I had heard great things about this one, but I was so excited to read it. Sadly it wasn't for me. I didn't enjoy the main character at all, and the story was super slow to start.

This book is absolutely phenomenal. I am a huge fan of SERAPHINA and Hartman's writing style, but I can't help but feel as though Hartman has really hit her stride in this latest novel that tackles feminism, consent, sex, autonomy, adventure, and finding your path and is a wonderful adventure to boot. I've been talking this one up so much that the hold list at my library just keeps growing, and I know that TESS is already one of my top favorites on 2018.

I had heard about Tess of the Road on a webinar about forthcoming Young Adult novels. Rachel Hartman tells the story of Tess Dombegh, a rebel against the expectations and strictures she labors under. She decides to run away south rather than join a nunnery as her family wants after her latest dust-up on her twin sister's wedding night. Over the course of her journey, Tess explores her past and comes to terms with what she is just in time to join an expedition to find another World Serpent. She had already had an epiphany when she met the first World Serpent on her trip south. Plenty of angst, plenty of adventure, and plenty of relationships, family and otherwise.

Sadly, I had to DNF it. Despite being very female power-ish, it was really boring and absolutely hard to read. I didnt like the main character and so many stupid decisions I had to see her through. The romance seemed very far-fetched. And the dragons. Wheremst are thou. Lizards are not dragons in that way :(
Rachel Hartman is a great writer though. But this title is a no from me.

I. Loved. This. Book.

I've never read any of Hartman's other books, but jumped into this one for my lunchtime book - while simultaneously reading "Girl in the Tower" by Katherine Arden in the evenings at home (a pretty good complement, in fact!). It took me a minute to get into, since it starts off with a VERY different Tess from the one we leave the book with, confined to a servant-like state of existence with mean, uncaring parents, and a world of proper-etiquette-court-behavior to comply with. I didn't love this existence, and was perfectly set up for the break out. I LOVED Pathka and the communication and connection with this other kind of living thing, and the link to linguistic exploration in explaining her/his language.

I was a touch confused by the Saint/dragon linkage (though perhaps the previous books would be more illuminating on that front).

I loved Tess's adventuring, and was at first saddened by her necessity for disguise b/c of all the "uncontrollable" men running about (connection to Arden's book was huge here!), but then was a bit comforted by how many women actually run things in this world, and Tess was merely figuring it out. And her message, "Walk on," was brilliant for a life motto, especially when things get tough. Keep moving and you'll eventually move through the muck.

My mental image of the World Serpents is truly mind-boggling and magnificent, and something I'm eager to spend more time reading about.

For some reason, I'm compelled to think about the "Flora Segunda" series by Ysabeau S. Wilce, though I've not read these books in a LONG time. Something about the adventuring, mystical-creature world, and a girl on her own makes me feel a pang of nostalgia about those books - perhaps I need to revisit them!

Can't wait for more!

Tess of the Road is indescribable, unfortunately, but I will make an attempt. This is the story of a young woman hiding from her memories and ready to run from her future in order to be herself, a young woman who discovers herself along the road of epic journey, bizarre kidnapping, family troubles, construction, and exploration. A story of drunks and dreams and the moments in which one discovers their vocation.

Tess is a young woman made up of secrets, memories, and many things she'd like to forget. Like the dark parts of her past. Like her ways of getting into trouble, of not keeping quiet. Like how she got drunk at her sister's wedding and later punched her sort of brother-in-law in the nose. She's curious and gruff, intelligent and unforgiving. Stubborn. Unwilling to bow down. She's the kind of young woman who will venture out on her own, old friend Pathka the quigutl at her side on their own journey, to see what the world will show her. But what will the world show her? Where will it take her? What will it make her remember?

With this being my first Rachel Hartman book, I don't know that this is what I expected. Knowing her previous two books were connected to this one, I expected a few things. A medieval fantasy land. Possible dragons. Some post-war peace times. Maybe some magic. Maybe some dragons. I didn't expect a wholly uncooperative heroine and her internal struggle to dismantle all the religion and shame that was pushed at her when she was a child. I didn't expect a classic fantasy 'journey down the road disguised as a boy' that would dissect and deconstruct rape culture. I will never be able to describe this book accurately, because the second I finished I simultaneously wondered what in the world I'd just read and why more books weren't like this. Why more fantasy books about young girls and women weren't about them owning their mistakes, their dreams, and their bodies. From what I've read, this book is rather different from its predecessors. It's rather character-driven, Tess walking her way down the road, meeting people and discovering herself. It's certainly something I would suggest to those looking for something familiar yet utterly different from any other fantasy novel.

Random House Books for Young Readers and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Tess of the Road. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Branded a failure by her family, unchaste and troublesome, Tess Dombegh uses alcohol and her fists to solve her problems. When she takes to the road instead of being exiled to a convent, will Tess be able to put behind her self-destructive ways and become a strong and likable young woman?

Constantly compared to her twin, who can do no wrong, Tess spends her childhood through her teenage years feeling as though she can never measure up. This sentiment can be echoed by many young adults today, so parts of this book might resonate with the target audience. Tess of the Road has been classified as YA, but there are subjects contained within that parents may want to discuss with their teens. Violence, neglect, teen pregnancy, unwanted advances, and abuse, to name a few, are issues that some of the characters must endure.

Having not read Seraphina or Shadow Scale prior to this book, I can say that the author does a good job of explaining some of the major points from the previous books. There are major spoilers, though, so I would recommend reading from the beginning of the series to get the full effect of the characters and the world. As to Tess of the Road, I am on the fence about my recommendation. Tess is my favorite character, with a strength and determination well beyond her years. Her quest is exhaustingly slow, with the introduction of so many characters that the author placed a glossary at the end of the book. The pacing of the story may turn off some readers, as I myself found it difficult to push through. Honestly, as I was given a copy of Tess of the Road, I felt it necessary to finish. I may have closed the book halfway through had this not been the case. Those who enjoy the world that author Rachel Hartman began in Seraphina may find this book to their liking, as well as readers who like character driven fantasy novels.

This is a great coming of age story but more mature than my readers.

I'm sad to DNF this, as I am intrigued of with the story direction and whether the world serpent truly exist or not, but I have no patience and it doesn't interest me. The pacing is soooooooo slow, 35% in and nothing happened, the dragon only appear in passing, and Tess is a frustrating character to read. I should've DNF this earlier, still, I am proud of myself for making it to 35%.

Man, it took me awhile to get into this. And that is my fault. If I had been looking more closely I would have recognized Rahel Hartman's name and I wouldn't have gotten this book. I think Hartman is talented, but something about her style has never really meshed with my personal reading preferences.

The author says that this book is not inspired by Tess D'Urbervilles. I am not sure that I believe it, and I do think she should probably just go with it at this point. If it WERE inspired, it would be extremely clever, at 'not related to at all' it is bizarrely repetitive

In Tess of the Road the main character Tess is recovering from a catastrophic downfall after being seduced and abandoned. Although she tries to redeem herself, all is lost when she ruins her twin sister Jeanne's wedding by drunkenly punching the groom. Disguising herself as a boy, she hits the road to help her childhood friend, a quigutl dragon, find a legendary serpent. Along the way she must pose as a priest, work as a manual laborer and fend off robbers, as she slowly makes peace with her past. At first bitter and self-pitying, Tess ultimately shows her worth through her courage, resilience and empathy. Her triumphant quest to find the serpent allows her to begin to reenter society in this tale of female empowerment. The first in a duology, this novel sets the stage for further adventures on the road.

An interesting, but slow fantasy novel. It wasn't as exciting, or at all exciting really, as I expected it to be. It is a rather slow burn of a novel. But if you like a slow fantasy novel, you would enjoy this.

There are books that suck you, maybe not immediately but at some point in the book you are so much invested into this world you keep reading until you hit the end. This book was not it for me. Very very slow read with a annoying main character that has the biggest chip on her shoulder that multiple embarrassments and people trying to help her, doesn't fix.

I have put this book down more times than I would like to mention. I know plenty of people that love this book but I am not one of them.

It’s not at all fair to rate this since I actually haven’t finished. But this was highly anticipated and I just struggled to remain interested in the story. The summary is beyond intriguing. I felt that this would be a book for my favorites shelf. But...I was bored. Someday I may go back and give it another attempt.

I had many expectations for TESS OF THE ROAD because of the cover proclaiming that epic dragon...but unfortunately it didn't really work for me. I also did like the story it turned out to be, but my expefctations were just so wildly different that I felt disappointed the whole way through. Instead of an action, dragon adventure, this is a slow meandering introspective tale of a girl walking the world to try and find peace and healing. It's full of feminism and women empowerment, which I totally adored, but the lack of plot really left me feeling the tedium of so many pages.

This is really a powerful feminism story! Which I appreciate because this doesn't often happen in fantasy! (It also felt like a really solid critique on our society and how people treat women.) It obviously is set in a really super sexist world and women are raised to hate their bodies and do what men want at all times. It was so sad and hard to read at times, but I think the discussions were important.

I also broke for Tess because she literally had her rambunctious and lively attitude beaten out of her as a child. Her mother was so abusive. I wish they'd underlined a bit more how absolutely disgustingly disgraceful it was how much her mother beat her. Like she was a "spank magnet" because anytime she wasn't ladylike, she'd get smacked as a kid. To the point where she once got spanked 203 times. I'm so irate. (And I honestly thought this should've been dismantled a bit more than Tess kind of shrugging it off later...it's horrific.) I have a HUGE list of characters in this book I want to throw down a well. They broke Tess and this book is about her mending herself. And I love Tess! Her voice, her attitude, her vulnerabilities and her heartbreaking secrets.

But I really struggled with the slowness, the lack of plot direction, and the fact that there aren't any dragons featuring, but instead a lizard and a serpent they meet briefly. A book that's over 500 pages needed to keep me rooted to the page, but it just didn't.

I recommend this one for people looking for an introspective fantasy walk. It said some really important things and Tess was brilliant and the writing was great!

TESS OF THE ROAD by award-winning Rachel Hartman (Feb. 27; Random House; SLJ: Grade 9 up) is a long (536 pages!) saga, but will certainly be appreciated by fans of Hartman's earlier work, Seraphina and Shadow Scale, set in that Southlands world. Here, Tess (half-sister to Seraphina) disguises herself and takes to the road after drunkenly punching her other sister's bridegroom. Tess's journey is both physical – doing manual work, pretending to be a priest, and searching for a serpent -- and spiritual; contrasting current adventures with previous traumatic events as readers learn of her past rape. TESS OF THE ROAD is a gripping tale with an important message and received starred review from Booklist, Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, and Kirkus.

I read Seraphina quite a while ago, so I did not remember a lot of the details. I thought I remembered it being more middle grade, but this book is decidedly young adult. This book addresses rape, teen pregnancy, and issues of sexuality are woven throughout. I did enjoy the book, but it took a really long time for me to finish. Tess has suffered terrible emotional abuse at the hands of her mother, and neglect at the hands of her father. She is broken, and throughout this book she tries to put herself back together. She is often horrible, but not evil. She does understand the value of true friendship, and demonstrates loyalty in between bouts of bad decisions. I was rooting for her and really wanted to see her overcome all of the difficulties in her life to find, if not a happy ending, at least a peaceful one.

What kind of fantasy is this? The heroine doesn't turn out to have superpowers, there's no love triangle, there's hardly even a dragon! This is much more a character-driven tale of a girl who just can't seem to do anything right and is constantly disappointing her family--sometimes rebellious, sometimes mischievous, sometimes just misunderstood. I found Tess to be somewhat annoying and immature at first, but liked her determination and her spirit and liked her even more once she left home. There are some great, well-developed characters here, some human, some not (I loved the quigutls!), and Tess's growth (and our growing understanding of her) was realistic and well-done. I quite liked it, but I do love some good character building! However, if you are looking for an action-packed tale filled with magic, this isn't it.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a free e-ARC of this book.

I have been wanting to read this book since I first heard about it and saw that awesome cover! I had also been wanting to read Seraphina's books. So when I got a copy of this book from NetGalley and read that it was set in the same world as Seraphina, I decided that I should read Seraphina first so that I could get as much out of this book as possible. I am glad I made this decision!

Although TotR is not part of the same series, and you could probably read TotR without reading Seraphina first, I wouldn't recommend it. TotT takes place in the years following Seraphina's books, and Seraphina's books contain quite a bit of (very well written) world building and background information that may make parts of TotR difficult to interpret without.

I love how Rachel Hartman talks about important issues that we face today in such a unique way that captivates readers! She takes topics that are so prevalent and important to talk about in today's culture and perfectly fit them into a story about dragons! For example, Seraphina focuses heavily on racism and the acceptance of interracial relationships.

Both Seraphina and this book talk quite a bit about religion. In Seraphina, the Sons of Ogdo use religion as an excuse to hate. In this book, Tess' mother uses religion to keep her family in line. This book even touches on gender identification (Quigutls can change their gender), rape, and slut shaming.

Tess takes place in a time after the war, in which people are supposed to be more accepting of dragons.

I ♥ that we get to learn more about quigutls in this book! We meet several briefly in Seraphina's books, but they are not the focus. We get to spend much more time with them in this book, and we get to learn more about their personalities and the way they live.

Tess dreams of being an adventurer like Dozerius the pirate that she read about as a child. She runs away from her family after an embarrassing, drunken wedding. Luckily, she runs into Pathka, her childhood quigutl friend, and they go on an adventure together, like they talked about when she was younger.

This was an awesome book! I highly recommend it! I can't wait to see what happens next! My only issue is how long I am going to have to wait to read the sequel!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This was not for me. It seemed a little too adult for YA, plus I was bored out of my wits and hated the main character. Maybe it'll work for someone else, but not me.