This book was all over the place. Dragons, music, racism, unlikely friendships, love, duty, absentee parents, powers, and identity were just some of the themes, explained in the next paragraph that includes some moderate spoilers.

Seraphina is a 16-year-old half-dragon girl whose skills include music and also communicating in her mind with other half-dragons, who falls in love with a human, but can't tell him because her human father has told her to hide her identity because he's ashamed of falling in love with a dragon-woman (who died during childbirth).

Spoilers notwithstanding, you'll probably figure out the entire story if you read the first few chapters. With accolades by Naomi Novik and Tamora Pierce, I was excited to dive in. But its very predictable, with a dutiful heroine (kinda Harry Potter-esque), driven by her sense of morality. She's half-dragon, which is interesting, but her struggles are all conventional. I wanted to read more about the world of Goreddi, the the interactions between the other half-dragons, etc. Maybe in the next book?

I just read Uprooted by Naomi Novik, which was superior in terms of writing style and emotion. Hartman's sentences used the same words and were the same length. (I scanned the last 100 pages of the book.) However, I enjoyed the interesting touches, like Seraphina's "mind garden" and the stoicism of the dragons. There was even a little sci-fi/steampunky technology (Orma's earring, the quigutl-made lizard with the human head). Don't miss the glossary and a cast of characters in the back, since the names seem to be randomly composed and not based in any known language.

I give the book four stars just because its imaginative, albeit predictable. Recommended if you're looking for a quick and easy YA fantasy read.

Quotes
The music buoyed my small form, filled and surrounded me, made me larger than myself. It was the answer to a question I had never asked, the way to fill the dread emptiness into which I had been born. I believed - no, I knew - I could transcend the vastness and touch the vaulted ceiling with my hand. (page 3)

"You are all that's left of Linn. Her own people won't even say her name. I - I value your continued existence." - Orma (page 285)

I feel this music in my very blood. This is what it means to be me, right here, right now, solid flesh, ethereal air, eternal motion. I feel this, and it is true beyond truth. (page 376)

"If you're going to demand the truth from me, you could at least have the courtesy to believe it." - Seraphina (page 408)