Tess of the Road is a young adult fantasy novel about a young woman who finds herself rejected by her family, destined for a nunnery, but runs away to complete a quest with her childhood friend Pathka. Tess disgraced herself in the eyes of society, and her fate has been decided: she must help her younger sister find a husband, then accept a retreat from society. Ever since this fate was determined, Tess has been taming her rebellious streak with alcohol, but just when she has almost accomplished the task given to her, she finds herself to blame for the destruction at her sister’s wedding. At the last minute, she determines that she cannot spend the rest of her life behind walls – and sneaks out of the house, meeting up with her childhood friend Pathka, who agrees to travel with Tess to complete the quest they dreamed about as children: finding the World Serpents.

I had never read Rachel Hartman’s earlier book Seraphina (which is set in the same world), so I was not quite certain what to expect out of this one. I had imagined either a high fantasy or, after starting it, perhaps a light-hearted comedy. Tess of the Road, however, manages both. Tess’s world is a medieval setting with highly technical magic, and dragons that can shape-shift into humans. Tess’s older half sister Seraphina is half dragon herself. The religion in this book was fascinating to me – it managed to be precisely nonsensical enough to imitate our own world’s religions. Dragons are of course dangerous but still usually educated and wise. Humans are still somehow the superior race, despite evidence to the contrary. Human-dragon pairings are highly controversial, but the children of those couples are “saints” – revered by the world around them, and their thoughts are recorded and often quoted. Most fascinating are the quigutl – lizard-like cousins to the dragons who are clearly as rational as humans and dragons, but they are generally considered animals rather than people, and few bother to learn their language. This is the complex world through which Tess travels, hoping to find the World Serpents spoken of in quigutl legends. It sounds as strange as any other fantasy world, but all of the conflicts of that world are familiar. Women are expected to be servants to the men of their family and religious teachings are expected to be followed despite their frequent contradictions. The characters of Tess of the Road still struggle with greed and lust and trauma, people of all races still betray their friends and family, and forgiveness is still the most powerful tool available.

If the world of Tess of the Road is detailed and complex, so are the characters themselves. Tess is a perfect anti-hero; she often makes terrible choices, but her choices are understandable, and while I was not always rooting for her to win, I was always rooting for her to figure things out. She is stubborn and selfish and often acts out from the trauma hiding in her past, but when given the chance to help others, she does time after time, making her ultimately redeemable. Unlike many novels featuring an anti-hero, Tess’s friend Pathka is equally complicated. Pathka too has experienced abuse, nearly losing her life at a young age from a difficult birth after a rape. Pathka is a quigutl – they physically change from male to female many times throughout their lives, so while the Pathka of Tess’s childhood was a female, the Pathka that journeys with Tess is male. Pathka has experienced all the prejudices expected with his race, but still manages to be free of that bitterness. Instead, Pathka seems optimistic to a fault. Because of his own difficult experiences, he acts oblivious to the harm that he is capable of causing. He is swift to judgement and often is unflinchingly harsh with Tess and with others, but Pathka is still deeply capable of love and support, and his utter faith in the existence of the World Serpents is inspiring.

This book does deserve a bit of a content warning – it looks unflinchingly at difficult issues like birth trauma, rape, abuse, and abandonment. Those that are particularly sensitive to those topics might struggle with some scenes of Tess of the Road. However, those topics are handled incredibly well, especially given the target audience. Tess’s world is shown to be controlling of and hateful to women, but even given that setting, there are still many characters who are shown to be respectful and supportive of women, helping Tess continue her journey and address the trauma of her past. Many women are shown to be in positions of power, despite the obstacles presented by the world around them, and Tess is not just aided, but also inspired, and is given the space to heal from her past.

In all, Tess of the Road is absolutely a 10 out of 10. Every aspect of this book is stellar, from the rich characters to the fascinating world to the light-hearted yet still deeply meaningful text. Even non-fantasy fans will find themselves rooting for Tess as she finds her place in the world.

I legitimately don't know whether I liked this book or not. I felt like there was a lot of background info I'd missed from not having read SERAFINA.

A companion novel to the New York Times best-seller "Seraphina," Rachel Hartman's newest young adult fantasy, "Tess of the Road," tells the story of Seraphina's younger half-sister, Tess.

Since she was small, Tess has been the troublemaking half of her twinship with her sweet, obedient sister Jeanne, and her mother's strict religious upbringing made it certain that Tess always knew it. As a young teen, Tess gets into the kind of tragic scandal that could ruin her family, so she throws herself into helping her sister marry well in order to save them. She knows she's condemned to a future of caring for her sister's children or a convent, unsuitable for anything else.

Then, Tess decides she can't take it anymore and runs away to create a future all her own. She travels with her quigutl friend (a lesser form of dragon) to find the ancient, grand dragons of myth and legend and, along the way, runs into all sorts of adventures.

A Tolkienesque quest novel, "Tess of the Road" plods along at a slow pace for much of its length. "Seraphina" and its sequel "Shadow Scale" tell the unique tale of a half-dragon who hid in plain sight as a musician at the royal palace and fell in love with a prince, and its story has a typical, linear plot with a lot more tension because of it. "Tess of the Road" takes place in the same world, but Tess is an ordinary human teenager with some ordinary, if horrible, problems, and she wanders around the countryside for a long time trying to run away from them.

Tess has gone through a lot of trauma and abuse — more than anyone's fair share — and the highlight of the novel is how she overcomes her past. She discovers that she's not so alone and strange as she always thought and instead is worthy of love and happiness. A lot of the heavy topics in the story feel a little beyond young adult, but they're dealt with in an empathetic and poignant way.

Overall, if you can get through the dragging middle section, readers will be rewarded with a beautiful message of resilience and healing. They will also get to know a character whose growth is believable and remarkable, and maybe even familiar to us humans.

Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman

5 stars

“You can’t walk away without also walking toward.”

Tess always been the “bad” child. The daughter who never did anything right. Her existence has consisted of one failure after another and her mother never lets her forget. After ruining her twin sister’s wedding night, she finds herself with the opportunity to run away. She can go on the road and live out the adventures she chased after as a child or she can enter a convent and appease her mother. Tess chooses the road (cloaking herself as a man for protection) and reunites with an old quitgul (a reptile-like creature) friend. Together they embark on the road together and encounters many adventures, but their greatest adventure is discovering the Great Serpent that calls to Pathka in ko’s (pronoun for the quitgul race) dreams. The serpent may be able to help Tess pull herself out of the darkness and if not, at least the road will. I will leave Tess of the Road with that simple and very confusing summary because I want readers to go into this novel without knowing much. This is a spinoff to Seraphina (which I haven’t read) and I honestly don’t believe that hindered my understanding. It spoiled Seraphina for me, but it didn’t lessen my excitement to go back and immerse myself in more of Hartman’s world. This novel is genius. I think my favorite thing about Tess of the Road is the world building. This world is vast. The creatures are countless. The religions are numerous and the quitgul’s have their own language. I’m pretty sure Hartman has some background in linguistics because she has put so much love into every little intricate detail about the creatures Tess encounters in different parts of her life. Hartman’s writing style is crisp, addictive, and emotionally captivating. I was so incredibly moved by Tess’s narrative. She has one of the most gut-wrenching stories I’ve come across in a YA fantasy. Hartman is an author to be watched and I can’t believe it has taken me so long to pick up one of her works (especially knowing how many people raved about Seraphina)!


Whimsical Writing Scale: 5

“The road was possibility, the kind she’d thought her life would never hold again, and Tess herself was motion. Motion had no past, only future. Any direction you walked was forward, and that was as must be.”

The main female character is Tess. Tess is full of imagination, but her naivety has also caused her great pain and this has hardened her from a young age. Tess is full of trigger warnings. She’s an adolescent alcoholic who imbibes at the worst of times, but that alcoholism is rooted in the pain of her past. We learn early on that Tess had a baby out of wedlock. We don’t know where the baby is or what exactly happened and we also don’t know the story of how the baby came to be. It’s all hidden away into crevices within Tess and as she embarks on her journey on the road more and more becomes slowly revealed to the reader. I’m going to discuss put the major trigger warnings in spoiler tags because they are massive spoilers one of these warning does not come about until the last 87% of the novel. [ Tess had a relationship with a man who groomed her and raped her when she was barley fourteen years old (not revealed until 87% of the way through). This results in her becoming pregnant and having a baby as a teen. She delivers the baby prematurely and it results in her son, Dozerius, dying within only a couple of days of living. (hide spoiler)] Tess’s experiences have hardened her, but she is always so compassionate towards others (even those who don’t deserve it). She is one of my favorite heroines and I am so happy to have been privileged to know her story because it was one meant to be told.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 5

There are so many characters in this novel. Pathka is an integral character. She was once best friends with Tess, but now he (quitgul’s are able to change their gender) and Tess are basically family. Seeing their dynamic on the road was so emotionally gripping. I loved their relationship. The fights they had were real and not contrived, but they always understood one another. Kikiu is Pathka’s daughter and she also makes several appearances that slightly baffled me, but were also incredibly enduring. Pathka and Kikiu have a very odd relationship, but it was so amazing to see another species’ family dynamic. Seraphina also plays an important role in Tess’s journey starting and eventually changing course. There were so many characters and I want to talk about all of them, but it’s better to go on the road and discover them alongside Tess.


Character Scale: 5

The Villain- The interesting thing about this fantasy novel is that it doesn’t have a BIG BAD VILLAIN, which is a pleasant contrast to the usual political takedown plots that keep the fantasy genre afloat. Tess of the Road doesn’t need a villain because life is evil enough sometimes. Tess’s own mistakes and the mistakes of those around her affect the dynamic of her life and it, in turn, moves her onto different courses. It’s a contemporary novel set in a fantasy world and I loved that.


Villain Scale: 5 Life can suck LOL

I really want people to read Tess of the Road. This is the second YA fantasy novel I’ve come across this year that tackled teen pregnancy (Reign the Earth) and both of those novels were superb. I want people to go on an adventure with no dire plot or overall meaning. There is no failure in this novel when it comes to the adventure because for the longest time the reader isn’t sure of the adventure. This probably makes no sense, but it’s a philosophical novel that tackles interesting topics and if that’s your jam, then you definitely want to pick up this novel.


Plotastic Scale: 5

Cover Thoughts: This cover is stunning. When I started reading it made no sense, but now it holds all the meaning of the world within this novel.

Thank you, Netgalley and Random House Books for Young Readers, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed Tess of the Road. I hope there are more.

Tess of the Road may be set in the world of the Southlands, but it’s not a continuation of Seraphina or Shadow Scale. This book is all about Tess, who is Seraphina’s half sister. In fact, it stands so much apart that if you haven’t read Hartman’s previous books, you are just fine.

I wish I could say I like Tess of the Road as much as Hartman’s other books, but it is slow getting started. Tess doesn’t actually get on the road until you’re almost a full fourth of the way into the book. Things do pick up leading to her “escape,” but it takes a while.

Tess isn’t a particularly likeable character, and her overall story arc doesn’t feel new or interesting. I found myself pushing to get through this one, which isn’t something I like doing. I’d check this one out at the library before purchasing it.

I want to state this at the beginning- Tess of the Road is one of those books that you will either love or not. If you’re looking for dragons, high fantasy adventure, or swash-buckling action, this is not the book for you. Instead, if you’re looking for a beautifully written, thought-provoking, and insightful story, this is the book for you. Yes, Tess is an unlikeable narrator. Does it ultimately matter? No.

I applaud Hartman for her portrayal of Tess. Rather than the typical fantasy heroine, Tess is unlikeable, unsympathetic, and absolutely unconventional. And yet, there was something raw, real, and entirely human about her. I didn’t like her but I could understand how she had become the person she was. As the story progressed and more of Tess’s story was revealed, Hartman beautifully addresses a wide variety of difficult topics. In particular, I loved the way in which she utilized flashbacks to identify each specific aspect of the formative events in Tess’s life that led her to where she is now.

Tess of the Road is a novel about journeys. There is Tess’s physical journey away from her home. There is her quigutl friend’s spiritual journey. And, perhaps my favorite, Tess’s journey of self-acceptance and discovery. That was the one that resonated with me the most. I loved that Hartman didn’t give her heroine an overnight or easy fix for her problems but rather tracked Tess’s on-going journey day by painful day. She sometimes fails. There were setbacks, constant struggles against her inner voice, and difficult memories to overcome. But Tess kept going. And Hartman did a beautiful job of showing the strength it takes to do that.

There are so many different layers in this book, I feel as if I’ll discover a new story every time I read it. At first, I did feel as if the book was too slow and meandering. However, as I neared the end, everything began to coalesce and I understood why Hartman choose to write the book the way she did. It was absolutely brilliant. This book may have been fantasy but I’ve only read a few books that did such a brilliant job of exploring human emotions, both positive and negative. I would highly recommend picking up Tess of the Road if you’re looking to go on a journey, to understand what it means to travel The Road.

*I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

If I am being honest with myself, I am not sure why I even requested this book for review. Well, actually I know why, it's because this cover is GORGEOUS, I mean look at it! <3

That being said, the story was not anywhere near as gorgeous as the outside. 

I ended up DNFing this book around 50%, and I feel really bad to have to write a negative review because I know this is a book that would be appealing to so many people, just not me.

I found the writing to be really beautiful, but as for the content, it felt all over the place. It made the story confusing, and overall boring because it felt like there was nothing to follow. 

I also didn't know going in that this world would make much more sense to those who have read her Seraphina series, but I highly recommend reading those first if you haven't.

At the end of the day, my biggest issue with it was that I don't really enjoy stories with dragons in it, and I knew what I was getting myself into when I picked it up. I ended up giving this book a 2/5 and honestly, that rating is all on me. I really should have known. If you like books with dragons or have Rachel's other books, then I think that you would enjoy it - don't let my low rating dishearten you.

A powerful and exciting fantasy novel. Stands on the shoulders of those who came before, but a good transition to a more adult fantasy novel for teens who are well over Percy Jackson and his kin.

Tessie was born a troublemaker. She is curious and outspoken, which often gets her in trouble. I had to chuckle when reading the intro to this story. Her sister calls her a "spank magnet.'' But it's definitely true....Tessie has a great talent for getting into trouble. After a bad scene at her twin sister's wedding where she punched a priest (he really did deserve it), she decides to set out on her own to avoid being sent to a convent. She disguises herself as a boy and leaves her home.

Tess of the Road is set in the same world as two of Hartman's previous novels, Seraphina and Shadow Scale. I think I would have understood and enjoyed this story more if I had first read the other books. But despite the fact that I didn't understand a few things from the previous stories, I still enjoyed this book. It's dark in places....but....the writing is great, the story is good, and I love the main character. Tess is feisty, intelligent and does things her way.

Tess of the Road is both an adventure tale and a coming-of-age story. Tess has to find herself and a purpose for her life. It was so interesting to read about her learning to experience the world and finding her place in it. Tess grows as a person throughout the story. She's a very strong main character...it was easy to root for her as she got into some scrapes and difficult situations.

Great book! I loved the humor, adventure and vivid details in this story! I'm going to backtrack and read the Seraphina novels, and then re-read this one. An enjoyable story, but I think I will enjoy it more after reading the previous books.

The cover art for this book is awesome!!

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Random House via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

I loved Seraphina and Shadow Scale written by the same author, so when I saw that it was going to be another book in the same world, I knew that I had to read it.

Initially I was not liking the story because Tess is not a likeable person, so it took me a while to like the book, especially since I was waiting to see Seraphina, to which we get to see a little. Tess in the course of the story goes from a bitter and angry young woman to a woman who is learning her place in a difficult world where she lives because is a world difficult for a single women, without the protection of her family. In the end I liked it, it has a good ending that got me hooked to read the next book.

I reviewed this book here: http://www.bethfishreads.com/2018/02/stacked-up-book-thoughts-escape-reading.html

I have been a HUGE fan of Rachel Hartman since I read Seraphina and fell in love with that world. I have been lucky enough to receive an advance reader copy of Tess of the Road and want to share my thoughts on it as well.

Hartman does a great job of taking us back before she takes us forward. We saw Tess briefly as one of the younger twin sisters of Seraphina. Hartman takes us through Tess' thought process during an incident in her youth where she wrangled in her sister and cousin. It didn't end well for Tess. She was spanked. A lot. All the time.

In the here and now, Tess is shown as a not-so-patient twin sister trying to help get her sister married off so her family can once again have money. We see glimpses from now and throughout the book as to why Tess isn't the one being married since she is the oldest sister, but we don't know the whole story until the very end of the book. While I see how it helped Tess grow as a person, only revealing it in chunks, it was frustrating trying to figure out exactly why she acted like she did.

So I don't give too much away, I'll stop with plot analysis there. We do see some characters from Seraphina pop up, but I'll be honest. It has been so long since I read that duology that I had forgotten who they were and why they popped up when they did. I had to Google them. Which helped. :-)

Seraphina, of course, makes an appearance. Initially, she is characterized as a very flat character, but I realized that that's because we were seeing her through Tess' eyes. Really, the longer you stick with the book, the better it gets.

Overall, if you had not read Seraphina, you would probably not like this book very much. I ordered it for my library, but now I have to go back and buy Seraphina and Shadow Scale so students can read them in order. BUT. If you read Seraphina and enjoyed it, you will also love Tess of the Road. She is one of the most bitter 16 year olds I have ever had the pleasure of getting to know. And I feel like I am a better person because I knew her.

I loved Hartman's previous books and was SO excited to get to read this galley. And it didn't disappoint. Rarely is a main character so 3D - Tess is a mess, actually, and the author doesn't flinch in getting this across. It's hard to write a character so full of flaws and yet so likable at the same time. (Not that a character HAS to be likable but Tess is.)

The story opens with Tess being the obedient servant to her own sister's pending engagement. Tess is a penitent; she majorly screwed up a few years back in a big way, which brought shame to her family and serious pain to herself. So she's hoping that her sister's new relationship will ease some of the impact that choice had on her family's reputation. But Tess has yet to process that impact on herself and when things at home come to a head, she takes off. (So now the title makes sense.) All the weirdness and world building Hartman did on Goredd is on full display in her adventures...plus a bit more.

I liked that this book resolves but in a nontraditional way. There's romance but it isn't the end-all focus of the story. The focus is more on Tess's own realization of how her past - right and wrong - has shifted her personality, and recovering from the trauma that caused. Like Hartman's other books, it's very female-centered without being sentimental or overwrought.

Recommended for readers of Hartman's previous books, anyone who likes adventure, cool world building and a lot of emotional depth.

I suppose "The Road" in the title should tip you off that this book is about the journey, not the destination. This was a good fictional traveling book, although I was not pleased with how a character reappeared near the end.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I finished this book last night and I felt my heart breaking and re-knitting itself all the way through. This is a book that captures so flawlessly what it is like to grow up, and all the messy wonderful aching beauty of the process, and it took my breath away.

"Tess of the Road" is a sequel, of sorts, to "Seraphina" and "Shadow Scale" but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to someone who hasn't read either. It is set in the same world as "Seraphina" and Seraphina herself makes several appearances, but the main character is Tess, Seraphina's younger half-sister. The structure of these reminds me of the way that Tamora Pierce has structured her Tortall series, with books featuring a different main character who comes into contact with old friends along the way. If you've read 'Song of the Lioness' and 'The Immortals' there's a similar dynamic at play here - the focus is on Tess, but familiar faces pop up with a decent amount of frequency.

The book is beautifully written, well paced and well structured. It's half quest adventure and half coming-of-age: the overarching plot is not resolved when the book ends so I'm sure we'll be getting another novel featuring the further growth and adventures of Tess. The quest adventure plot was very entertaining, with just enough mysticism to keep it fantastic and enough horror and tragedy to keep it grounded.

It was the emotional journey of the character that really got me though. Tess has had a rough time of it, and even though some of the trouble is of her own making Ms. Hartman does a wonderful job of building a character who is flawed but sympathetic. And the best part? Tess is growing up along the way. The character is far from static. She learns from her mistakes and her triumphs, and honestly grows up during the course of the book which is not always the case in coming of age stories. Tess makes terrible errors and excellent choices because that's what growing up is all about. I ached for her and cheered for her. I can't wait to meet her again.

Ms. Hartman has demonstrated once more that she's a wonderful writer and this book was worth the wait.

I was so ready to like this book after reading the Seraphina books, but this one just didn't deliver. I don't mind that she was rather unlikable, which I know is a complaint some have, but I just didn't find her journey that interesting. Hartman often falls into the unfortunate YA author habit of using unnecessarily big words to prove that just because its YA doesn't mean it's dumbed down.

I was really excited when Tess of the Road came up for galley and I was given a chance to review this much anticipated novel. A spin-off of the fantasy hit Seraphina, in which a young court musician is drawn into a delightful murder mystery involving dragons and intrigue, Tess of the Road reenters the world of Goredd by way of its predecessor’s younger half-sister. I’ve never read Seraphina but it is on my ever-growing TBR list, and I was drawn to the grass roots feel of the setting and characters.

The first few chapters of Tess were gripping. With a bird’s eye view into the childhood of Tess and her twin sister Jeanne, both of whom have grown up in the interminable shadow of their older sister Seraphina (who is more clever, better read, and prettier than they could ever hope to be), I was charmed by the pressing wit and undeniable sense of adventure that circled young Tess like a veritable aura. She could not help herself when her mind grasped upon even the tiniest threads of ideas, and many of them led her down paths that ended with spankings and admonishments, further cementing her status as “the problem child.” She was shameless in her quest for knowledge, a trait that remained glued to her side as Tess slid ungracefully into her adolescence and her young adult years, but it was also this push for all things academic that ended her in a very poor predicament – pregnant and alone, in a time when she should be preparing to fulfill her monetary obligations as first-born daughter and marry well to keep the family safe.

Drawn with an enigmatic pull by the stories of the roguish pirate Dozerius that she’d been obsessed with as a child, Tess thirsted for the great wide world and what lay beyond Goredd’s closely tended borders. For Tess, the way out would be through learning, but after attending several lectures with her cousin Kenneth, the young girl found her eyes shifting upon another source of adventure. Will, a dynamic academic in league with the local educational center that fancied itself on the forefront of discovery and studies, caught her heart from nearly the moment she laid eyes on him. Here was the first man to ever take Tess seriously; a man who found her interesting and full of bright ideas. He appreciated her mind and for that, Tess allowed him to appreciate her body – despite the biblical words of her mother grinding into her eardrums all the while. But things did not turn out the way Tess would have thought.

As a result, the life Tess was bound to by duty became undone, and she was spirited away into the countryside to give birth in secret. The sins of her past have haunted her for two years, but she has put those years into good stead, carving out an honorable place for Jeanne in court and assisting to find a husband for her sister that can save the family from their impending monetary ruin. Wine and spirits have helped to lubricate the days and endless nights of her pilgrimage, and it’s also allowed Tess to mask the pain that is etched so deep within her soul. The loss of Will, the abandonment of their child, the stabbing guilt at having been knocked down from her place of worth as first daughter . . . they are all things that have snuffed out the spirit of Tess Dombegh.

But as the light of a new day dawns upon the girl, as harsh as the headache her hangover is inducing, Tess decides on another path. She could do as her parents are insisting and settle herself in a nunnery, a place where she will surely have any life left in her stifled and burnt out like a troublesome candle’s flame in the shadows of night. Or, she could take Seraphina’s not-so-subtle advice and put her new boots to road, striking out on her own and hopefully finding a bit of herself along the way.

Of course, Tess chooses the latter, and thus a story is made . . . weaving together the superstitious nature of a undesired species, a quest for treasures that lie deep within the ground, the healing powers of a curious legend, and many odd characters along the way into a tapestry of fantasy.

Dressed like a boy and ready to steal for her supper, Tess meets up with an old friend and ally, but also finds herself in a nest full of unsavory creatures. She will make choices that define good and evil, learn an honest day’s work for an honest wage, and carefully crack open the egg of pain that is so firmly nestled into the aching pit of her stomach. Tess will become a pirate of her own road, coming to grips with the sins of her past and putting old anguish to bed.

Tess of the Road is the newest novel by YA fantasy author Rachel Hartman, a writer best known for her acclaimed Seraphina series. While readers will recognize the dusty and antiquated land of Goredd and its surrounding cities, they will get a closer look at the elements to be found in them and what lies beyond the edges of town. Hartman has a flair for illustrating beautiful visions of hard beaten paths and fields of wheat, as well as of richly drawn characters that hold admirable and ridiculous qualities that can make them turn foe from friend on a dime, and then back again. Tess is one of those such characters; she is unrepentant and unruly, and that should make her likable . . . right?

While the overall writing of this novel was lovely and well-placed, I was completely shocked at how terrible the story was. I don’t use this term of phrase lightly, but it felt like a knock-off. I was captivated by the first few chapters of the novel, feeling a fresh take to the time-old tale of a misunderstood eccentric who knew she did not belong, and as such, decided it was time to forge her own way . . . but as the story actually got it’s footing, so to speak, I was shocked. Was I reading Wicked all over again? The politics, the creatures, the love affair – they all felt way too Elphaba’ish and I quickly soured. The story that I thought I was reading seemed to morph into something nearly unreadable and loathsome, with a storyline so convoluted and nonsensical that I became offended by the way the author’s flowery language tried to cover it up. The plot went nowhere. The characters did not evolve. There was zero resolution. If the author’s plan was to bring things to a close via a sequel, good luck to her – I won’t be going anywhere near it.

If I wasn’t a finisher, I would have put this book down little more than halfway through. It was so disappointing; if a book is going to be terrible, I’d rather it open that way instead of sucking me in with a few well-plotted chapters before diving off into the deep end of a dark ocean with its slime and sludge. My time was wasted, plain and simple. Every time I felt that the story was going to start ramping back up to something I could relate to and made sense, it would veer left again into a silly plot line that held no place or purpose and dead-ended. Hartman did not do Tess the justice she deserved; in fact it felt as if Seraphina continued to do what she had done to Tess all along – overshadowed her and outshone her at nearly every turn. Serpahina popped up so much that it felt as if this book belonged to her; Tess was portrayed as someone who was striking out to make her own choices and find herself but instead, she was being coddled and protected nearly the entire way by forces she could not see (and in my opinion, forces she would not have appreciated).

I did not like this book, and as a result, I will not be reading Seraphina – I don’t care how good people say it is. 2 stars to this new novel, and nothing more.

Truly outstanding. I am a fantasy fan, in general. So, when I got the chance to read this as a #NetGalley ARC, I jumped at it. But it wasn't the fantasy elements that most impressed me in Tess of the Road, rather the deep examination of a young woman struggling with herself and the trauma she's endured. Here is a protagonist facing the same sorts of traumas young woman face today -- wrought by family members and partners -- struggling with the after-effects of that trauma as she tries desperately to reclaim who she is in the world. This is a fantasy story, but it is also a story with so much emotional depth that a reader can connect with Tess as reader and character seek wholeness together at the same time. This was more healing journey than epic adventure, which I for one found very satisfying. . I'm interested in seeing where the adventure takes Tess in the future, but I'm not sure a sequel will be able to resonate so deeply on an emotional level. Tess of the Road is part of the same world as the Seraphina books, but Tess stands on her own two feet. A reader could easily begin with this book and work back to Seraphina while waiting for the next Tess book to hit the shelves.

I have mixed feelings about this one. I loved Tess and the parts of the story that focused on her as she dealt with her past and walked toward her future. But the book was long, dragged in parts, and the fantasy pieces were often interrupted by the character pieces (but not in a smooth or seamless way). I didn't feel the integration was well done. It was as if the book isn't clear about it's own identity. From the cover, I was expecting a dragon-adventure sort of story. That is not what this is. If you are looking for action and adventure in a fantasy realm, this may not quite satisfy. If you are looking for a character-driven story, this may be a better fit. I liked Tess enough to push past the flaws, but I likely won't try any sequels.