History Literature / Seraphina

* EmotionalEmotionlessPerson: Dragons claim to have no emotion in their natural forms, and look down on "the fetid backwash of the monkey mind", but they are obviously capable of anger, pride, loyalty and even affection.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: They can take human form, [[GeneticMemory inherit their ancestors' memories]] and are [[EmotionalEmotionlessPerson emotionless]] as well as highly intellectual. And when confronted with humans and their social interactions, they often behave as if they had [[UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome Asperger's]].

''Seraphina'' is a YoungAdult {{Fantasy}} dualogy by Rachel Hartman. It comprises the novels ''Seraphina'' and ''Shadow Scale'', as well as a prequel novelette, ''The Audition''.

* HeavenAndHell: Heaven is the abode of Allsaints, and the location of the afterlife.

** Seraphina's mother, Linn, never revealed to Claude Dombegh that she was a dragon, and that their marriage was therefore illegal: he figured it out as she died in labour. He spent the next eleven years lying to Seraphina about her mother's origins, going so far as to forge a marriage with a woman who never existed. He remarried when Seraphina was a child, and while his new wife and their children seem to get along well, Seraphina feels alienated from them.

* LoveTriangle: Revealed in ''Shadow Scale'' between Seraphina, Lucian and [[spoiler:Glisselda]]: Seraphina loves Lucian, Lucian loves Seraphina and [[spoiler:Glisselda]] loves ''[[spoiler:Seraphina]]''. The ending may or may not have resolved it with a legendary case of [[spoiler:OneTrueThreesome]]. The author leaves it unclear, [[spoiler: although it seems to be subtly confirmed in the companion novel Tess of the Road]].

* LoveTriangle: Revealed in ''Shadow Scale'' between Seraphina, Lucian and [[spoiler:Glisselda]]: Seraphina loves Lucian, Lucian loves Seraphina and [[spoiler:Glisselda]] loves ''[[spoiler:Seraphina]]''. The ending may or may not have resolved it with a legendary case of [[spoiler:OneTrueThreesome]]. The author leaves it unclear.

* FantasyPantheon: The main religion of the Southlands, Allsaints, which consists of large number of Saints presiding over their distinctive areas, traits and attributes. Children will be assigned a particular patron Saint in their infancy. The Saints have official biographies, but these tend to contradict folk tales and myths. Some of the Saints do seem to have historic roots, such as St. Ogdo who supposedly invented the martial art called Dracomachia.

* TheHeretic: Oddly, St. Yirtrudis, whose motto is 'No heaven but this', despite presumably having been worshipped along with the other Saints at one point. All of her images in psalters, chapels and the like are destroyed.

** ''Shadow Scale'': [[spoiler: The war is over, Jannoula is defeated, peace is restored, and Seraphina has befriended many other [[HalfHumanHybrid ityasaari]] like herself and gained a better sense than ever before of her own place in the world. But in the process lives have been lost, certain friends and loved ones are now parted indefinitely, Seraphina can no longer hope for a conventional HappilyEverAfter with Kiggs as he and Glisselda go through with their ArrangedMarriage, and worst of all, Orma's memories have been excised. Still, it's implied that Seraphina, Kiggs and Glisselda will create their own, [[OneTrueThreesome ''un''conventional]] HappilyEverAfter, and Seraphina is rebuilding her relationship with Orma with tentative hope that his memories can be restored.]]

** ''ShadowScale'': [[spoiler: The war is over, Jannoula is defeated, peace is restored, and Seraphina has befriended many other [[HalfHumanHybrid ityasaari]] like herself and gained a better sense than ever before of her own place in the world. But in the process lives have been lost, certain friends and loved ones are now parted indefinitely, Seraphina can no longer hope for a conventional HappilyEverAfter with Kiggs as he and Glisselda go through with their ArrangedMarriage, and worst of all, Orma's memories have been excised. Still, it's implied that Seraphina, Kiggs and Glisselda will create their own, [[OneTrueThreesome ''un''conventional]] HappilyEverAfter, and Seraphina is rebuilding her relationship with Orma with tentative hope that his memories can be restored.]]

** Orma's family is the best example. His sister, Linn, illegally married a human and brought shame and suspicion onto the entire family: their father Imlann went rogue after hoard was confiscated, their mother killed herself from the shame, and Orma is now under constant scrutiny from the Censors for overly emotional behaviour towards the only thing he has left of his sister, his niece Seraphina.

* CharacterTitle: ''Seraphina'' is the name of TheProtagonist.

* GenderBender: In Porphyria, citizens can choose their own gender and this is treated as something natural, the best example being [[spoiler: Camba]].

** [[spoiler: Seraphina confesses her parentage to Kiggs in the middle of a life-or-death situation, having to repeat herself to convince him she's not bluffing.]]

* SlowTransformation: Dragon’s muscles are soft, and their wings incapable of flight for the first few minutes after transformation.
* StarCrossedLovers: Seraphina and Lucian, due to him being engaged to his cousin Glisselda [[spoiler: Who is later revealed to ALSO be in love with Seraphina]]and their loyalty to her. That [[InterspeciesRomance Seraphina herself isn't completly human]], and that [[InterClassRomance he is a prince]] doesn't help, either.

* DragonHoard: Dragons hoarded treasure until the treaty and Ardmagar Comonot’s reforms. Interestingly, the new generation of dragons still hoard in a way, collecting books and sitting on them.

''Seraphina'' is a YoungAdult {{Fantasy}} dualogy by Rachel Hartman. It count the novels ''Seraphina'' and ''Shadow Scale'', as well as a prequel novelette, ''The Audition''.

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: Dragons must stay in their saarantras around human territories.

* BigScrewedUpFamily: almost all the main characters come from one:

** The [[RoyallyScrewedUp royal family]] aren't such a well-adjusted bunch either. The youngest of Lavonda's children, Princess Laurel, eloped with a Samsamese admiral and had a bastard, Prince Lucian, before dying in a shipwreck. Princess Dionne is incredibly bigoted towards dragons, which is a terrifying trait to have in someone who would soon enough have to help uphold the Treaty. [[spoiler: And while Glisselda's father doesn't seem to be in the picture, Dionne was still seemingly willing to have an illegal affair with Comonot.]] Prince Lucian lost both his parents at age five in an accident he narrowly avoided being in, was brought to a foreign country where he couldn't speak the language, had to live with relatives he had never met and deal with the scorn associated with being a bastard: no wonder he was a problem child.

* BodyHorror: Seraphina growing scales as a child. All the ityasaari are born with some form of defect, but such defects vary from person to person.

** And Ninys, with its dukes, palashos, mild climate and well-developed culture is reminiscent of Renaissance Italy, with a bit of Spain thrown in for good measure (the way Des Osho look).

* GeneticMemory: Dragons have it.

** Lars' family fits this trope well. His mother had an extramaritial affair with a dragon in human form. When Lars grew up and showed the first signs of being a half-dragon, his father killed his wife in a fit of anger - both for adultery and giving birth to a hybrid. Enraged that his father murdered his mother, Lars' brother, Josef, killed his father. Josef, however, harbours no warm feelings for his half-brother, whom he views as a monstrosity.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: They can take human form, [[GeneticMemory inherit their ancestors' memories]] and are [[EmotionalEmotionlessPerson emotionless]] as well as highly intellectual.

** Lars' family fits this trope well. His mother was a half-dragon and his father was a human. Upon learning that his son was a half-dragon and his wife was a dragon, Lars' father killed his wife in a fit of anger. Enraged that his father murdered his mother, Lars' brother, Josef, killed his father.

*** Actually, Lars's mother was human but had an affair with a half-dragon male. That's why Josef is fully human while Lars is not. And why Josef hates dragons and half-dragons so much.

* BondingOverMissingParents: Having mothers who both [[DeathByChildbirth died giving birth to them]] is one the things Seraphina and Lucian bonds over.

* HalfHumanHybrid: Seraphina and the seventeen people in her visions.

* MathematiciansAnswer: Dragons are prone to giving thoses.

* KissingCousins: First cousins Prince Lucian and Princess Glisselda of Goredd are engaged. They aren't in love, though.

* StarCrossedLovers: Seraphina and Lucian, due to him being engaged to his cousin Glisselda and their loyalty to her. That [[InterspeciesRomance Seraphina herself isn't completly human]], and that [[InterClassRomance he is a prince]] doesn't help, either.

* BodyHorror: Seraphina growing scales as a child.