Status
Available
Call number
Series
Collection
Publication
Random House Books for Young Readers (2018), 544 pages
Description
In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons can be whomever they choose. Tess speaks out of turn, has wild ideas, and can't seem to keep out of trouble. When Tess's family decides the only path for her is a nunnery, she chooses a different path for herself. She cuts her hair, pulls on her boots, and sets out on a journey. The open road is a map to somewhere else--a life where she might belong.
Media reviews
Tess of the Road is astonishing and perfect.
I loved Tess of the Road with the strength of a thousand dragons.
It is not an easy read and it’s not a straightforward read but it is a very rewarding read. It’s less fantastical than I was expecting but it is still more than I was expecting in every single way.
Like Tess’ journey, surprising, rewarding, and enlightening, both a fantasy adventure and a meta discourse on consent, shame, and female empowerment.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2018
User reviews
LibraryThing member pwaites
TW: sexual assault (not shown), infant death, suicidal thoughts, slut shaming
While Tess of the Road is set in the same world as Seraphina, it is an independent story that stands by itself. Actually, you might enjoy it more if you don’t go in expecting it to be like Seraphina; for Tess of the Road
The story focuses on Tess, a young woman in a patriarchal fantasy kingdom who’s “ruined herself” and is held in low regard by her family. At her sisters’ wedding, Tess tries to drown out her demons with alcohol but ends up causing a scene and punching a priest (who’s also her brother-in-law) in the face. It’s the last straw for her family, who decide to send her to a nunnery to be rid of her. Tess, full of hurt and resentment, decides to run away. She’s lucky enough to encounter an old friend who’s a quigutl (sub-species of dragon) who gives her a semblance of purpose and destination. As she journeys along the road, Tess has to come to terms with herself, her past, and the pain and grief she’s holding inside her.
Tess of the Road is the story of one traumatized teen girl’s path to recovery. While it’s set in a fantasy world, Tess of the Road bears some resemblance to contemporary young adult novels dealing with issues such as sexual assault and teen pregnancy. Perhaps this is why reviews are falling into either “love it” or “hate it” camps. If you were wanting a fun, fantasy quest story, that’s not really Tess of the Road.
Tess of the Road intermingles two timelines, the present and flashbacks telling what led Tess to this point. At the start, you don’t know what exactly Tess went through. From the insults of her family members, it’s clear that Tess became pregnant when she was thirteen or fourteen, but details are vague. While the flashbacks fill in the gaps, the focus is thankfully on Tess’s recovery and her starting to un-internalize all the toxic messages she’s learned about women, sexuality, and her own self worth.
Tess of the Road is very much a feminist novel. The world Tess grew up in is deeply patriarchal, and she’s been continually slut shamed and derided by her family members to the point that she’s come to believe that she’s worthless and that her body is a source of evil. While the modern day culture I live in might not be so extreme, the similarities are there. Still, I’d rather read Tess of the Road than a contemporary story dealing with the same issues. Dragons make everything better.
I read Tess of the Road in the span of a single day, and I had a hard time putting it down. I’m always looking for books that remind me why I read young adult literature, and Tess of the Road is definitely one that does. However, I should not that it’s at the older end of young adult — perhaps the last two years of high school.
Tess of the Road is not an easy story, and if you come in expecting a fantasy story like Seraphina, focusing on political intrigue and adventure, you will likely be disappointed. But if you can accept Tess of the Road for what it is, a deeply personal story of healing, then you’ll likely appreciate this gem of a book.
Review from The Illustrated Page
I received an ARC in exchange for a free and honest review.
While Tess of the Road is set in the same world as Seraphina, it is an independent story that stands by itself. Actually, you might enjoy it more if you don’t go in expecting it to be like Seraphina; for Tess of the Road
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is a different, darker and more personal, story.The story focuses on Tess, a young woman in a patriarchal fantasy kingdom who’s “ruined herself” and is held in low regard by her family. At her sisters’ wedding, Tess tries to drown out her demons with alcohol but ends up causing a scene and punching a priest (who’s also her brother-in-law) in the face. It’s the last straw for her family, who decide to send her to a nunnery to be rid of her. Tess, full of hurt and resentment, decides to run away. She’s lucky enough to encounter an old friend who’s a quigutl (sub-species of dragon) who gives her a semblance of purpose and destination. As she journeys along the road, Tess has to come to terms with herself, her past, and the pain and grief she’s holding inside her.
Tess of the Road is the story of one traumatized teen girl’s path to recovery. While it’s set in a fantasy world, Tess of the Road bears some resemblance to contemporary young adult novels dealing with issues such as sexual assault and teen pregnancy. Perhaps this is why reviews are falling into either “love it” or “hate it” camps. If you were wanting a fun, fantasy quest story, that’s not really Tess of the Road.
Tess of the Road intermingles two timelines, the present and flashbacks telling what led Tess to this point. At the start, you don’t know what exactly Tess went through. From the insults of her family members, it’s clear that Tess became pregnant when she was thirteen or fourteen, but details are vague. While the flashbacks fill in the gaps, the focus is thankfully on Tess’s recovery and her starting to un-internalize all the toxic messages she’s learned about women, sexuality, and her own self worth.
Tess of the Road is very much a feminist novel. The world Tess grew up in is deeply patriarchal, and she’s been continually slut shamed and derided by her family members to the point that she’s come to believe that she’s worthless and that her body is a source of evil. While the modern day culture I live in might not be so extreme, the similarities are there. Still, I’d rather read Tess of the Road than a contemporary story dealing with the same issues. Dragons make everything better.
I read Tess of the Road in the span of a single day, and I had a hard time putting it down. I’m always looking for books that remind me why I read young adult literature, and Tess of the Road is definitely one that does. However, I should not that it’s at the older end of young adult — perhaps the last two years of high school.
Tess of the Road is not an easy story, and if you come in expecting a fantasy story like Seraphina, focusing on political intrigue and adventure, you will likely be disappointed. But if you can accept Tess of the Road for what it is, a deeply personal story of healing, then you’ll likely appreciate this gem of a book.
Review from The Illustrated Page
I received an ARC in exchange for a free and honest review.
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LibraryThing member bucketofrhymes
I received a free copy of Tess of the Road from the publisher through LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review — thank you!
This is a wonderful, fiercly feminist piece of character-driven fantasy.
I haven’t read any of Rachel Hartman’s previous books. I believe this is set in the same
Would highly recommend. This is a young adult book, but I think it would have a lot of crossover appeal for adults, as well.
This is a wonderful, fiercly feminist piece of character-driven fantasy.
I haven’t read any of Rachel Hartman’s previous books. I believe this is set in the same
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world as Seraphina, but you don’t need to have read that one first to understand or appreciate what’s going on.Would highly recommend. This is a young adult book, but I think it would have a lot of crossover appeal for adults, as well.
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LibraryThing member sennebec
In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons get to be whomever they want. Tess, stubbornly, is a troublemaker. You can’t make a scene at your sister’s wedding and break a relative’s nose with one punch (no matter how pompous he is)
Where Tess is headed is a mystery, even to her. So when she runs into an old friend, it’s a stroke of luck. This friend is a quigutl—a subspecies of dragon—who gives her both a purpose and protection on the road. But Tess is guarding a troubling secret. Her tumultuous past is a heavy burden to carry, and the memories she’s tried to forget threaten to expose her to the world in more ways than one.
Returning to the fascinating world she created in the award-winning and New York Times bestselling Seraphina, Rachel Hartman introduces readers to a new character and a new quest, pushing the boundaries of genre once again in this wholly original fantasy.
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and not suffer the consequences. As her family plans to send her to a nunnery, Tess yanks on her boots and sets out on a journey across the Southlands, alone and pretending to be a boy.Where Tess is headed is a mystery, even to her. So when she runs into an old friend, it’s a stroke of luck. This friend is a quigutl—a subspecies of dragon—who gives her both a purpose and protection on the road. But Tess is guarding a troubling secret. Her tumultuous past is a heavy burden to carry, and the memories she’s tried to forget threaten to expose her to the world in more ways than one.
Returning to the fascinating world she created in the award-winning and New York Times bestselling Seraphina, Rachel Hartman introduces readers to a new character and a new quest, pushing the boundaries of genre once again in this wholly original fantasy.
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LibraryThing member leoithne
The author has stated that this can be read without reading the two previous books, Seraphina and Shadow Scale, however I think it would be best to read them first. This is because there isn't a lot of world-building - you're kind of thrust in to the story and are just kind of expected to know or
Also, on top of this, you see a fair bit of Seraphina and hear some of the stuff that has happened in previous books. If you don't like spoilers, be warned.
If you read the last two like I have, and are maybe unsure about reading this one, then please try it! I liked the other two, but honestly I wasn't too sure if I was invested in staying around. But I'm really glad I did. This book also has a darker edge and is a little more adult, I found, and touched on heavier, important themes.
This book is much more character-driven than plot. This isn't so much about adventures. It's a little political... but not so much in Goredd, as more of our own world, I think, and I loved it. Tess may be unlikeable at first, but I beg you to give her the chance to open her heart to you and watch her grow and attempt healing. It's a coming of age story but also so much more than that.
(On another note, I really enjoyed seeing how Tess and the others viewed Seraphina in this. It made me look at her a little differently having both accounts - how Seraphina looks at herself and how her sister, who is similar and dissimilar, views her.)
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figure it out yourself. Despite reading the past two books, I had forgotten a lot and this made it kind of hard in the beginning while I tried to get my bearings. I love the world, but it can make it hard to be immersed when this happens.Also, on top of this, you see a fair bit of Seraphina and hear some of the stuff that has happened in previous books. If you don't like spoilers, be warned.
If you read the last two like I have, and are maybe unsure about reading this one, then please try it! I liked the other two, but honestly I wasn't too sure if I was invested in staying around. But I'm really glad I did. This book also has a darker edge and is a little more adult, I found, and touched on heavier, important themes.
This book is much more character-driven than plot. This isn't so much about adventures. It's a little political... but not so much in Goredd, as more of our own world, I think, and I loved it. Tess may be unlikeable at first, but I beg you to give her the chance to open her heart to you and watch her grow and attempt healing. It's a coming of age story but also so much more than that.
(On another note, I really enjoyed seeing how Tess and the others viewed Seraphina in this. It made me look at her a little differently having both accounts - how Seraphina looks at herself and how her sister, who is similar and dissimilar, views her.)
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LibraryThing member foggidawn
Tess screwed up, big time. With her future in ruins, her family has given her two choices: stay with her twin sister and brother-in-law and eventually become governess to their children, or enter a convent. Fortunately, as a wise person Tess has yet to meet will say, there are never just two
I devoured this book in two days. Great plot, great characters, great pacing. I wasn’t sure how I would do with Tess, who isn’t very sympathetic early on, but even when I didn’t like her, I was invested in the story — and she gets some excellent character development as the story progresses.
While I think you will enjoy the book more if you’ve read the Seraphina duology, this book does stand on its own (though the setting is the same, and events of the previous two books are referenced). Either way, I recommend it!
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choices. The day before she must make her decision, Tess sets out on the road. As she travels, Tess will find adventure enough even for her restless heart.I devoured this book in two days. Great plot, great characters, great pacing. I wasn’t sure how I would do with Tess, who isn’t very sympathetic early on, but even when I didn’t like her, I was invested in the story — and she gets some excellent character development as the story progresses.
While I think you will enjoy the book more if you’ve read the Seraphina duology, this book does stand on its own (though the setting is the same, and events of the previous two books are referenced). Either way, I recommend it!
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LibraryThing member JLSlipak
In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons get to be whomever they want. Tess, stubbornly, is a troublemaker. You can’t make a scene at your sister’s wedding and break a relative’s nose with one punch (no matter how pompous he is)
Where Tess is headed is a mystery, even to her. So when she runs into an old friend, it’s a stroke of luck. This friend is a quigutl–a subspecies of dragon–who gives her both a purpose and protection on the road. But Tess is guarding a troubling secret. Her tumultuous past is a heavy burden to carry, and the memories she’s tried to forget threaten to expose her to the world in more ways than one.
MY THOUGHTS:
I was sent this book in exchange for my honest review.
I would recommend reading Seraphina and its sequel in order to understand the world that Tess lives in.
For the life of me, I don’t know why people can’t read a book just for its simple enjoyment. I also don’t understand why a female Protagonist can’t be liked, readers often love a male Protagonist with the same personality traits.
I, however, enjoyed the sassy, sullen and angry Tess. She had good cause to be angry. She lived in a time where women were expected to be a certain way, which was not her way. However, if a man lived and did what she’d done throughout the book, they would have received a slap on the back and given credit from, forgive me, the “Good Ole Boys’ Club.”
Her family tells her she’s ruined, no man will want her and that she needs to go live in a convent? Seriously? If a boy had sex at the age of thirteen, he’d be cheered and told “He’s da man!” Okay, okay, thirteen is too young I know this, but my point is, this book focuses on the double standards women of this land and time have to face. The only solution Tess can think of to avoid a life in a convent is to hit the road, and yup, dress like a man…
The title is appropriately labeled, “Tess of the Road.” So for all you people who complain that it’s misleading and not what you thought but a book about Tess walking a road, well duh, it’s in the title… The metaphor is that Tess is on a road to self-discovery. The dragon is symbolic to the inner struggles she constantly deals with and how she resolves them. People complaining about the book cover being misleading missed this. There are still dragons in this book, they are in the guise of inner-struggles, the dragons within.
I love how Tess doesn’t conform easily, that her curiosity and outspokenness keeps her reaching constantly for more out of life. She is obviously frustrated with the sexism of her world and the constraints this shortcoming puts on women. She’s defiant, brusque, and nonconforming. This could make some not like her character.
The irony of a male priest telling Tess how she should behave when it comes to men and women… I wanted to punch him too. I however, found this refreshing. Some of the subject matter regarding sex has been thought risky for a YA… are you kidding me. Teens today are doing far worse.
I love the writing. Sure, there are a few issues that I have trouble with, but overall, this is a simple, enjoyable read. Flashbacks are not necessarily the best way to explain the present situation, but in this book, they were effective. The character development was steady, moving in various directions, again I didn’t necessarily agree with but they were entertaining.
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and not suffer the consequences. As her family plans to send her to a nunnery, Tess yanks on her boots and sets out on a journey across the Southlands, alone and pretending to be a boy.Where Tess is headed is a mystery, even to her. So when she runs into an old friend, it’s a stroke of luck. This friend is a quigutl–a subspecies of dragon–who gives her both a purpose and protection on the road. But Tess is guarding a troubling secret. Her tumultuous past is a heavy burden to carry, and the memories she’s tried to forget threaten to expose her to the world in more ways than one.
MY THOUGHTS:
I was sent this book in exchange for my honest review.
I would recommend reading Seraphina and its sequel in order to understand the world that Tess lives in.
For the life of me, I don’t know why people can’t read a book just for its simple enjoyment. I also don’t understand why a female Protagonist can’t be liked, readers often love a male Protagonist with the same personality traits.
I, however, enjoyed the sassy, sullen and angry Tess. She had good cause to be angry. She lived in a time where women were expected to be a certain way, which was not her way. However, if a man lived and did what she’d done throughout the book, they would have received a slap on the back and given credit from, forgive me, the “Good Ole Boys’ Club.”
Her family tells her she’s ruined, no man will want her and that she needs to go live in a convent? Seriously? If a boy had sex at the age of thirteen, he’d be cheered and told “He’s da man!” Okay, okay, thirteen is too young I know this, but my point is, this book focuses on the double standards women of this land and time have to face. The only solution Tess can think of to avoid a life in a convent is to hit the road, and yup, dress like a man…
The title is appropriately labeled, “Tess of the Road.” So for all you people who complain that it’s misleading and not what you thought but a book about Tess walking a road, well duh, it’s in the title… The metaphor is that Tess is on a road to self-discovery. The dragon is symbolic to the inner struggles she constantly deals with and how she resolves them. People complaining about the book cover being misleading missed this. There are still dragons in this book, they are in the guise of inner-struggles, the dragons within.
I love how Tess doesn’t conform easily, that her curiosity and outspokenness keeps her reaching constantly for more out of life. She is obviously frustrated with the sexism of her world and the constraints this shortcoming puts on women. She’s defiant, brusque, and nonconforming. This could make some not like her character.
The irony of a male priest telling Tess how she should behave when it comes to men and women… I wanted to punch him too. I however, found this refreshing. Some of the subject matter regarding sex has been thought risky for a YA… are you kidding me. Teens today are doing far worse.
I love the writing. Sure, there are a few issues that I have trouble with, but overall, this is a simple, enjoyable read. Flashbacks are not necessarily the best way to explain the present situation, but in this book, they were effective. The character development was steady, moving in various directions, again I didn’t necessarily agree with but they were entertaining.
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LibraryThing member Jane-Phillips
Love this book! A new author for me and I will definitely read more of her work. Marketed as teen fiction, but a great read for adults as well. Loved the characters who were all well-written and interesting. I found Tess to be very relatable and enjoyed travelling with her on her road, which was
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really a road to finding her true self and escaping that trappings of the past, as the book progressed. Show Less
LibraryThing member nbmars
Tess of the Road is the first installment of a new duology set in the world of Seraphina, the doughty half-dragon, half-human heroine of Hartman’s earlier duology.
Tess Dombegh and her fraternal twin Jeanne are step-sisters of Seraphina. They have always lived up to (or down to) the descriptions
We first learn about Tess as a small girl and what life is like with her parents. Her father had been disgraced after the exposure of his earlier liaison - marriage to a dragon in human form was illegal. Her mother remains bitter over it and has retreated into religious rigidity to cope.
Her vinegary mother tells the twins:
“Girls, remember: this mortal, material world will let you down. Husbands, love, life - everything and everyone will disappoint you eventually. Only one thing never fails. Do you know what that is? Heaven.”
She gives constant lectures on the evils of lust and desire, and on what the roles of women should be - i.e., very restricted. She harps on the sins of the flesh, and on Tess’s perceived sins in particular, all the more blatant since apparently Tess bore a child out of wedlock. (We only learn the details gradually as the story progresses.). Tess has grown up believing she was “singularly and spectacularly flawed, subject to sins a normal girl should never have been prone to.”
When Tess is 16, and Jeanne receives a marriage offer, she is faced with only two options: to live with Jeanne as nursemaid for her children at the home of Jeanne’s new husband and his horrific family, or to enter a convent. Tess doesn’t look forward to either. She longs to have adventures like her childhood hero, the fictional pirate Dozerius.
Tess takes increasingly to drinking, but after one disastrous episode that led to a run-in with Jeanne’s new family, she decided to take off, disguised as a male. At first she is accompanied only by the inner censorious voice of her mother, but eventually she is reunited with her childhood friend Pathka. Pathka is a quigutl, a small species related to dragons.
Pathka asks Tess to help her find Anathuthia, the World Serpent, “the one beneath our continent, the one who will restore us to ourselves.” It was important to Pathka, her oldest friend, that Tess accept, and so she did.
The two have many adventures, indeed, like Dozerius, although Tess gets a new outlook on her old hero as they travel along their road. Tess wants to bite him, which is a concept among quigutl that enables someone who is angry and hurt to find forgiveness. But there is another she wants to bite too: “‘What do you do, Pathka,’” Tess half whispered, ‘if the person you most desperately need to bite is yourself?’” Pathka explains to Tess how it is done, and it’s really not so far from a human concept.
Tess also learns some life lessons from a nun she meets on the road, Mother Philomela. The nun tells her that both guilt and love can carry a person a long way, but your own two feet can take you farther than either of them:
“We’re all on this road, metaphorically. . . ."
She also tells Tess that the religious strictures under which she was raised are just wrong. “The body is innocent,” she insists. And children are not born evil. But unfortunately, as she explains:
". . . goodness withers when it is continuously ground underfoot. We fulfill our parents’ direst prophecies, then curl around our own pain until we can’t see beyond ourselves. You want to walk on? Walk out of that shadow. Walk, girl. . . . Walk on, yes, but don’t walk past people who need you. Uncurl yourself, so you can see them and respond.”
In other words, the past is never really past, unless you can learn to bite it and move on.
Tess has a decision to make, about how she can finally be the hero of her own story, and whether guilt or love will hold her back.
Evaluation: This captivating story offers both a metaphorical and literal portrayal of the road to healing. And I loved meeting another worthy young female heroine who will make a great role model for girls. I can't wait for the next book!
Tess Dombegh and her fraternal twin Jeanne are step-sisters of Seraphina. They have always lived up to (or down to) the descriptions
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given to the three of them: Seraphina: the smart one; Jeanne: the pretty one; and Tess: “The One Who’s Always Been Trouble.”We first learn about Tess as a small girl and what life is like with her parents. Her father had been disgraced after the exposure of his earlier liaison - marriage to a dragon in human form was illegal. Her mother remains bitter over it and has retreated into religious rigidity to cope.
Her vinegary mother tells the twins:
“Girls, remember: this mortal, material world will let you down. Husbands, love, life - everything and everyone will disappoint you eventually. Only one thing never fails. Do you know what that is? Heaven.”
She gives constant lectures on the evils of lust and desire, and on what the roles of women should be - i.e., very restricted. She harps on the sins of the flesh, and on Tess’s perceived sins in particular, all the more blatant since apparently Tess bore a child out of wedlock. (We only learn the details gradually as the story progresses.). Tess has grown up believing she was “singularly and spectacularly flawed, subject to sins a normal girl should never have been prone to.”
When Tess is 16, and Jeanne receives a marriage offer, she is faced with only two options: to live with Jeanne as nursemaid for her children at the home of Jeanne’s new husband and his horrific family, or to enter a convent. Tess doesn’t look forward to either. She longs to have adventures like her childhood hero, the fictional pirate Dozerius.
Tess takes increasingly to drinking, but after one disastrous episode that led to a run-in with Jeanne’s new family, she decided to take off, disguised as a male. At first she is accompanied only by the inner censorious voice of her mother, but eventually she is reunited with her childhood friend Pathka. Pathka is a quigutl, a small species related to dragons.
Pathka asks Tess to help her find Anathuthia, the World Serpent, “the one beneath our continent, the one who will restore us to ourselves.” It was important to Pathka, her oldest friend, that Tess accept, and so she did.
The two have many adventures, indeed, like Dozerius, although Tess gets a new outlook on her old hero as they travel along their road. Tess wants to bite him, which is a concept among quigutl that enables someone who is angry and hurt to find forgiveness. But there is another she wants to bite too: “‘What do you do, Pathka,’” Tess half whispered, ‘if the person you most desperately need to bite is yourself?’” Pathka explains to Tess how it is done, and it’s really not so far from a human concept.
Tess also learns some life lessons from a nun she meets on the road, Mother Philomela. The nun tells her that both guilt and love can carry a person a long way, but your own two feet can take you farther than either of them:
“We’re all on this road, metaphorically. . . ."
She also tells Tess that the religious strictures under which she was raised are just wrong. “The body is innocent,” she insists. And children are not born evil. But unfortunately, as she explains:
". . . goodness withers when it is continuously ground underfoot. We fulfill our parents’ direst prophecies, then curl around our own pain until we can’t see beyond ourselves. You want to walk on? Walk out of that shadow. Walk, girl. . . . Walk on, yes, but don’t walk past people who need you. Uncurl yourself, so you can see them and respond.”
In other words, the past is never really past, unless you can learn to bite it and move on.
Tess has a decision to make, about how she can finally be the hero of her own story, and whether guilt or love will hold her back.
Evaluation: This captivating story offers both a metaphorical and literal portrayal of the road to healing. And I loved meeting another worthy young female heroine who will make a great role model for girls. I can't wait for the next book!
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LibraryThing member cygnet81
I enjoyed this. Glad she went back to the same world as the Seraphina books. That said I don’t think this is really a YA book. The themes are very mature.
LibraryThing member untitled841
Quotes and snippets:
True love was a Time-honored way to escape almost anything. Ogres, witches, bandits, tedious obligations. (P210)
"But isn't the work terrible? Doesn't it take a toll on you?"..... "There is no pain-free path, sweet girl. Choosing is what makes life bearable." (p349)
True love was a Time-honored way to escape almost anything. Ogres, witches, bandits, tedious obligations. (P210)
"But isn't the work terrible? Doesn't it take a toll on you?"..... "There is no pain-free path, sweet girl. Choosing is what makes life bearable." (p349)
LibraryThing member damred
Looking at the cover I was really excited, the artwork is amazing. My imagination soared looking at it, dragons and something to do with a grand adventure on a road...
There is no dragon in the book, there is no adventuring... it's really quite misleading.
This book is more about feminism, what
Think my biggest problem with the book though is how slow it is, and how nothing really happens. Also world building... there is none.
I did enjoy the writing style though.
There is no dragon in the book, there is no adventuring... it's really quite misleading.
This book is more about feminism, what
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women were/are expected to be like and getting to find oneself. I get bombarded daily with feminism all over social media telling women how they should act and think... I was hoping this book was more about fantasy and adventure (due to the cover).Think my biggest problem with the book though is how slow it is, and how nothing really happens. Also world building... there is none.
I did enjoy the writing style though.
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LibraryThing member Herenya
Tess of the Road is about one of Seraphina’s younger half-sisters. It’s different from Seraphina’s story in terms of plot and tone. Darker, more intensely focused on the personal. And whoa, is this a thoughtful and powerful story! Tess has always been getting into trouble; she’s disgraced
But after she drinks too much and causes a scene at her sister’s wedding, she walks away everything, and just keeps walking. On the road, she is reunited with a childhood friend, a quigutl (“small, flightless subspecies of dragon”), and together they set out with the goal of finding the mythical World Serpents.
But Tess’s journey is predominately one about making sense of herself and her world. Of her past. Of her pain. Of her shame and guilt and bitterness and grief. Of her beliefs and philosophy. Of her relationship with her sisters. Of her quigutl friend and quigutl culture. Of her own worth.
Tess of the Road is heartbreaking yet affirming. It is compelling, nuanced and poignant. And, in spite of the heartache in Tess’s past and her depressingly-negative self image, it’s positive and hopeful.
The structure is partly responsible for that. We don’t find out the details about Tess’s past until she stops to dwell on them - but each time Tess revisits one of her painful memories, she’s in a better place. She’s healing. There were a few moments when I wanted things to be easier -- neater, tidier -- for Tess, but in hindsight, that would have been less realistic and undermined the story’s impact.
Tess closed her eyes against the painful sunshine, deeply weary. Cosmically weary. She’d run away from home, and now she wanted to run away from running away, but it was no use. Tess (born bad) was always with her, wherever she went.
(It’s fascinating to get a different perspective on Seraphina and their family. I found it distressing the heartache Tess had suffered in that family -- even though she has an older sister who is warm-hearted and unconventional.
But Tess and Seraphina are subjected to quite different pressures and expectations from their family. Growing up, Tess had the companionship of her twin and their mother encouraged them to view Seraphina as different, while Seraphina was preoccupied with managing, and keeping secret, her half-dragon-ness. That didn’t encourage sisterly closeness and understanding. By the time Tess was a teenager, Seraphina had left home -- and was learning that you can’t always swoop in and solve others’ problems, no matter how much you may wish to.)
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herself and her family, even if they’ve managed to keep that secret, and once she’s helped her twin sister to secure a suitable marriage, she knows her own options will be limited -- governess or convent.But after she drinks too much and causes a scene at her sister’s wedding, she walks away everything, and just keeps walking. On the road, she is reunited with a childhood friend, a quigutl (“small, flightless subspecies of dragon”), and together they set out with the goal of finding the mythical World Serpents.
But Tess’s journey is predominately one about making sense of herself and her world. Of her past. Of her pain. Of her shame and guilt and bitterness and grief. Of her beliefs and philosophy. Of her relationship with her sisters. Of her quigutl friend and quigutl culture. Of her own worth.
Tess of the Road is heartbreaking yet affirming. It is compelling, nuanced and poignant. And, in spite of the heartache in Tess’s past and her depressingly-negative self image, it’s positive and hopeful.
The structure is partly responsible for that. We don’t find out the details about Tess’s past until she stops to dwell on them - but each time Tess revisits one of her painful memories, she’s in a better place. She’s healing. There were a few moments when I wanted things to be easier -- neater, tidier -- for Tess, but in hindsight, that would have been less realistic and undermined the story’s impact.
Tess closed her eyes against the painful sunshine, deeply weary. Cosmically weary. She’d run away from home, and now she wanted to run away from running away, but it was no use. Tess (born bad) was always with her, wherever she went.
(It’s fascinating to get a different perspective on Seraphina and their family. I found it distressing the heartache Tess had suffered in that family -- even though she has an older sister who is warm-hearted and unconventional.
But Tess and Seraphina are subjected to quite different pressures and expectations from their family. Growing up, Tess had the companionship of her twin and their mother encouraged them to view Seraphina as different, while Seraphina was preoccupied with managing, and keeping secret, her half-dragon-ness. That didn’t encourage sisterly closeness and understanding. By the time Tess was a teenager, Seraphina had left home -- and was learning that you can’t always swoop in and solve others’ problems, no matter how much you may wish to.)
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LibraryThing member rivkat
Hartman turns her focus to one of Seraphina’s younger half-sisters, Tess—the designated bad girl of the family. Raised in a religiously repressive household, Tess rebels, with incredibly negative consequences that leave her resentful and trapped, drinking too much and looking forward to nothing
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but a life of looking after her good twin’s children in another repressive house. After some spectacular indiscretions, Tess runs away, reconnects with a childhood friend, and finds herself on the road, pun intended. I liked this one better than the previous books, which I thought were good, but this one was good in a way made for me—it’s about how your parents fuck you up, often without meaning to; about how sexism warps people from the inside out; about how you can leave but you take your problems with you unless you confront them; about how a person can be a wonderful friend, mentor, comrade to some people and also a disastrous parent to others. It’s also witty and compassionate. More fantasy elements, but very much reminded me of Frances Hardinge. Show Less
LibraryThing member beserene
I won't lie: I went straight into this book expecting it to be just like the other two books that Hartman wrote in this same universe. I was ready for this to be a fantasy quest with all the fine and fascinating twists upon tropes, with all the same sense of brightness-amid-the-grime, all the same
This is a much different book than I expected. Much harder, much grimmer in places, and I would even go so far as to say triggery, as it deals with consent and sexual assault and gender and trauma in ways that are deeply personal. It was, at times, difficult to read because the richness this time is more about emotions than world. It's set in the world we all know, if we've read Seraphina and Shadow Scale, but follows Seraphina's younger half-sister, Tess, who takes to the titular road early on, running away from herself as well as her family.
Hartman, by now, has a tradition of young and unreliable narrators and does not, this time, reveal the truth about Tess so quickly as she did about Seraphina in the first volume. As a result, it's even harder to settle into Tess' narration -- it's hard to like Tess, as a reader, because Tess doesn't like herself. But, you might guess, that emotional state has to change and it's that kind of journey that the novel takes us on. In the end, it's just as brilliant as Hartman's other work -- and more brutal and human than one might expect from an author billed as a YA fantasy writer. Don't underestimate Rachel Hartman or her genre, though. In the end, this is extraordinary stuff.
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hope and delight.This is a much different book than I expected. Much harder, much grimmer in places, and I would even go so far as to say triggery, as it deals with consent and sexual assault and gender and trauma in ways that are deeply personal. It was, at times, difficult to read because the richness this time is more about emotions than world. It's set in the world we all know, if we've read Seraphina and Shadow Scale, but follows Seraphina's younger half-sister, Tess, who takes to the titular road early on, running away from herself as well as her family.
Hartman, by now, has a tradition of young and unreliable narrators and does not, this time, reveal the truth about Tess so quickly as she did about Seraphina in the first volume. As a result, it's even harder to settle into Tess' narration -- it's hard to like Tess, as a reader, because Tess doesn't like herself. But, you might guess, that emotional state has to change and it's that kind of journey that the novel takes us on. In the end, it's just as brilliant as Hartman's other work -- and more brutal and human than one might expect from an author billed as a YA fantasy writer. Don't underestimate Rachel Hartman or her genre, though. In the end, this is extraordinary stuff.
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LibraryThing member veeshee
Getting back into the world created in Seraphina through the eyes of a new character was really exciting for me. That being said, I would HIGHLY recommend that you read Seraphina before this one; this novel draws on many terms and concepts from Seraphina and the author doesn't really take the time
When I started reading this novel, I was surprised to find that it was quite slow. Based on the premise, I think I was expecting a faster pace to the story. I also found Tess's character to be ... well, not to my liking. She is quite selfish and a little too impulsive. However, as I was thinking this, I also found myself liking this choice for a protagonist. I have always favoured flawed main characters to perfect one - and Tess is definitely in the former category.
As the story continues, there is an allusion to an incident that Tess was involved in that has made her undesirable and given her a bad reputation - and it is connected to a sexual encounter. The mystery surrounding this incident immediately made me want to know more, and it served as a pushing force for me to continue with the story. At the same time, I was surprised that the author wanted to discuss sex and sexuality; I hadn't pegged this as the direction for this novel.
One of the major problems I encountered in this book was that it had very slow pacing. Not much happens in this story. Tess goes on a journey to escape life in a nunnery - and to escape the judgmental attitude of her family and friends. There are bouts of adventure but for the most part, there was just a lot of walking and talking and philosophizing. Now, I'm not really a fan of philosophy so I found some of these talks to be a little tedious to get through but I found that they were important for setting the stage for some of the moral issues the author explores.
Because while Tess was going through a boring outward journey, she was going through a rigorous inward journey. This novel was all about Tess's ingrained views on sexuality and proper behaviour (as she was taught by her mother) and the way her experiences and the views of others' challenges these beliefs. The reader gets to see how Tess has been bullied and shamed into feeling inferior and how she rises from this and starts to love herself again. I think that this theme is a really important one to cover and I think that, while the author had a shaky start with it in the beginning, it all came together quite well in the end.
This is a book that won't work for everyone. The slow pacing and the initial un-likable-ness of Tess can be offputting for a lot of readers. But if you push through, you'll see that this novel has its merits. It's all about self-love and taking care of oneself. It's about different ways to think about sex and sexuality, and the issues of being judged by traditionalist views on a female's role in the bedroom. I like how the novel challenged these issues through Tess's character and for that reason, I'm going to give this a 3.5/5 stars. The reason I can't give it a higher rating is because the pacing was difficult to deal with and there wasn't really much of a plot.
This is a novel I would recommend for fans of Seraphina and for those who are looking for a novel that looks into morality through the genre of fantasy.
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to explain it again in this book, so readers might find themselves lost. When I started reading this novel, I was surprised to find that it was quite slow. Based on the premise, I think I was expecting a faster pace to the story. I also found Tess's character to be ... well, not to my liking. She is quite selfish and a little too impulsive. However, as I was thinking this, I also found myself liking this choice for a protagonist. I have always favoured flawed main characters to perfect one - and Tess is definitely in the former category.
As the story continues, there is an allusion to an incident that Tess was involved in that has made her undesirable and given her a bad reputation - and it is connected to a sexual encounter. The mystery surrounding this incident immediately made me want to know more, and it served as a pushing force for me to continue with the story. At the same time, I was surprised that the author wanted to discuss sex and sexuality; I hadn't pegged this as the direction for this novel.
One of the major problems I encountered in this book was that it had very slow pacing. Not much happens in this story. Tess goes on a journey to escape life in a nunnery - and to escape the judgmental attitude of her family and friends. There are bouts of adventure but for the most part, there was just a lot of walking and talking and philosophizing. Now, I'm not really a fan of philosophy so I found some of these talks to be a little tedious to get through but I found that they were important for setting the stage for some of the moral issues the author explores.
Because while Tess was going through a boring outward journey, she was going through a rigorous inward journey. This novel was all about Tess's ingrained views on sexuality and proper behaviour (as she was taught by her mother) and the way her experiences and the views of others' challenges these beliefs. The reader gets to see how Tess has been bullied and shamed into feeling inferior and how she rises from this and starts to love herself again. I think that this theme is a really important one to cover and I think that, while the author had a shaky start with it in the beginning, it all came together quite well in the end.
This is a book that won't work for everyone. The slow pacing and the initial un-likable-ness of Tess can be offputting for a lot of readers. But if you push through, you'll see that this novel has its merits. It's all about self-love and taking care of oneself. It's about different ways to think about sex and sexuality, and the issues of being judged by traditionalist views on a female's role in the bedroom. I like how the novel challenged these issues through Tess's character and for that reason, I'm going to give this a 3.5/5 stars. The reason I can't give it a higher rating is because the pacing was difficult to deal with and there wasn't really much of a plot.
This is a novel I would recommend for fans of Seraphina and for those who are looking for a novel that looks into morality through the genre of fantasy.
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LibraryThing member lilibrarian
Set in the same world as Serafina, this book starts with the story of Serafina's twin half-sisters. Jeanne, the good one, finds a good marriage in spite of her sister Tess's chequered past. Left with only the option to join a religious order, Tess runs away.
LibraryThing member sussura
On my second read-through. There are passages that spoke to a much younger me long-past, that I thought I'd pushed into a box. These are passages I wish I'd heard then. And some I really needed to hear now.
This one, for starters: "Walk on became her credo; she repeated it to herself every morning
This one, for starters: "Walk on became her credo; she repeated it to herself every morning
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upon deciding to get up and exist for one more day." Show Less
LibraryThing member bell7
Tess Dombegh, Seraphina's half-sister and twin to Jeanne, has always felt like the bad girl, caught between her mother's rigid piety and her own desires. At 17, she's drinking too much and can't get over her past - but she's given a chance to get out and discovers the road. First running away, then
I had a hard time getting into the story. I found myself impatient with Tess and wondering why she was reacting with such deep despair - surely you can't be that terrible or unforgivable? I almost put it down about halfway through, until I read a couple of reviews and someone pointed out that Tess had suicidal ideation. It was like it flipped a switch for me, and I could have a whole lot more patience with her as a character once I realized it may not have been entirely a reaction to her past choices that she could just control and decide to move past. The plot itself takes awhile to get going and once Tess leaves, the journey is rather meandering. But in the end, as things come full circle. Eventually her past is explained as Tess starts to deal with it in the course of her journey. The book was definitely too long but overall a rewarding reading experience.
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running towards, she meets up with a quigutl (not quite a dragon, but sort of related) who had been her best childhood friend and travels south on a quest to discover a World Serpent - and perhaps a few things about herself.I had a hard time getting into the story. I found myself impatient with Tess and wondering why she was reacting with such deep despair - surely you can't be that terrible or unforgivable? I almost put it down about halfway through, until I read a couple of reviews and someone pointed out that Tess had suicidal ideation. It was like it flipped a switch for me, and I could have a whole lot more patience with her as a character once I realized it may not have been entirely a reaction to her past choices that she could just control and decide to move past. The plot itself takes awhile to get going and once Tess leaves, the journey is rather meandering. But in the end, as things come full circle. Eventually her past is explained as Tess starts to deal with it in the course of her journey. The book was definitely too long but overall a rewarding reading experience.
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LibraryThing member LisCarey
This is a frustrating book.
We first meet the titular Tess as a little girl full of energy and imagination, and a challenge to her joy-killing mother. Then we quickly jump ahead playing maid and "younger sister" to Jeanne, who is her younger twin and now a maid of honor at the royal court. In the
Tess at this point in her life is unhappy and resentful, though Jeanne may be the only member of her family she loves. Not soon enough, we jump ahead to Tess running away, which, unexpectedly, is the start of her doing things that aren't willfully stupid and self-destructive.
Not that a sixteen-year-old girl running away, with no skills to support herself except as a seamstress, in a fairly sexist medieval culture, is exactly clever. Yet Tess does have a good brain, and away from the stifling influence of her family, she starts, very slowly, to use it.
She also meets up with a childhood friend, a quigutl named Pathka. Quigutls are lizards, somewhat similar to dragons, though they don't fly, and they and the dragons don't like each other. Pathka has his own problems, but he does care about Tess, and Tess about him, and they both start, a little bit, to think about people outside themselves. And while Tess continues to hear her mother's voice inside her head telling her how very bad she is, and how she's responsible for pretty much every bad thing that happens around her, once she starts looking around, she stars trying to do what good she can, wherever she passes. The more she practices, the better she gets at it, and often, when she's looking at other people's problems rather than her own, her ideas are pretty smart.
It's really too bad that we keep getting flashbacks to Tess's earlier experiences, when she was follish and bitter and did willfully self-destructive things.
I really, really like the person Tess develops into. She has great adventures, and we see an interesting world. The book is well-written.
But it takes too long for Tess to start being more interesting, and we then get dragged back to her earlier experiences and behavior too often and for too long. On balance, this is not a book that will encourage me to read more in this fictional world.
Very much a mixed bag.
I received this book as part of the 2019 Hugo Voters Packet.
We first meet the titular Tess as a little girl full of energy and imagination, and a challenge to her joy-killing mother. Then we quickly jump ahead playing maid and "younger sister" to Jeanne, who is her younger twin and now a maid of honor at the royal court. In the
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intervening years, we gradually learn, Tess managed to ruin herself, give birth to a bastard whose existence was concealed by sending Tess to stay with her grandmother, and demonstrate a complete inability to be sufficiently meek and rule-following to have much chance anyway at the kind of husband the family needs to repair its fortunes. Those fortunes were destroyed when the truth came out about their father's first marriage--his first wife was a dragon, and his oldest daughter, Seraphina, is a dragon. He lost his licence to practice law. They can't afford for Tess's disgrace to come out, too.Tess at this point in her life is unhappy and resentful, though Jeanne may be the only member of her family she loves. Not soon enough, we jump ahead to Tess running away, which, unexpectedly, is the start of her doing things that aren't willfully stupid and self-destructive.
Not that a sixteen-year-old girl running away, with no skills to support herself except as a seamstress, in a fairly sexist medieval culture, is exactly clever. Yet Tess does have a good brain, and away from the stifling influence of her family, she starts, very slowly, to use it.
She also meets up with a childhood friend, a quigutl named Pathka. Quigutls are lizards, somewhat similar to dragons, though they don't fly, and they and the dragons don't like each other. Pathka has his own problems, but he does care about Tess, and Tess about him, and they both start, a little bit, to think about people outside themselves. And while Tess continues to hear her mother's voice inside her head telling her how very bad she is, and how she's responsible for pretty much every bad thing that happens around her, once she starts looking around, she stars trying to do what good she can, wherever she passes. The more she practices, the better she gets at it, and often, when she's looking at other people's problems rather than her own, her ideas are pretty smart.
It's really too bad that we keep getting flashbacks to Tess's earlier experiences, when she was follish and bitter and did willfully self-destructive things.
I really, really like the person Tess develops into. She has great adventures, and we see an interesting world. The book is well-written.
But it takes too long for Tess to start being more interesting, and we then get dragged back to her earlier experiences and behavior too often and for too long. On balance, this is not a book that will encourage me to read more in this fictional world.
Very much a mixed bag.
I received this book as part of the 2019 Hugo Voters Packet.
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LibraryThing member pith
I received this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program; it arrived on 20 February 2018. Review to follow.
Disclaimer: I'm not in the target age range for the book, but I am an adult who also enjoys YA and realizes that I'm reading it from a different perspective. I also didn't realize
Disclaimer: I'm not in the target age range for the book, but I am an adult who also enjoys YA and realizes that I'm reading it from a different perspective. I also didn't realize
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it was connected to other books, so I'll be lacking backstory knowledge but will do my best to judge it on its own merits. Show Less
LibraryThing member ewyatt
Tess after being labeled by her hyper-critical mother as a "fallen woman", hits the road. She realizes her only options are going to a convent or serving as a nanny in her twin sister's household. She drinks to numb the pain. ON the road she meets up with a childhood friend, a creature who is
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related to dragons, and they embark on a quest to find a legendary world serpent. Along the way many interesting characters cross her path, and their stories offer interesting parallels. Tess learns to embrace life on the road and finds her own path. The story meanders but eventually readers find Tess' backstory and the trauma she endured. Took me awhile to get through the book but the payoff was worth it. Show Less
LibraryThing member elenaj
This book is excellent. Highly recommended.
To be fair, the first 80 pages or so are pretty depressing, but it gets better (and better, and better) from there.
To be fair, the first 80 pages or so are pretty depressing, but it gets better (and better, and better) from there.
LibraryThing member Stevil2001
At first, I found this book plodding and a little obvious, but once Tess actually goes on the road, it steadily gets better and better until you're reading something quite special. It's kind of a fantasy riff on Tess of the D'Urbervilles, in big ways and small was, from the double standard of
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premarital sex for men and women to the solace of physical labor. Seventeen-year-old Tess, always the "bad twin," finally runs away from home shortly after her "good" sister gets married, escaping a negligent father and stringent mother. She teams up with a lizard creature, pretends to be a man, learns the joys of construction work, seeks out the Serpent that birthed the world, learns that sex can be more than she thought, and learns something about herself and the world. With the exception of one bit in the middle where I found the logistics wonky (how did she find time to work on farms while trailing the two ne'er-do-wells, and why did they tolerate her?), I really enjoyed Tess's trek; it's the best sort of travel narrative. My main reservation would be that I feel like it's the kind of YA novel that's not actually for young adults, but for the adults who read YA. But I guess I am an adult reading YA, so... Show Less
LibraryThing member g33kgrrl
This book took forever to get started. For-e-ver. I just couldn't get into it for a really long time. I struggle with reading long periods of deep self-loathing, especially when it clearly isn't warranted. It absolutely made Tess's journey feel warranted and her emotional triumphs satisfying. But
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oy. Show Less
LibraryThing member fred_mouse
I threw myself into this one, and loved it, but there was so much going on that I had to keep stopping. And making myself start again. The world building is wonderful. The mixture of human and reptile communities was fascinating. And I loved the mythology.
It is also very much a redemption story --
It is also very much a redemption story --
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of a 14 year old who didn't know what was going on,and her future self who is still being punished for it. By society, by family, and by self. By the end, Tess has a much better grasp of who she is and who she can be. Looking forward to the other books in this world Show Less
Awards
Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction (Finalist — 2018)
Locus Award (Finalist — Young Adult Novel — 2019)
Sunburst Award (Winner — Young Adult — 2019)
CYBILS Awards (Winner — Young Adult Speculative Fiction — 2018)
Lodestar Award (Nominee — 2019)
NPR: Books We Love (2018)
Globe and Mail Top 100 Book (2018)
Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year (Teen — 2018)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Teens (Fiction — 2018)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2018
Physical description
544 p.; 5.88 inches
ISBN
1101931280 / 9781101931288
Local notes
In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons get to be whomever they want. Tess, stubbornly, is a troublemaker. You can't make a scene at your sister's wedding and break a relative's nose with one punch (no matter how pompous he is) and not suffer the consequences. As her family plans to send her to a nunnery, Tess yanks on her boots and sets out on a journey across the Southlands, alone and pretending to be a boy.