I became a fan of Julie Kagawa when I read her ‘Iron Fey’ series, a few years back. I read the first one, fell in love with it, then literally read the other 5 books back-to-back. (Book 7 hasn’t been released yet.) So, when I saw her name plastered on the cover of a brand new book called ‘Talon’? I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it! Was it as fantabulous as the Iron Fey? Well… let’s find out…
Synopsis:
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.
The Short: 2 out of 5 stars. I honestly want to cry just writing that.
The Long: What went wrong, you ask? Well, let’s discuss.
First, the good. I really enjoyed the idea of this book. I liked the idea of a world of dragon’s that exist among humans and the suggestion that someone we know might just be a dragon in disguise. This alone had me thinking about this book when I put it down at night. That’s a good sign, right? Well, that is, until it became unbelievable and I just didn’t want to pick it up any longer.
The biggest surprise for me was that this book didn’t seem to live up to anything Kagawa has written thus far. Maybe I was just in a really good mood in the past, but her writing style seemed to have taken a hit on this project. The whole thing seemed rushed and not well edited. At all. At one point, there was quite a descriptive line, only to be blatantly repeated on the very next page. And it didn’t seem to be on purpose, either.
I guess I just didn’t buy this world she’d created. The main character was a dragon who needed to ‘assimilate’ and learn to be human. But she seemed perfectly assimilated already from the start. Her decisions weren’t consistent and I honestly just didn’t care about the girl.
The love triangle was too manufactured. I didn’t buy that Garrett was this strong military guy who would suddenly turn to mush over a girl. Ember shouldn’t have fallen in love with a human if she hates them, anyway. And the whole Riley’s-dragon-falling-for-Ember’s-dragon was just cheesy. I seriously looked around for cameras to see if I was being pranked when I read the part of their two dragons sharing a physical ‘moment’. That was just weird.
And why did every secret society/person seem like they were the worst thing ever, but none of them ever seemed to be able to take down even one target? St. George is the worst. No, Talon is the worst. No, Garrett is the most worst within St. George. But Lilith is the most worstest of all! I was just confused and didn’t see any of these characters actually make a kill.
By about three-quarters through the book, I just didn’t want to finish it, but felt like I had to. I skimmed the last ten percent only to find out what happens at the end. The characters and their actions just weren’t believable. Suffice it to say, I will not be reading the next book. I heard there will be 5 books in the series, total. Yikes.
Well, what are your thoughts? Have you read this? Am I being too harsh? I’d love to get another opinion on this! Especially since the reviews on Amazon and Goodreads are so very high for this thing!
Happy reading, friends!