Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman
5 stars
“You can’t walk away without also walking toward.”
Tess always been the “bad” child. The daughter who never did anything right. Her existence has consisted of one failure after another and her mother never lets her forget. After ruining her twin sister’s wedding night, she finds herself with the opportunity to run away. She can go on the road and live out the adventures she chased after as a child or she can enter a convent and appease her mother. Tess chooses the road (cloaking herself as a man for protection) and reunites with an old quitgul (a reptile-like creature) friend. Together they embark on the road together and encounters many adventures, but their greatest adventure is discovering the Great Serpent that calls to Pathka in ko’s (pronoun for the quitgul race) dreams. The serpent may be able to help Tess pull herself out of the darkness and if not, at least the road will. I will leave Tess of the Road with that simple and very confusing summary because I want readers to go into this novel without knowing much. This is a spinoff to Seraphina (which I haven’t read) and I honestly don’t believe that hindered my understanding. It spoiled Seraphina for me, but it didn’t lessen my excitement to go back and immerse myself in more of Hartman’s world. This novel is genius. I think my favorite thing about Tess of the Road is the world building. This world is vast. The creatures are countless. The religions are numerous and the quitgul’s have their own language. I’m pretty sure Hartman has some background in linguistics because she has put so much love into every little intricate detail about the creatures Tess encounters in different parts of her life. Hartman’s writing style is crisp, addictive, and emotionally captivating. I was so incredibly moved by Tess’s narrative. She has one of the most gut-wrenching stories I’ve come across in a YA fantasy. Hartman is an author to be watched and I can’t believe it has taken me so long to pick up one of her works (especially knowing how many people raved about Seraphina)!
Whimsical Writing Scale: 5
“The road was possibility, the kind she’d thought her life would never hold again, and Tess herself was motion. Motion had no past, only future. Any direction you walked was forward, and that was as must be.”
The main female character is Tess. Tess is full of imagination, but her naivety has also caused her great pain and this has hardened her from a young age. Tess is full of trigger warnings. She’s an adolescent alcoholic who imbibes at the worst of times, but that alcoholism is rooted in the pain of her past. We learn early on that Tess had a baby out of wedlock. We don’t know where the baby is or what exactly happened and we also don’t know the story of how the baby came to be. It’s all hidden away into crevices within Tess and as she embarks on her journey on the road more and more becomes slowly revealed to the reader. I’m going to discuss put the major trigger warnings in spoiler tags because they are massive spoilers one of these warning does not come about until the last 87% of the novel. Tess had a relationship with a man who groomed her and raped her when she was barley fourteen years old (not revealed until 87% of the way through). This results in her becoming pregnant and having a baby as a teen. She delivers the baby prematurely and it results in her son, Dozerius, dying within only a couple of days of living. Tess’s experiences have hardened her, but she is always so compassionate towards others (even those who don’t deserve it). She is one of my favorite heroines and I am so happy to have been privileged to know her story because it was one meant to be told.
Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 5
There are so many characters in this novel. Pathka is an integral character. She was once best friends with Tess, but now he (quitgul’s are able to change their gender) and Tess are basically family. Seeing their dynamic on the road was so emotionally gripping. I loved their relationship. The fights they had were real and not contrived, but they always understood one another. Kikiu is Pathka’s daughter and she also makes several appearances that slightly baffled me, but were also incredibly enduring. Pathka and Kikiu have a very odd relationship, but it was so amazing to see another species’ family dynamic. Seraphina also plays an important role in Tess’s journey starting and eventually changing course. There were so many characters and I want to talk about all of them, but it’s better to go on the road and discover them alongside Tess.
Character Scale: 5
The Villain- The interesting thing about this fantasy novel is that it doesn’t have a BIG BAD VILLAIN, which is a pleasant contrast to the usual political takedown plots that keep the fantasy genre afloat. Tess of the Road doesn’t need a villain because life is evil enough sometimes. Tess’s own mistakes and the mistakes of those around her affect the dynamic of her life and it, in turn, moves her onto different courses. It’s a contemporary novel set in a fantasy world and I loved that.
Villain Scale: 5 Life can suck LOL
I really want people to read Tess of the Road. This is the second YA fantasy novel I’ve come across this year that tackled teen pregnancy (Reign the Earth) and both of those novels were superb. I want people to go on an adventure with no dire plot or overall meaning. There is no failure in this novel when it comes to the adventure because for the longest time the reader isn’t sure of the adventure. This probably makes no sense, but it’s a philosophical novel that tackles interesting topics and if that’s your jam, then you definitely want to pick up this novel.
Plotastic Scale: 5
Cover Thoughts: This cover is stunning. When I started reading it made no sense, but now it holds all the meaning of the world within this novel.
Thank you, Netgalley and Random House Books for Young Readers, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
5 stars
“You can’t walk away without also walking toward.”
Tess always been the “bad” child. The daughter who never did anything right. Her existence has consisted of one failure after another and her mother never lets her forget. After ruining her twin sister’s wedding night, she finds herself with the opportunity to run away. She can go on the road and live out the adventures she chased after as a child or she can enter a convent and appease her mother. Tess chooses the road (cloaking herself as a man for protection) and reunites with an old quitgul (a reptile-like creature) friend. Together they embark on the road together and encounters many adventures, but their greatest adventure is discovering the Great Serpent that calls to Pathka in ko’s (pronoun for the quitgul race) dreams. The serpent may be able to help Tess pull herself out of the darkness and if not, at least the road will. I will leave Tess of the Road with that simple and very confusing summary because I want readers to go into this novel without knowing much. This is a spinoff to Seraphina (which I haven’t read) and I honestly don’t believe that hindered my understanding. It spoiled Seraphina for me, but it didn’t lessen my excitement to go back and immerse myself in more of Hartman’s world. This novel is genius. I think my favorite thing about Tess of the Road is the world building. This world is vast. The creatures are countless. The religions are numerous and the quitgul’s have their own language. I’m pretty sure Hartman has some background in linguistics because she has put so much love into every little intricate detail about the creatures Tess encounters in different parts of her life. Hartman’s writing style is crisp, addictive, and emotionally captivating. I was so incredibly moved by Tess’s narrative. She has one of the most gut-wrenching stories I’ve come across in a YA fantasy. Hartman is an author to be watched and I can’t believe it has taken me so long to pick up one of her works (especially knowing how many people raved about Seraphina)!
Whimsical Writing Scale: 5
“The road was possibility, the kind she’d thought her life would never hold again, and Tess herself was motion. Motion had no past, only future. Any direction you walked was forward, and that was as must be.”
The main female character is Tess. Tess is full of imagination, but her naivety has also caused her great pain and this has hardened her from a young age. Tess is full of trigger warnings. She’s an adolescent alcoholic who imbibes at the worst of times, but that alcoholism is rooted in the pain of her past. We learn early on that Tess had a baby out of wedlock. We don’t know where the baby is or what exactly happened and we also don’t know the story of how the baby came to be. It’s all hidden away into crevices within Tess and as she embarks on her journey on the road more and more becomes slowly revealed to the reader. I’m going to discuss put the major trigger warnings in spoiler tags because they are massive spoilers one of these warning does not come about until the last 87% of the novel. Tess had a relationship with a man who groomed her and raped her when she was barley fourteen years old (not revealed until 87% of the way through). This results in her becoming pregnant and having a baby as a teen. She delivers the baby prematurely and it results in her son, Dozerius, dying within only a couple of days of living. Tess’s experiences have hardened her, but she is always so compassionate towards others (even those who don’t deserve it). She is one of my favorite heroines and I am so happy to have been privileged to know her story because it was one meant to be told.
Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 5
There are so many characters in this novel. Pathka is an integral character. She was once best friends with Tess, but now he (quitgul’s are able to change their gender) and Tess are basically family. Seeing their dynamic on the road was so emotionally gripping. I loved their relationship. The fights they had were real and not contrived, but they always understood one another. Kikiu is Pathka’s daughter and she also makes several appearances that slightly baffled me, but were also incredibly enduring. Pathka and Kikiu have a very odd relationship, but it was so amazing to see another species’ family dynamic. Seraphina also plays an important role in Tess’s journey starting and eventually changing course. There were so many characters and I want to talk about all of them, but it’s better to go on the road and discover them alongside Tess.
Character Scale: 5
The Villain- The interesting thing about this fantasy novel is that it doesn’t have a BIG BAD VILLAIN, which is a pleasant contrast to the usual political takedown plots that keep the fantasy genre afloat. Tess of the Road doesn’t need a villain because life is evil enough sometimes. Tess’s own mistakes and the mistakes of those around her affect the dynamic of her life and it, in turn, moves her onto different courses. It’s a contemporary novel set in a fantasy world and I loved that.
Villain Scale: 5 Life can suck LOL
I really want people to read Tess of the Road. This is the second YA fantasy novel I’ve come across this year that tackled teen pregnancy (Reign the Earth) and both of those novels were superb. I want people to go on an adventure with no dire plot or overall meaning. There is no failure in this novel when it comes to the adventure because for the longest time the reader isn’t sure of the adventure. This probably makes no sense, but it’s a philosophical novel that tackles interesting topics and if that’s your jam, then you definitely want to pick up this novel.
Plotastic Scale: 5
Cover Thoughts: This cover is stunning. When I started reading it made no sense, but now it holds all the meaning of the world within this novel.
Thank you, Netgalley and Random House Books for Young Readers, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Are you interested in Tess of the Road? What are some of your favorite heroines with a dark past? Let me know down below in the comments!
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