about to be married, and Tess has ruined it all with a lover and a pregnancy. The book has many interesting parts, but it gets very weighed down with the constant badgering of the religious virtues and requirements of the day. Too much emphasis on the "sex" of the story - not that it was graphic, but that it kept coming back to it over and over again. We got it. She made a mistake. It belabored the point so much that the story which started great really fell flat.

"Tess of the Road" is a YA philosophical fantasy. It's not humorous. It's set in the same world as the author's previous novels and involved characters from those novels. The world-building depended largely on calling common fantasy elements by weird names, though the quigutl were unique. Also, the author assumed the reader had read the previous novels so didn't bother to give much background on things and events described in those books. Unfortunately, I haven't read those books.

Tess was curious about sex even as a child, and reading novels inspired her to want romantic love. Bad decisions, naivety, and romantic ideas led to her "ruin" (though that was not her intent), and she's no longer allowed to marry. She's utterly miserable and determined to stay miserable. She finally runs away and takes on a male identity (or two). Still, she considers suicide to end the pain. Then she comes across an old friend with a quest. Her new traveling companion is a dragon-like creature that was female when Tess first met her but is now male. He has an ongoing guilt/hate relationship with his daughter from a rape.

Tess describes her journey as "I’m just walking the road, looking for reasons to keep walking" and feels that "It matters less where you go than that you keep moving." Her mother's religion is very harsh and Tess had "never seen any divine plan, unless the plan was to saddle her with guilt and self-loathing." However, when her companion's quest leads to an awe-inspiring religious moment, she feels like "nothing." "For someone who was nothing, anything was possible. The pressure was off" and "She had permission to let her body do and be and have what it wanted." Which, apparently, is sex. But actions still have consequences. Anyway, this book ended with Tess starting a more traditional fantasy adventure.

The sex scenes were described in vague terms (rather than graphically). There was occasional use of bad language. As the story was more about finding a reason to live and forming her own religion rather than a typical adventure, I didn't care for it.

I'm not quite sure where I stand. I didn't not read Seraphina, the first book in this universe, but I don't feel that was an issue. Some sections I enjoyed and everything flowed and the story progressed. But others just dragged and felt so forced. Then we hit another good bit. The first third I just couldn't get into. A 17 year old girl who spends her time drink and thinking about the baby she bore at 14. You'd think I would feel sympathy for her, but until much later in the book, Tess mostly just annoyed me. Maybe that was the intent to some degree because I felt about her much like those around her. Eventually I grew to like her more. The book just felt twice as long as it needed to be and I'm not sure I will seek out the third book that I assume will follow.

I had such high hopes for this book. Don't let that deter you from reading this book. Tess of the Road was good. However, it just wasn't for me.

The beginning started off strong. The readers get a sense of Tess' character. She's rebellious, stubborn, and thoughtful. She is thrown into a world unknown and is faced with tasks that seem impossible. There's humor, adventure, and, of course, dragons! What more could one wish for?

The pacing of the book was one of my biggest issues with the book. The story wasn't progressing at a suitable pace to keep me interested. However, Hartman does touch on a few controversial topics such as religion and sexism. I find myself being slowly dragged back in, but only for a short moment.

Tess of the Road is a story of self-discovery and will leave you with questions that you might even want to ponder yourself.

I haven't read [book:Seraphina|19549841] or [book:Shadow Scale|16085457] yet, but after reading this I definitely want to! That being said, I was able to follow this book just fine since it follows Seraphina's half-sister, Tess, and Seraphina is only a side character. I do think I maybe missed some world-building that explains how dragons and humans and quigotl fit together in the society, but not so much that it decreased my enjoyment of the story.

Tess is a problem child. She drinks too much. She isn't the innocent, virginal daughter that her extremely religious mother wants (unlike her twin sister, who can do no wrong). She's too curious. Too independent. And much to the shame of her family, she had a child at age 14, potentially ruining her future prospects.

Women in this society do not have much freedom, so Tess, unable to tolerate the idea of spending her life as caretaker of her sister's future children, chops off her hair, steals some boy's clothes, and sets off on the road with her childhood best friend, a quigotl (lizard person?) who is searching for the legendary World Serpents. She doesn't care what they're looking for as long as she can go where she wants, do what she wants, and not have to answer to anyone but herself.

And along the way, Tess learns who she is and what she wants out of life. I will definitely read the next book if there is one and plan to go back and read the two books about Seraphina.

Maybe I'm hyper-aware of these issues because they've been in the media so much lately, but I'm always glad to have real life issues turn up in fantasy novels. This book deals with gender identity (the quigotl change gender several times in their lives..Tess's best friend was female when they met, but he's male now, and may be female again in the future) and rape culture.

Note: I read this as a free eARC from Netgalley

Hartman has at last continued the intricate world she had crafted in SERAPHINA by composing a duology on Seraphina’s half-sister, Tess. Seraphina pops up for a glimpse once in a while, as is expected considering her position in life and her connection to Tess, but this is not her story. In fact it was incredibly interesting to read about Seraphina from such a different point of view.

TESS OF THE ROAD is a story about grief and feeling like we’ve messed up so bad and so often that there’s no going back, but more importantly it is a story about finding your way back and knowing that no matter how you may feel, you are not alone and there is always forwards even if the road is painful and long. Roiling with a surprising spectrum of vivid emotion this is a journey filled with sacrifice, heartbreak, loyalty, and disappointment. A path paved with courage, anger, healing, painful truths, and an unleashed ferocity for freedom. Overflowing with dragons, mystery, and adventure, but ignited by a girl long beaten and broken until only her hatred could bare to face the world locking all hope and softness deep within…until the day she left her prison to take a chance on the road and with each step her life forever changed.

This may be categorized as a YA Fantasy tale, but the story goes soul-deep, excavating and exploring the depth and complexity of human emotion, in particular self-destruction, guilt, sorrow, bitterness, shame, love, and heartbreak. There may be dragons in this world but Tess’ story is as poignant as any YA book written to reach out to those struggling with the burden of feeling like a mistake in the world. Absolutely riveting, heart-wrenching, inspiring, and beautifully written.
-pooled ink Reviews

Hartman's latest is set in the same universe as Seraphina and Shadow Scale, but is not a direct sequel—instead it focuses on one of Seraphina's human half-sisters, a stubborn, troubled, irrepressible young girl who runs away from home and ends up on a quest straight out of her beloved stories. I found this book to be unexpected in a lot of ways, but really appreciated the story Hartman is telling about womanhood and family and finding—or making—a place for yourself. And I loved where it ended, and can’t wait to see what happens next. Content warning for a couple mentions of sexual assault. A/A-.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a digital ARC of “Tess of the Road” by Rachel Hartman. Rachel Hartman has such an amazing voice. Her style is humorous, evokes emotions, and immediately draws the reader into her stories. Fans of her previous work will be ecstatic with her newest novel as will new readers. This story is well plotted and the characters are relatable. This book will appeal to those who enjoy fantasy and a good adventure story.

DNF @ 58%

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book started off strong for me. Tess is a trouble-maker as a child. I love her curiosity and scheming. She was a well-thought out character. When she gets older; however, I found her to be indecisive and I got bored of her. I found myself not as attached to her as I was, and she was frustrating as a main character.

I loved the writing. It's descriptive, but this book is definitely a slow burn. It was unfortunately too slow-paced for me to keep reading. The themes that are discussed are different: religion, soon, and self-discovery done in a unique way. I recommend this book to someone looking for a book to get invested in, and that has more patience than me.

Http://www.polishandpaperbacks.com

I received a copy from Netgalley for my honest review!


I’m not going to star rate this because I didn’t get past 33%. Idk if maybe it was because it was on my kindle, or what but I couldn’t get through this. The writing is very very good, whimsical and beautiful. But I just don’t think it was for me. I feel like it’s going to be a very good book for someone else. Really wish I would have liked it more...

Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman is a story of Tess’s journey of finding out who she is and healing along the way. Hartman’s language and style immerses the reader into this universe and allows you to feel how hollow, heartbroken and unsure Tess truly is.

It takes the mess of her twin sister, Jeanne’s wedding night to send her running away from home. She finds Pathka, a quigutl, and they travel together. She encounters different reflections of herself and she has to face these qualities in herself head on. At first you aren’t sure how she will handle each situation she’s thrust into but you end up loving Tess for how everything turns out.

As she takes on her journey, you get insights into her past and you figure out that she’s got a reason for acting the way she had in the beginning of the book. There were parts I wanted to jump through the pages to hug Tess, then laugh, and then shake her to see reason.
This installment is definitely something every fan of Hartmann and her Seraphina will definitely want to get their hands on ASAP.

Would I recommend this book and author to others? Oh yes. It’s definitely a great read and I want to dive back in and reread Seraphina.

4,5 stars

Ever since I first heard that Rachel Hartman would write another book set in the world of her Serpahina duology I knew I had to read that. I was in for a long wait but finally this book will be published in 2018. When I saw it on Netgalley I didn’t know how hard to click on request even if I doubted I would be accepted. But I was, super lucky to have been able to read this already in 2017.

As this was a book that I had been waiting on for a long time I obviously had a lot of expectations and ideas going in. I can honestly say that this book was so different from what I was expecting. But it also honestly was not a bad thing. Maybe it was even better.

Tess of the Road is a sort of coming of age story set in a high fantasy world. Tess sets out on a trip and finds many things along the way. Mostly herself. There are a lot of heavy topics being dealt with in this book. Suicide, death, grief, rape, victim blaming and so on. From my perspective these were all dealt with well but I will keep a lookout on other reviews to see what others have to say. It was heart wrenching at moments. One thing that did bother me a little was that there was another word used for homosexuals. I understand that this is a high fantasy and that a lot of other language and slang is used but even so I don’t think it should have been done with this. But again that is just how it made me, a white straight female, feel. I can’t speak for anyone else on this front.

Tess herself was a gem to follow. Rachel Hartman knows so well how to write flawed characters. She has crafted this gorgeous tale of Tess who has made mistakes and in parts almost hates herself. And she is a brat sometimes, I admit. She even borders onto the unlikeable main character. But she also made me laugh. She certainly wasn’t stupid.

It was great to set foot into this world again through the eyes of someone else than Seraphina. There certainly were less dragons in the story than I had expected there to be. And speaking of the world, I feel that the book really does bank a lot on us knowing the world of Seraphina. As one who loves this world even I had trouble remembering some of the things of the world. I don’t think everything was explained again very well. There was also a bit of referencing towards Seraphina’s tale as this is set a few years behind it. I really feel that you need to have read the Seraphina duology to be able to catch everything in this book and properly understand.
Of course Seraphina appeared in this book, being the half sister to our main character. I loved seeing her again. It was interesting to see her again through the eyes of Tess who looks at her much more hostile and different than I did. It was insightful.

I also felt that ending was working its way into this being more than a standalone. Can we please get more? How it ended feels like a next book would have a very interesting dynamic of characters. And obviously Tess has some unresolved issues with her twin sister.

Having read only the blurb of the book and never having read any books by Rachel Hartman before, when I began reading Tess of the Road, I expected somewhat of a lighthearted, possibly action-packed, young adult, fantasy book, very much like others I had read in the past.

If that is the kind of book you're looking for, a book similar to Tamora Pierce or Mercedes Lackey's writings - then this book may not be for you.

To be perfectly honest, Tess of the Road is quite unlike any other fantasy book (young adult or otherwise) that I have read before.

This is a book that will have you contemplating the nature of religion and sin, good and evil/bad, the nature of morality and whether a person's destiny is predetermined as it takes you on a philosophical adventure filled journey.

With unexpected twists and turns that I did not see coming, I highly recommend giving this book a read and eagerly await the next installment in this surprising series - because it has to be a series! I want more Tess! I want to the rest of her journey! I want more! MORE! MORE! MORE!

An arc of this book was generously provided to me by Netgalley and Random House Books for Young Readers in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Normally I don’t read high fantasy books, because honestly, I’m not smart enough. With Tess of the Road… I don’t know what to say, It was beautiful, this books is a “must have” for everyone. I found myself feeling as desperate as Tess through her journey, I was rooting for her, and she didn’t disappoint.

Fair warning: read Seraphina before Tess, otherwise you gonna get spoiled as I did haha

I’m happy how It ended, but honesty I want more from Tess.

Looking forward to the next book and travels with Tess, Jacomo, Pathka, and Kikiu!

Full disclosure: I've read Seraphina but not Shadow Scale and I had no idea this book was set in that world until I began reading.
Having said that, I don't think readers of Seraphine will be disappointed. Tess presented as a somewhat more unlikeable heroine than Seraphina, but her journey was rewarding and different in tone. This is an adventure story, a on-the-road novel about finding yourself. Yes, there are dragons and giant worms and hybrids, but it's more about Tess' internal struggle to overcome her mother's teachings and come into her own.
For a companion novel, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of Seraphina and other familiar characters we got to see. It really felt like a natural extension of the world.
As with Seraphina, I felt not entirely satisfied at the end. That may be because there was room for the story to continue or because much of the story's conflict occurred in Tess internally. I was very invested in and pleased with Tess' growth, especially seeing her relationship with her sisters change, but the physical and fantastic elements didn't feel necessarily realized to me because they were all episodes on the road.
Overall, a good read from a great author.

I really enjoyed the writing in this one! The author had the knack of drawing me in, and I could visualize everything! Great world build and charcters in this awesome book!