Book Review
Nov. 16th, 2025 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariTess of the Road
by Rachel Hartman
This character-driven fantasy novel is set in the same world as Hartman's earlier Seraphina series, and takes place a few years after the events in those two books. Tess is Seraphina's half-sister. Tess has always been a bit of a wild child, prone to mischief and of a temperament at odds with becoming the proper, modest, demure young woman her puritanically pious mother wants her to be. Having endured some traumatic experiences at a young age, Tess grows into a troubled young woman. After she makes a scene at her twin sister's wedding, her disapproving family gives her a terrible choice between entering a convent or serving her sister as a lady in waiting and eventual governess. Tess rebels against both options and runs away, disguised as a boy. When she runs into Pathka, an old friend, she joins him on his quest to find the mythical World Serpent. On the road, Tess finds she must face her traumas and troubles and come to terms with them.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Hartman's writing and setting are very rich and compelling - I was always completely drawn into the story and the characters. Tess' adventures are varied and often exciting. She makes friends and has encounters that help her to see a wider world and to gain new understanding of her past. She finally begins to heal from it and to move forward. Tess could be a very frustrating character as she made plenty of bad decisions and lashed out at people. But she was also someone I could always root for and empathize with, especially her process of growing, healing, and finally figuring out her own path.
by Rachel Hartman
This character-driven fantasy novel is set in the same world as Hartman's earlier Seraphina series, and takes place a few years after the events in those two books. Tess is Seraphina's half-sister. Tess has always been a bit of a wild child, prone to mischief and of a temperament at odds with becoming the proper, modest, demure young woman her puritanically pious mother wants her to be. Having endured some traumatic experiences at a young age, Tess grows into a troubled young woman. After she makes a scene at her twin sister's wedding, her disapproving family gives her a terrible choice between entering a convent or serving her sister as a lady in waiting and eventual governess. Tess rebels against both options and runs away, disguised as a boy. When she runs into Pathka, an old friend, she joins him on his quest to find the mythical World Serpent. On the road, Tess finds she must face her traumas and troubles and come to terms with them.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Hartman's writing and setting are very rich and compelling - I was always completely drawn into the story and the characters. Tess' adventures are varied and often exciting. She makes friends and has encounters that help her to see a wider world and to gain new understanding of her past. She finally begins to heal from it and to move forward. Tess could be a very frustrating character as she made plenty of bad decisions and lashed out at people. But she was also someone I could always root for and empathize with, especially her process of growing, healing, and finally figuring out her own path.
