Title: SHADOW SCALE
Author: Rachel Hartman
Pub. Date: March 10, 2015
Publisher:
Pages: 608
Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Goodreads
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?
Now on to the interview!
Thanks so much Rachel for
answering my questions! I can’t wait to read SHADOW SCALE!
Hi Rachel! First I want to say
welcome to Two Chicks on Books! I loved SERAPHINA and can’t wait to read SHADOW
SCALE and am so happy that you could stop by for a visit!
For
the readers: can you tell us a little bit about the amazing world you’ve built
and the characters?
Goredd is a medieval realm where
dragons are able to take human form. As you might imagine, this causes a great
deal of trouble. Dragons and humans have been at peace for forty years, but
it’s been a strained relationship, and by the end of SERAPHINA, both sides have
reached a breaking point. SHADOW SCALE sees the dragons at war with each other
-- a conflict between those who want to preserve peace with humans, and those
who want to annihilate them -- and the war is likely to spill south into human
lands unless Seraphina can find a way to prevent it.
For those of us who have read SERAPHINA
can you spill any secrets about SHADOW SCALE?
It’s hard not to be spoilery, but
I think I can say that Seraphina finally goes searching for the people in her
head. Her journey takes her across the Southlands, through Porphyry and into
dragon territories, and even into the darkest and most hidden corners of
herself.
Were
any of the characters in the book inspired by people from your real life?
There’s no one-to-one
correspondence, no. On the other hand, almost every character has qualities
stolen from real life. It’s as if I took everyone I ever met, shook them up
together in a bag, and reassembled them from different pieces.
Who was your favorite character to write? What about your least favorite?
Orma has always been my favourite,
both in Seraphina and Shadow Scale. He comes to me quite
naturally. I don’t know that I’d call anyone my “least favourite,” exactly, but
certainly the hardest character to write was Jannoula. It took me a long time
to get her personality exactly in balance so she wasn’t too over-the-top or too
obscure.
What is your favorite passage/scene in SHADOW SCALE?
It’s hard
to answer this without spoiling! However, I think my very favourite scene is
the epilogue. I occasionally felt at sea with this book, and it was like my
star in the storm, leading me toward the place I knew I had to go.
What kind of research did you have to do for the story?
I read a lot of feminist,
post-colonial, and social justice essays, which I hope won’t scare anyone off.
Everything I read is thrown in the mulch hopper, and it comes out thoroughly
fermented on the other side. You’ll hardly know it’s there.
What are you reading right now? Or what do you have on your TBR that you’re
dying to read?
I just started Sex and Violence,by Carrie Mesrobian, which is terrific so far. I was in the middle of TerryPratchett’s Dodger, but he just died
and so I think I’m going to have to set that one aside for a while. It makes me
too sad right now.
Who is your ultimate Book Boyfriend?
Oh, golly, I’m afraid my tastes in
literary men are pretty old-fashioned. I quite like Will Ladislaw, from Middlemarch. Although as I get older, I
almost prefer Mr. Farebrother.
What inspired you to write YA?
I wanted to write for teens
because that’s the age I was when reading seemed most magical, when a single
book still had the power to change the course of my life.
Lightening
Round Questions
I use them
but I sort of hate them both. I guess right now I lean toward Twitter, where I
enjoy having writing sprints with friends
Ajax! Whaddaya mean ancient Greeks
don’t count?
Don’t make me choose!
I am afraid of fuzzy caterpillars.
Stop laughing. It’s sad and true.
I was about to protest that I know
nothing of upcoming movies, but then I remembered that I heard there’s a new
Terminator coming. Even though I was pretty meh
on the last one, I am always a sucker
for Terminator.
Rachel Hartman’s first YA fantasy novel, SERAPHINA, will be published by Random House on July 10th, 2012.
Rachel was born in Kentucky, but has lived a variety of places including Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, England, and Japan. She has a BA in Comparative Literature, although she insists it should have been a BS because her undergraduate thesis was called “Paradox and Parody in Don Quixote and the satires of Lucian.” She eschewed graduate school in favour of drawing comic books. She now lives in Vancouver, BC, with her family, their whippet, and a talking frog and salamander (who fight zombies)(really. There are a lot of zombies in the Pacific Northwest).
Rachel was born in Kentucky, but has lived a variety of places including Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, England, and Japan. She has a BA in Comparative Literature, although she insists it should have been a BS because her undergraduate thesis was called “Paradox and Parody in Don Quixote and the satires of Lucian.” She eschewed graduate school in favour of drawing comic books. She now lives in Vancouver, BC, with her family, their whippet, and a talking frog and salamander (who fight zombies)(really. There are a lot of zombies in the Pacific Northwest).
Giveaway Details:
1 Finished copy of SHADOW SCALE! US/Canada Only.
I've been reading a lot of good comments about this book, looking forward to it :)
ReplyDeleteI had so much fun learning new words in Seraphina, and I am looking forward to reading Shadow Scale for the same reason.
ReplyDeleteLike every one I'm waiting to get my hands on Shadow Scale, thanks for the chance to win it. Rachel's answer to Sweet or Salty? is a lot like mine - Yes, please.
ReplyDeleteI loved Seraphina so much!!! I've been looking forward to this book for two years! Thanks for the giveaway :)
ReplyDeleteI've loved reading about Goredd since I discovered Amy unbounded in Linda Medley's Castle Waiting comics. Your writing just keeps getting better. So looking forward to this book!
ReplyDeleteI think that this series looks and sounds fantastic :) thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAw, I love this post :D Rachel is so adorable. <3 Thank you both so much for sharing this awesome tour post :) these books are perfect. <3
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I love this cover even more than the first. You have very talented cover artist. Thank you :)!
ReplyDeleteThis duology is so fantastic. The characters and the world are so expertly crafted and the pacing is amazing. I loved that the story was allowed to breathe and it took its time to develop. It was slow, but never dragged or lost my interest. Also, Kiggs. He is enough of a reason to love this series, but luckily for us there are so many more!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read Shadow Scale!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chance to win!
Loved seraphina so much and can't wait to read shadow scale.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like I have to get reading! These books sound exciting and I can't wait to find out how you developed characters who are half human and half dragon.
ReplyDeleteI want to read this book!
ReplyDeleteI just finished listening to the SERAPHINA audiobook and it was seriously the most beautiful book I've ever read/listened to! THe writing is fantastic, the songs were amazing...I just can't wait for SHADOW SCALE <3 <3
ReplyDelete