Review: Talon by Julie Kagawa

Talon

Author: Julie Kagawa

Series: Talon

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Release date: 28^th October 2014

Pages: 400

Synopsis (Goodreads)

Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they're positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.

Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George.

Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon's newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey: and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him: and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.

Review: 3 out of 5 stars

Talon has been one of my most anticipated books for this year so I was extremely excited to receive an advanced copy from Harlequin Teen via Netgalley.

The story follows Ember and Dante Hill as they learn to adapt to human life away from what they have learned from Talon but both have differing views on how they should be behaving; it was a concept I really enjoyed, especially when it came to Ember’s reluctance.

Talon lives by strict rules which dragons are expected to abide by but when truths are revealed by a rogue things aren’t what they seem and Ember’s rebellious side comes to light. Also thrown into the equation is the Order of St George who are trained to hunt the dragons, this aspect is one I found quite interesting, especially with the love interest fighting for this side.

What I liked:

** The fabulous cover.

** A wonderful main character with a defiant personality, she knew what she wanted and went for it despite the ramifications.

** The premise is original and intriguing; I loved reading about the dragons and the group that hunted them.

** Julie Kagawa’s brilliant story-telling and engaging writing.

What I didn’t like so much:

** I would have liked more history about the dragons and more scary dragon times in general.

** A love-triangle – Riley the Dragon & Garret the slayer, I am not a fan of this trope at all and in this book I don’t really feel it was needed. My hopes are on Riley though; the whole Dragon/Human I didn’t find appealing.

** Garret, I found him to be flat and under-developed along with some other characters who lacked depth.

** Slow in some parts and rapid pacing at others.

I wish I could say I loved Talon as I have other JK books but this one was just ok for me, it was a nice set-up for the rest of the series and I will definitely be reading the next book.

Thank you to Harlequin Teen via Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review Talon.

About the author: Julie Kagawa, the New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Fey and Blood of Eden series was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos, and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish, and the odd eel.

When not swimming for her life, Julie immersed herself in books, often to the chagrin of her schoolteachers, who would find she hid novels behind her Math textbooks during class. Her love of reading led her to pen some very dark and gruesome stories, complete with colored illustrations, to shock her hapless teachers. The gory tales faded with time, but the passion for writing remained, long after she graduated and was supposed to get a real job.

To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dogtrainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full time.

Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian Shepherd who is too smart for his own good, and the latest addition, a hyper-active Papillon.