Shadow Scale cover art

Shadow Scale

A Companion to Seraphina

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Shadow Scale

By: Rachel Hartman
Narrated by: Mandy Williams, W. Morgan Sheppard
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About this listen

 Seraphina took the literary world by storm with 8 starred reviews and numerous “Best of” lists. At last, her eagerly awaited sequel has arrived—and with it comes an epic battle between humans and dragons.

The kingdom of Goredd: a world where humans and dragons share life with an uneasy balance, and those few who are both human and dragon must hide the truth. Seraphina is one of these, part girl, part dragon, who is reluctantly drawn into the politics of her world. When war breaks out between the dragons and humans, she must travel the lands to find those like herself—for she has an inexplicable connection to all of them, and together they will be able to fight the dragons in powerful, magical ways.

As Seraphina gathers this motley crew, she is pursued by humans who want to stop her. But the most terrifying is another half dragon, who can creep into people’s minds and take them over. Until now, Seraphina has kept her mind safe from intruders, but that also means she’s held back her own gift. It is time to make a choice: Cling to the safety of her old life, or embrace a powerful new destiny?

Praise for Seraphina:

A New York Times Bestseller
An Indie Bestseller
Winner of the William C. Morris Debut Award
Winner of the Cybil Award for Teen Fantasy and Science Fiction
An Amazon Top 20 Teen Book of the Year
A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of the Year
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Library Journal Best Young Adult Literature for Adults Selection
A Booklist Editors’ Choice
An ABA New Voices Pick
A Publishers Weekly Flying Start Author
An ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book
An ALA-YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults Book
Recipient of 8 Starred Reviews

“Beautifully written, well-rounded characters, and some of the most interesting dragons I’ve read in fantasy for a long while. An impressive debut novel; I can’t wait to see what Rachel Hartman writes next.”
—Christopher Paolini, New York Times bestselling author of Eragon

“A novel that will appeal to both fans of Christopher Paolini’s Eragon series and Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown.”
—Entertainment Weekly Fantasy Fiction Historical Fiction Literature & Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Dragons Middle Ages

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Critic reviews

“…the intricate plotting, clever surprises.. and lovely prose make this a worthy conclusion for all of Hartman’s big-hearted characters.”
—Booklist starred review

"This is a tale of love, mistakes, double-crosses, and pain---one that left me tied up in knots!"
—Tamora Pierce, NYT bestselling author

“…[Hartman] continues to expand her world with enough history and detail to satisfy even the most questioning of readers, doing it all so naturally that it's hard to believe this is fiction. Dragon fiction has never flown higher.”
—Kirkus Review starred review

"...[A] worthy and wholly satisfying continuation of Seraphina’s tale."
—Publishers Weekly starred review
All stars
Most relevant
The voice is pure RP, but the delivery ... I thought I could cope with the sing-song narration. I might have stopped grinding my teeth eventually. But then there was the dreadful wrong emphasis in one sentence after another, chapter after chapter, eviscerating not just nuance but meaning. Where you might expect something like "he entered by the other door" to emphasise 'other' as the writer intended and indicating the character's choice, this narrator will invariably put the stress on either "he" or 'entered' and this is a very mild example. You are left with the sense of being read to by a bright high-schooler who does not really get the story or understand the information the writer intends to convey. The whole experience is like being listening to nails being drawn down a chalkboard. I'll certainly return this, buy it as a Kindle book and read it over again with some enjoyment. When I have got over this ghastly audio experience.

Killed by the narrator

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Exactly what I needed as a reader, a conclusion that gives me room to create further stories and conclusions. Wonderful listen!

Excellent sequel!

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Such witty and entertaining writing! I am very sad to have finished this book and am now longing for more from Rachel Hartman.

Fantastic!

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