Seraphina
In the kingdom of Goredd, dragons and humans have held an uneasy forty-year peace by the terms of a treaty that requires dragons to take human form, renounce most of their emotions, and live as scholars and diplomats among people who still hate them. Seraphina Dombegh is a brilliant court musician with a secret her dying mother left her that, if discovered, would see her executed by both sides. When a member of the royal family is found murdered in a way only a dragon could have done, the peace begins to fray, and Seraphina is pulled into the investigation alongside Prince Lucian Kiggs, the bastard nephew of the queen, whose careful logic keeps getting uncomfortably close to her own secret. Rachel Hartman's 2012 debut is a quieter, music-shaped fantasy about a girl learning to stop apologizing for existing.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about Seraphina
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Sixteen-year-old Seraphina is a gifted court musician in a kingdom of uneasy peace between humans and dragons who can shift to human form. She is one of the only beings who is both, and no one can know.
Rachel Hartman's Seraphina has two main books and two follow-ups: Seraphina, Shadow Scale, Tess of the Road, and In the Serpent's Wake. The four novels share a world but follow different protagonists.
Yes. Seraphina is YA fantasy with a half-dragon protagonist navigating court politics. There is no explicit content. It is suitable for readers 13 and up.
Seraphina was written by Rachel Hartman, published in 2012 by Ember.
Seraphina is 465 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Seraphina takes most readers 7 to 10 hours to finish.
Seraphina is a standalone novel by Rachel Hartman, not part of a series.
Seraphina is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.