Random House Books for Young Readers and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Tess of the Road. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Branded a failure by her family, unchaste and troublesome, Tess Dombegh uses alcohol and her fists to solve her problems. When she takes to the road instead of being exiled to a convent, will Tess be able to put behind her self-destructive ways and become a strong and likable young woman?

Constantly compared to her twin, who can do no wrong, Tess spends her childhood through her teenage years feeling as though she can never measure up. This sentiment can be echoed by many young adults today, so parts of this book might resonate with the target audience. Tess of the Road has been classified as YA, but there are subjects contained within that parents may want to discuss with their teens. Violence, neglect, teen pregnancy, unwanted advances, and abuse, to name a few, are issues that some of the characters must endure.

Having not read Seraphina or Shadow Scale prior to this book, I can say that the author does a good job of explaining some of the major points from the previous books. There are major spoilers, though, so I would recommend reading from the beginning of the series to get the full effect of the characters and the world. As to Tess of the Road, I am on the fence about my recommendation. Tess is my favorite character, with a strength and determination well beyond her years. Her quest is exhaustingly slow, with the introduction of so many characters that the author placed a glossary at the end of the book. The pacing of the story may turn off some readers, as I myself found it difficult to push through. Honestly, as I was given a copy of Tess of the Road, I felt it necessary to finish. I may have closed the book halfway through had this not been the case. Those who enjoy the world that author Rachel Hartman began in Seraphina may find this book to their liking, as well as readers who like character driven fantasy novels.

I'm sad to DNF this, as I am intrigued of with the story direction and whether the world serpent truly exist or not, but I have no patience and it doesn't interest me. The pacing is soooooooo slow, 35% in and nothing happened, the dragon only appear in passing, and Tess is a frustrating character to read. I should've DNF this earlier, still, I am proud of myself for making it to 35%.

Man, it took me awhile to get into this. And that is my fault. If I had been looking more closely I would have recognized Rahel Hartman's name and I wouldn't have gotten this book. I think Hartman is talented, but something about her style has never really meshed with my personal reading preferences.

The author says that this book is not inspired by Tess D'Urbervilles. I am not sure that I believe it, and I do think she should probably just go with it at this point. If it WERE inspired, it would be extremely clever, at 'not related to at all' it is bizarrely repetitive

In Tess of the Road the main character Tess is recovering from a catastrophic downfall after being seduced and abandoned. Although she tries to redeem herself, all is lost when she ruins her twin sister Jeanne's wedding by drunkenly punching the groom. Disguising herself as a boy, she hits the road to help her childhood friend, a quigutl dragon, find a legendary serpent. Along the way she must pose as a priest, work as a manual laborer and fend off robbers, as she slowly makes peace with her past. At first bitter and self-pitying, Tess ultimately shows her worth through her courage, resilience and empathy. Her triumphant quest to find the serpent allows her to begin to reenter society in this tale of female empowerment. The first in a duology, this novel sets the stage for further adventures on the road.

An interesting, but slow fantasy novel. It wasn't as exciting, or at all exciting really, as I expected it to be. It is a rather slow burn of a novel. But if you like a slow fantasy novel, you would enjoy this.

There are books that suck you, maybe not immediately but at some point in the book you are so much invested into this world you keep reading until you hit the end. This book was not it for me. Very very slow read with a annoying main character that has the biggest chip on her shoulder that multiple embarrassments and people trying to help her, doesn't fix.

I have put this book down more times than I would like to mention. I know plenty of people that love this book but I am not one of them.

It’s not at all fair to rate this since I actually haven’t finished. But this was highly anticipated and I just struggled to remain interested in the story. The summary is beyond intriguing. I felt that this would be a book for my favorites shelf. But...I was bored. Someday I may go back and give it another attempt.

I had many expectations for TESS OF THE ROAD because of the cover proclaiming that epic dragon...but unfortunately it didn't really work for me. I also did like the story it turned out to be, but my expefctations were just so wildly different that I felt disappointed the whole way through. Instead of an action, dragon adventure, this is a slow meandering introspective tale of a girl walking the world to try and find peace and healing. It's full of feminism and women empowerment, which I totally adored, but the lack of plot really left me feeling the tedium of so many pages.

This is really a powerful feminism story! Which I appreciate because this doesn't often happen in fantasy! (It also felt like a really solid critique on our society and how people treat women.) It obviously is set in a really super sexist world and women are raised to hate their bodies and do what men want at all times. It was so sad and hard to read at times, but I think the discussions were important.

I also broke for Tess because she literally had her rambunctious and lively attitude beaten out of her as a child. Her mother was so abusive. I wish they'd underlined a bit more how absolutely disgustingly disgraceful it was how much her mother beat her. Like she was a "spank magnet" because anytime she wasn't ladylike, she'd get smacked as a kid. To the point where she once got spanked 203 times. I'm so irate. (And I honestly thought this should've been dismantled a bit more than Tess kind of shrugging it off later...it's horrific.) I have a HUGE list of characters in this book I want to throw down a well. They broke Tess and this book is about her mending herself. And I love Tess! Her voice, her attitude, her vulnerabilities and her heartbreaking secrets.

But I really struggled with the slowness, the lack of plot direction, and the fact that there aren't any dragons featuring, but instead a lizard and a serpent they meet briefly. A book that's over 500 pages needed to keep me rooted to the page, but it just didn't.

I recommend this one for people looking for an introspective fantasy walk. It said some really important things and Tess was brilliant and the writing was great!

TESS OF THE ROAD by award-winning Rachel Hartman (Feb. 27; Random House; SLJ: Grade 9 up) is a long (536 pages!) saga, but will certainly be appreciated by fans of Hartman's earlier work, Seraphina and Shadow Scale, set in that Southlands world. Here, Tess (half-sister to Seraphina) disguises herself and takes to the road after drunkenly punching her other sister's bridegroom. Tess's journey is both physical – doing manual work, pretending to be a priest, and searching for a serpent -- and spiritual; contrasting current adventures with previous traumatic events as readers learn of her past rape. TESS OF THE ROAD is a gripping tale with an important message and received starred review from Booklist, Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, and Kirkus.

I read Seraphina quite a while ago, so I did not remember a lot of the details. I thought I remembered it being more middle grade, but this book is decidedly young adult. This book addresses rape, teen pregnancy, and issues of sexuality are woven throughout. I did enjoy the book, but it took a really long time for me to finish. Tess has suffered terrible emotional abuse at the hands of her mother, and neglect at the hands of her father. She is broken, and throughout this book she tries to put herself back together. She is often horrible, but not evil. She does understand the value of true friendship, and demonstrates loyalty in between bouts of bad decisions. I was rooting for her and really wanted to see her overcome all of the difficulties in her life to find, if not a happy ending, at least a peaceful one.

What kind of fantasy is this? The heroine doesn't turn out to have superpowers, there's no love triangle, there's hardly even a dragon! This is much more a character-driven tale of a girl who just can't seem to do anything right and is constantly disappointing her family--sometimes rebellious, sometimes mischievous, sometimes just misunderstood. I found Tess to be somewhat annoying and immature at first, but liked her determination and her spirit and liked her even more once she left home. There are some great, well-developed characters here, some human, some not (I loved the quigutls!), and Tess's growth (and our growing understanding of her) was realistic and well-done. I quite liked it, but I do love some good character building! However, if you are looking for an action-packed tale filled with magic, this isn't it.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a free e-ARC of this book.

I have been wanting to read this book since I first heard about it and saw that awesome cover! I had also been wanting to read Seraphina's books. So when I got a copy of this book from NetGalley and read that it was set in the same world as Seraphina, I decided that I should read Seraphina first so that I could get as much out of this book as possible. I am glad I made this decision!

Although TotR is not part of the same series, and you could probably read TotR without reading Seraphina first, I wouldn't recommend it. TotT takes place in the years following Seraphina's books, and Seraphina's books contain quite a bit of (very well written) world building and background information that may make parts of TotR difficult to interpret without.

I love how Rachel Hartman talks about important issues that we face today in such a unique way that captivates readers! She takes topics that are so prevalent and important to talk about in today's culture and perfectly fit them into a story about dragons! For example, Seraphina focuses heavily on racism and the acceptance of interracial relationships.

Both Seraphina and this book talk quite a bit about religion. In Seraphina, the Sons of Ogdo use religion as an excuse to hate. In this book, Tess' mother uses religion to keep her family in line. This book even touches on gender identification (Quigutls can change their gender), rape, and slut shaming.

Tess takes place in a time after the war, in which people are supposed to be more accepting of dragons.

I ♥ that we get to learn more about quigutls in this book! We meet several briefly in Seraphina's books, but they are not the focus. We get to spend much more time with them in this book, and we get to learn more about their personalities and the way they live.

Tess dreams of being an adventurer like Dozerius the pirate that she read about as a child. She runs away from her family after an embarrassing, drunken wedding. Luckily, she runs into Pathka, her childhood quigutl friend, and they go on an adventure together, like they talked about when she was younger.

This was an awesome book! I highly recommend it! I can't wait to see what happens next! My only issue is how long I am going to have to wait to read the sequel!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Tess of the Road is a travelogue of the Southlands, part of the fictional world developed by Rachel Hartman in the Seraphina duology. Ultimately, Tess of the Road is a journey of self-discovery. As the younger, somewhat infamous sister of Seraphina, Tess has a tough road ahead of her. She has been branded a troublemaker. Seemingly never able to do anything right, despite her many sacrifices to improve her family financial and social standing, Tess gives up on trying to help and please everyone and runs away. But Tess isn’t just running away from the responsibilities of finding a good match for her twin sister in the Goreddi court. Tess has a bigger secret she is running from and Hartman does an excellent job weaving this reveal into the larger narrative of Tess’s journey.

In light of the #MeToo movement, Tess’s secret will resonate with many readers. A young woman taken in by the first man to notice her for the intelligent young lady that she is when she can’t yet see it for herself, Tess’s confidence and self-worth is shaken when the young man suddenly disappears. Self-loathing and self-doubt take root in Tess’s heart and mind. As Tess shares her physical and emotional struggles throughout her journey through the Southlands, the reader will be heartbroken, but by the end, admiration prevail.

In addition to discovering the truth behind Tess’s true reasons for running away, Hartman also gives readers a bit of insight into the dragon subspecies of quigutl. Throughout the original duology and in the early pages of Tess of the Road, there is a negative feeling around the quigutls. But Tess sees them for more. When she crosses paths with an old quigutl friend, Pathka, she seizes the opportunity to become reacquainted with the quigtul culture and invites Pathka to join her on her trip. Through their adventures together, Tess discovers that she and the quigutls have something in common — neither are thought of fondly by others, especially those of their own species, and both of them have troubled pasts. Tess isn’t as alone as she thinks and she soon discovers there is more to everyone that what is presented publically.

The craft with which Hartman layers the history and mythology of Goredd with the characters’ backstories is captivating. There are parallels between the layers that are not immediately realized at first blush. Beyond the idea of looking for acceptance of self and of others, Hartman tackles what each culture, human and quigtul, believes is a healthy parent/child relationship. As each character comes to grip with their own personal narrative and bits of truth are discovered there is release and acceptance on a personal level. (It turns out that sometimes the world at large isn’t ready to accept that legends have some truth behind them.)

This new novel from Hartman, set in the same world as the Seraphina duology, allows readers to return to the amazing world of Goredd where humans and dragons coexist in a tentative peace. Tess of the Road has heart and is a rewarding emotional journey to discover the truth of a legend and the truth of self.

Tess of the Road is the first book in a new series set in the same world (and containing some of the characters) from Rachel Hartman's Seraphina series. Tess is the troublemaker in the family, being curious and not afraid to speak her mind. The opening scenes show a number of situations where Tess gets into trouble. At her sister's wedding, things get heated and she punches a priest, causing embarrassment to the family and risking the marriage. Tess decides that she doesn't like her remaining options--convent or governess--and decides to run away. She runs into an old friend, dresses up like a boy and begins her adventures.

This is not the typical action packed fantasy book but closer to a more mature teenage coming of age story. Tess has some dark things that have happened to her that are slowly revealed over the course of the book so this is not a light and fluffy read. Tess is far from a perfect heroine, making poor decisions and is sometimes not very likeable but Rachel Hartman did a great job of making me want to see what Tess does in some hairy situations. The writing is excellent, the plot keeps moving forward and the characters that Tess interacts with are very compelling. If I have any complaint, it would be that the ending felt a little rushed and abrupt.

This isn't going to be a book for everyone (I have not read Seraphina yet so I am not sure how it compares) but I believe that the author did an excellent job of covering some sensitive topics and making me care about where Tess goes next on her journey. I am looking forward to reading more about her.

This book is very well-written and I loved/related to Tess. However, it wasn’t as up my alley as I thought it would be. I found it hard to keep track of the creatures and names. Maybe it would have been easier for me to follow had I read Seraphina.

Tess of the Road is an astounding book that presents a heartbreaking portrait of a young woman finally breaking the shackles of a restrictive upbringing in a fantasy world. Aided by a serpent-like quigutl, a species cousin to dragons, Tess overcomes her outcast status to find and value what she wants to be.

After Tess’s early disgrace, the end result of a religiously-focused mother trying to break the spirit of a creative, outgoing young girl without giving her the tools she needed to channel her intelligence and curiosity, the family is dependent on Tess’s twin Jeanne to marry well and ensure their financial survival. Tess struggles through this process, with the aid of a good amount of wine, until she finally has to run away instead of being put in an nunnery. She’s aided, although she doesn’t want to be, by her half-sister, the half-dragon Seraphina.

I’ve known Rachel Hartman was exceptionally skilled at fantasy world-building since her minicomic days, but this is a pinnacle of success. This book is filled with different terms and cultures and habits and religions, which normally frightens me away from most fantasy novels, but Hartman introduces them all so well and naturally that I was eager to learn more. I didn’t have to stop and puzzle over things; instead, I could sympathize with how many cultures are afraid of women’s abilities, creating prohibitions on their activities, regardless of the words used or saints invoked. There’s plenty of adventure and humor, as well, creating a page-turner that kept me up late just to hope for Tess to win out.

Hartman’s character portraits are beautifully detailed, establishing people you can see for yourself, and her invention of an entire other species, the unique quigutl, is amazing. Her previous two books, Seraphina and Shadow Scale, set up the world and its cultures, but they were focused on the scholarly dragons and Seraphina’s life at court. This book, a worthy companion, is more down-to-earth, both with the overlooked quigutl and Tess’s hardscrabble journey through the lives of workers and priests and criminals. This is about finding yourself among the marginalized and having the courage to be true to yourself and your loved ones, which just might change the world. Tess is forced into all this, with her choices pretty much being whatever she has left when forced to the breaking point. Her quest, although she doesn’t know it, is for healing, for acceptance of terrible memories and a life of emotional neglect.

Tess’s struggles are immensely sympathetic. She wasn’t the smart one or the pretty one, so she was ignored in favor of her younger brothers. Her skill in learning the quigutl language, something no one else bothered with, eventually leads her to a faithful partner and an amazing spiritual discovery. She’s inspired by the wrong kind of boys’ fantasy stories, finally realizing that there are more roles possible than left-behind love object or whore or nun (and that there’s nothing wrong with those, either). The author has expressed her goal to create “a road map back from trauma and grief”, and she succeeds. It’s an excessive claim, but I believe that readers of Tess of the Road will come out of it changed for the better, more thoughtful and sympathetic.

Loved this book! This is a quasi-sequel to Rachel Hartman's previous duo of books, "Seraphina" and "Shadowscale," though not exactly - it's set in the same world and in the time period after, but with mostly different characters. You could arguably read it without reading those books, but I don't think you'd have as good a sense of the world its set in - and what a world! I am in awe of Rachel Hartman and her imagination, with this medievalish world with dragons that can shapeshift into humans and also a separate, not shapeshifting, species of smaller, lizard-like dragons called quigutl which play a pretty big role in this book. The title subject of this book, Tess, is the younger half-sister of Seraphina from the previous books, and is a frustrated teenager from a formerly noble but now somewhat fallen family who ends up on a quest of sorts. She is a very prickly character especially at first, but really comes to life and became quite sympathetic. I loved "Seraphina" and "Shadowscale," but I think I loved this one even more, and can't wait to read the next one, which will surely be a long wait since this one was just published. 4.5 stars.

TESS OF THE ROAD is a return to the world of Rachel Hartman's previous books, SERAPHINA and SHADOW SCALE, two books I absolutely loved. With the combo of the beautiful cover art, and the promise of more like SERAPHINA, I dove right in to TESS OF THE ROAD. All in all, however, I'm not sure it stands up to Hartman's previous work, and I was a bit disappointed.

I have a few complaints about TESS OF THE ROAD. The first is that without any context, the world-building is nearly non-existent. I think the author is taking for granted that readers will have read her previous books, despite the fact that TESS is a new series. It felt very light on the explanation for some different aspects of the world, and I was confused at times, even with the background of having read SERAPHINA.

My second complaint is that the book doesn't feel like anything happens. Now, there are plenty of books where I don't feel like a lot happens and it's very compelling reading, but here it just feels like Tess is dropped into situation after situation with not much of a common thread between them. It gets a little slow at times, and after all of it, I also don't feel like Tess has grown much at all.

Still, Hartman has a way with characters that really shines in this book. Since the plot somewhat takes a backseat, the characters are really what kept me reading. The characters, even those who are only in the book for a chapter or two, tend toward the multi-faceted and interesting, especially Tess. She has a lot of aspects to her personality that the reader discovers as the book moves along. My feelings toward her definitely changed throughout her journey, as we're treated to flashbacks that explain how she got to where she is.

If you're going to pick up TESS OF THE ROAD, I definitely recommend SERAPHINA and SHADOW SCALE, as they're both really enjoyable books and will give you background for this one. If not, just be warned that you might be a little lost at first, until you get into the world. It wasn't always an easy read, but TESS is definitely an interesting one, and really shows how you view something can change. For that, I felt it was a worthwhile read.

I gave up after 50% of the book because I found it incongruous. On one hand we had Tess' (thraumatic) past, seen mostly through flashbacks, and then her random travel where mostly she just keeps blabbing about the past and doesn't have a real purpose.

This book resonated with me and I loved every minute of it. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that I think about all day long and want to get back to asap or stay up all night reading. Tess of the Road was a complete surprise for me. Hartman uses many fantasy tropes then flips them on their head! No one needs to be saved or healed by a hero, these characters have a choice and they have agency. My favorite thing about Tess’s story is that it’s about empowerment and mindfulness, Tess’s journey is very internal and character driven, this results in a book that lacks action, but by no means did it detracted from the telling as this is an engrossing book.

Tess of the Road has a lot of content that might be difficult for a lot of readers, this will be my only hesitation when recommending it. While I think Tess’s experiences and growth far outweigh any difficult content (drinking to cope, for example), I imagine many readers will have trouble getting past it.