Tess of the Road Hardcover – February 27, 2018

This is a hard book to review, and I almost DNF’d more than once as the beginning is slow and painful. This is a darker view of the world than that in Seraphina and Shadow Scale. The journey through this dark fantasy is worth the discomfort, though.The beginning feels like a selfish rant skewering religion as the cause of every evil, writhing with pontificating self-righteous saints who blame all sexual sin on the depravity and sensuality of women. It feels overwrought and heavy-handed until you start to feel the pain. The pain of listening and believing anyone who tells you that you’re the one to blame, that you deserve to be the victim. The pain of believing the messages condemning you even as you condemn yourself. The pain of accepting that blame and holding it tightly until it petrifies your soul and ravages your heart.If you’ve read Robin McKinley’s dark fantasy, Deerskin, you’ve felt a similar pain. But here it is verbalized and blamed on the recipient until we feel the same hopelessness that Tess does as she contemplates a future that she destroyed when she was 13. She takes the blame and hammers it into herself, hoping to make amends by keeping herself pure, working to find her sister a husband, and defending her sister’s purity, so her sister will have the future that Tess threw away.Tess strikes out upon the Road with a closed mind. But as her feet eat down the miles, can she find herself and new tomorrows along the Road? There are dangers on the Road: brigands, earthquakes, quigutls, giant serpents, pirates, and hunger. Along the journey, Tess will learn about burdens: those we accept, those we hang onto, and those that we grow beyond.Heads up for adult themes, some sexual violence, and general fooling around, all in the context of a dark fantasy about the human condition and growing beyond the boundaries that define and constrict us.I received this book as an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) from NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

Tess Dombegh is the younger half sister of Seraphina, the champion of the two prior books set in this beautifully rendered world of saints and dragons, and it is Tess's story we pick up in this next chapter. From the previous books, we know Seraphina's younger siblings mostly as bratty inconveniences for Seraphina to bear, but in this book, Tess is given her chance to stand center stage alongside such richly developed supporting characters that it could certainly be read as a stand alone (though don't skip Seraphina and Shadow Scale altogether -- they are lovely as well).The story follows our "brat", Tess, as she begins to reject the incredibly stifling life she felt she deserved after committing heinous sins (the details of which are slowly revealed over the course of the novel). She has been lead to believe (as many deeply fundamentalist religions convey) that her very existence as a woman is sinful in and of itself, and that she has committed the worst sin by "falling" as no good woman should. So, at age 17, facing decisions made for her by her deeply religious mother and her incompetent father, she strikes out on her own, finding company in her childhood quigutl friend, who sets an adventurous quest at her feet for them to follow. And follow she does, revealing her anything -but-sinful nature as she encounters many brilliant characters along the way.This borders on a spoiler, but I feel it's important to mention a CW: this book deals with rape, sexual shame, and ultimately, infant loss. While I'm no longer in a place where these types of storylines would destroy me, I found myself incredibly sad and tearful many times as her story was revealed, and feel most responsible sharing that warning with those who may *not* be in a place to read such moving and detailed descriptions of sex without consent, without understanding consent, against a very young teenager, and such details of premature birth/subsequent infant death.

I loved this book. Beautifully written, perfect tone (occasional humor, tho it's not a comedy). It's a lovely, thoughtful, imaginative exploration of faith and how it can be contorted to harm people who are still figuring out who they are and who they want to be (Tess, in fact tries on several personas thru the text). And, how people can recover their faith, make it their own, and heal. It's at times lighthearted and at times darkly serious, not shying away from past trauma, and readers who struggle reading stories of abuse should tread carefully.I will say, after reading some of the other posted reviews, that while Tess of the Road is its own story, readers will probably enjoy it more if they read Seraphina first. Seraphina lingers in more detail over the world building, the role of dragons and the way dragons exist in this world, etc; Tess of the Road doesn't spend much time reiterating these world building elements, so I can understand why some readers might have been frustrated. I love revisiting this world and look forward to Hartman's next book!

This book is more than just a fantasy novel about a runaway girl, though that is the framework used. This is an exploration of the expectations we place upon women (particularly young women) and the way we treat them when they fall short of these (unreasonable) expectations. I think this is such an important book. In my opinion, it’s as powerful a message as that in The Exact Opposite of Okay but in a medieval fantasy setting. It’s one of my favourite examples of using a fictional setting to explore real-world issues. I think this is a great way of shining a light on the hypocrisy and double standards in our own society.I think it helps that Tess doesn’t start this story with all the answers. As the journey progresses she comes to realise her own internalised shame and starts to work through why that is complete rubbish. It’s a lesson the reader learns alongside her, slowly revealing more and more of the story until the truth is unveiled. Even if you’re fairly au fait with feminist ideas this story is a great way of enforcing them, and there is always more to learn. I could go on for hours about how important the underlying message of this book is, but you know I’m dying to talk about the dragons.There are very few dragons in this book. What? How can this be? How can you possibly enjoy this book if there are so few dragons? Well firstly, there are kind of dragons – the quigutl with whom Tess travels. While we don’t have enormous winged lizards it isn’t incongruous, it still feels the same world as that in Seraphina and my fantasy beasts quota was most certainly filled.I think that the way this book slots into the world of Seraphina is excellently done. Seraphina herself appears at several points, and you do get some sense of what her life has been like since the end of the duology. I also appreciated the insights into Seraphina’s childhood from Tess’ point of view. I was reminded a lot of The Inheritance Cycle, not because of the dragons but because of how well thought out this world and this timeline were.This is a book for anyone who has ever found themselves plagued by self-doubt or wanderlust. It’s a coming-of-age story better than almost any I have read before. I adored this book and I can’t wait to read it again. I can only hope there is at least one more book in this series…please?My rating: 5/5 stars

This book was very well written, however I did not like it. Why, exactly, I’m not sure. Tess was in so much deep pain for most of the book that it hurt to read it, I guess. *spoilers*I suppose I will start at the beginning.I dislike spanking immensely. Tess was curious about everything, adventurous, and stubborn. For that she was hit a great deal (aka spanked), to “hit the bad out of her.” She was also lectured over and over via “St Vitts scriptures”, lots of guilting, lectures. So basically she was hit a lot and told she was a horrible, born bad, selfish, girl, basically because she was high spiritedFor some people, ignorance and “because I said so” rules is enough for them to do what they’re told. For spirited and extremely curious individuals, keeping them ignorant just gets them into trouble. Tess wanted to know where babies come from. She was basically told it comes from getting married or doing naughty stuff with boys. We can compare this to the “abstinence only” sex education in schools.She wasn’t told anything of any actual information so she was determined to find out. She wasn’t told How men would seduce her or how exactly babies were made, just that they would and to avoid it. She did not understand that Will was completely playing her and doing a very good job of reeling her into allowing more and more liberties and eventually into his bed. Compounding this, was the fact that he was he first person who was really paying attention to her and making her feel good about herself. Basically, he saw the perfect mark and groomed her for it. She was 13! And yes she was lying about being 16.And as we read through the book she’s healing and learning to accept herself more, as well as doing flashbacks to memories of growing up and her time will Will. What bothers me about the flashbacks, is although if you understand what’s happening you can see that Will was playing her, she doesn’t seem to realize this upon reflection of the dream or whatever. She just remembers how she felt, which was that she loved him. And he was so complimentary and kind to her, and treated her like a grown-up.This...bothers me. A teen girl reading this book may not understand (until close to the very end) that Will was not actually being a good person. That his compliments were specifically done so as to get Tess to allow him to do more and more sexual things with him. That they were not actual sincere compliments. Everything was done with ulterior motives.This is not the type of behavior that is good in a boyfriend. These types of compliments and behavior are ones that people should be on guard for. This should not be fantasy material. And girls and women need to learn how to spot the “Will’s’” around them.I gave this a 2 Star because it was well written but I didn’t like it.1 Star is for terrible or DNF2 is for bad3 for I liked but probably wouldn’t read again4 for I liked and would re-read5 for awesome.

A 2019's femisnt take on a classic fantasy heroe's journey in a very cool well built world. Expect well-rounded characters of diverse groups of people. Absolutely loved it.

Perfect all around!

An excellent fantasy road-story about a girl learning to live with herself and her past. Loved it.