Salute Your Shorts: Seraphina: The Audition by Rachel Hartman
10August 6, 2012 by Heidi
Salute Your Shorts is a weekly (ish) feature here at Bunbury in the Stacks highlighting and reviewing short stories and novellas. Everyone is welcome to join at any time, just grab the pic above and shoot me a link in the comments so that I can include your post in a roundup.
Title: The Audition [GoodReads]
Author: Rachel Hartman [Website|Twitter|Facebook]
Standing: Prequel short story to Seraphina.
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Published: June 19th, 2012
Format: E-book; 17 pages
Source: Available free online here.
If you’ve already read (and probably loved) Seraphina, the short story The Audition will provide you with some fun insight into some of your favorite characters. If you haven’t read Seraphina yet, reading this short might be a great way to decide if these characters, this world, and this writing are right for you!
The Audition tells the story of Seraphina’s audition process with Master Viridius, the court composer. She’s auditioning for the position of his assistant, but the most daunting task involved in this job (according to Viridius anyway) is teaching the Princess Glisselda her music lessons. Glisselda, referred to as ‘the brat’ by the music master, is a most tempestuous student and the two have been at a war of wills for some time.
I really enjoyed reading The Audition, and feel like it gives readers a good preview at the characters of Seraphina, Glisselda, Orma, and Viridius. Glisselda is exactly the type of princess I like, capable, strong headed, open minded and caring, but still a bit silly and childish at times. We see Seraphina’s calculating calm, quick thinking, and adaptability, along with Orma’s logical approach to the world and Viridius being gruffly lovable. In fact, I feel that if I had read The Audition prior to reading Seraphina, I may have been less confused by certain aspects of the story (like step siblings that don’t get mentioned until around page 250), and found it to have a more clear explanation about dragons and Orma’s scholar status.
It’s a very quick read that should take you all of 10 minutes, so how can you turn it down? Check back Thursday when I’ll be posting my review for Seraphina–because if the world needs one thing right now, it’s more praise for Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina!
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Category Review, Salute Your Shorts, Young Adult | Tags: dragons, fantasy, music, review, Salute Your Shorts, young adult
Oh, I didn’t know this existed! I loved Seraphina too, so I’m excited to see your review.
I hadn’t seen many readers mark it as read on Goodreads, so I figured quite a few Seraphina lovers likely missed out! Hope you enjoy. =)
Ooh, I had no idea there was a short story to go with Seraphina and I’m definitely glad that I can read this before the book, I think I will like it, but it would be nice to find out beforehand!
Yep! This one’s really short, and it gives you a good preview of the characters/writing style, though I do think the book itself is much better. There’s a nice depth that comes with the extra 450 pages.
I need to read this ASAP. Can’t wait for your review on Thurs!
Thanks, Catie! This is a super quick one, but fun. I still need to write my review! >.>
I didn’t know about this! I just bookmarked it. Thanks gal!
You are most welcome! That’s what I’m here for. =)
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