Rachel Hartman
Random House Books for Young Readers
February 27th, 2018
Finally, all of the hard work Tess had put into finding her sister a good match was coming to fruition. Perhaps after this, her family would leave her alone to do as she liked.
Once the wedding came up, however, she finds out she’s wrong. Ever since she made the mistake of falling in love and having a child (that unfortunately died at birth), her family considered her ruined. They preferred she ended up far out of their hair and in a place where they could hide their embarrassment–preferably in a remote nunnery. After all, no one would marry her.
Tess has other ideas. She seeks refuge with her half-dragon sister (another family embarrassment, but at least even half-dragons are considered saints), who gifts her with a pair of traveling boots that fairly beg to be on the road. Tess decides to answer the call, and heads toward a remote city where she might be able to earn a living as a seamstress. On the way, she stumbles upon an old friend–one of lizard-kind, who wants to find one of the fabled World-Serpents revered by his kind. Tess is eager for an adventure.
Tess of the Road is an interesting road-tale of a young woman figuring out for herself what she wants of life, finding it in herself to heal, and deciding what’s important to her. Its got solid world building and characters, and made for a good read.
See more YA, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy reviews:
Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller
The Uploaded by Ferrett Steinmetz
JL Jamieson is a strange book nerd who writes technical documents by day, and book news, reviews, and other assorted opinions for you by night. She is working on her own fiction, and spends time making jewelry to sell at local conventions, as well as stalking the social media accounts of all your favorite writers.