Hardcover, 544 pages
Expected publication: February 27th 2018 by Random House Books for Young Readers
In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons get to be whomever they want. Tess, stubbornly, is a troublemaker. You can't make a scene at your sister's wedding and break a relative's nose with one punch (no matter how pompous he is) and not suffer the consequences. As her family plans to send her to a nunnery, Tess yanks on her boots and sets out on a journey across the Southlands, alone and pretending to be a boy.
Where Tess is headed is a mystery, even to her. So when she runs into an old friend, it's a stroke of luck. This friend is a quigutl--a subspecies of dragon--who gives her both a purpose and protection on the road. But Tess is guarding a troubling secret. Her tumultuous past is a heavy burden to carry, and the memories she's tried to forget threaten to expose her to the world in more ways than one.
Where Tess is headed is a mystery, even to her. So when she runs into an old friend, it's a stroke of luck. This friend is a quigutl--a subspecies of dragon--who gives her both a purpose and protection on the road. But Tess is guarding a troubling secret. Her tumultuous past is a heavy burden to carry, and the memories she's tried to forget threaten to expose her to the world in more ways than one.
Tess of the Road was a book that fell flat for me, which was extremely disappointing.
The one thing I really enjoyed about this book was the writing style. The author really has a way with words! The writing flowed so beautifully and really pulled me in. I was hoping the writing style was enough to make me love this book, but I just couldn't get into this story.
I think the worst part of this book for me was the main character, Tess. I just had such a hard time connecting with her. I loved her modern and feminist views, but I just couldn't find something relatable about her. There were a lot of times when I was questioning her actions and I didn't really understand her thought process. I did enjoy how open she was about talking about sex. It was refreshing it see sex brought up in a YA book so it didn't feel so taboo. Sex was brought up quite a bit in this book as well as the menstrual cycle. It was nice that the author was normalizing these topics. There also was a lot of underage drinking, which might make some readers uncomfortable.
I loved the idea of the journey Tess was going to go on and THE FREAKING DRAGONS, but those sadly disappointed me. The journey was slow and not exciting at all, AND I WANTED TO SEE MORE DRAGON ACTION. I hope there is a second book where action and dragons take more of an important role in the story.
Overall, this is a book that had a lot of potential to be a book I loved, but it just didn't work for me.
2 / 5 Fangs
*This ebook was given to me in exchange for an honest review. *
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