Talon
by Julie Kagawa
Expected publication: October 28th 2014 by Harlequin Teen
series: Talon #1
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.
What I expected:
What I got:
I love Julie Kagawa. I’ve read her Iron Fey series and I liked it. So I had great expectations upon this book. I mean… it’s about dragons! But I’m actually disappointed.
Ember and her twin Dante are exceptional. Dragons usually lay only one egg a time, so they don’t have siblings. They live in a Talon – organization that helps them to survive in a world, where dragons are killed by St. George – military forces, created to drive dragons to extinct.
Ember and Dante are supposed to learn how to assimilate with humans during their summer in California, while training to become actual members of Talon and start to work for the organization. But Ember doesn’t want to work – she wants to have fun with her friends, go surfing and do pretty much nothing.
Then she meets a rogue dragon that puts under question all she knew before, and falls in love with a boy, which is strictly forbidden and unnatural for a dragon. And yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have a love triangle.
Ember is soooo annoying. She’s whiny, childish and irresponsible. I felt like I was reading about a 10-year-old. All she does is rambles about how bad is Talon, because they make her listen to the rules and train her to become a real dragon, while she wants to go for a walk with her friends.
For example, she instantly thinks her trainer is a Bitch, because she teaches her how to fight St. George when our girl dreams about boys, and never pats her shoulder when she does something good (which isn’t often). She isn’t your loving mother, moron, she trains you how to survive in a world where dragons are killed!
Which was why I had so been looking forward to the summer, one final hurrah before I had to become a responsible member of the organization. Before I became a full member of Talon for life, which was a very, very long time for us. Three months, that was all I wanted. Was that too much to ask?
Um, let me get this straight. She trains in the morning. That she can do whatever she wants. She has a lot of time for surfing, shopping and for going out with her friends. But she never. Stops. Whining.
Moreover, it gets her a lot of time for doing stupid things. Her brother asked her repeatedly not to bend the rules, because if Talon finds out, they’ll be sent back. This is their only chance to prove themselves. Pfff, like this girl cares. She’s attracted by everything that is forbidden: hang out with a rogue? Check. Turn into a dragon? Check. Get attached to humans? Check.
The story was also predictable from the very start. We knew that Garret is from the St. George, and maybe that’s the reason why every time Ember met with him it looked obvious to me. But seriously: this guy has never heard about arcade, he has no friends, everything is new to him, as it’s for Ember. But that doesn’t ring a bell, for he seems perfectly normal to her. Garret also shows her that he is good at combat and that he’s a perfect shooter. But the girl doesn’t even ask where he learned it. For a dragon who all her life was taught that St. George is after them, she’s incredibly oblivious. All she cares about is for her feelings for him.
Also, this book is cheesy and full of clichés. Like the part where Ember and her friends met some strangers and decided to ride with them to a cave. As Ember thought, these guys were looking “for fun”. Then girls are saved from those rapists by a knight in shining armor, and guess what? It taught them nothing, they sat in the car with another stranger and immediately invited him to a party in the house of one of the girls. What the hell??? You don’t even know him!
I remember watching some documental film about dinosaurs, and there was a scene where one tyrannosaur killed another, so that he could leave its prey for himself. You get it, Ember?
The girl also does this strange thing when she talks about herself as a dragon and herself as a human, like they are two different persons. For instance, she-human liked Garret, while she-dragon bristled at the thought of him. Sounds like she has a split personality.
There were three POVs, Ember`s, Garret`s and Riley`s – the rogue dragon. And while I was annoyed by Ember, boys were actually good, if you don’t count their endless praises for her when she doesn’t deserve it.
The writing was good, I liked the battle scenes, it was epic. Also I loved the description of Kagawa`s dragons, it was pretty realistic. I mean:
Something dark, scaly, and massive erupted from the hacienda, sending tile and wood flying as it launched itself into the air. My heart jumped as I watched the monster soar above the canopy. It was huge, a full-grown adult, the height of a bull elephant and three times as long. Curved horns spiraled up from its narrow skull, and a mane of spines ran down its neck to a long, thrashing tail. The sun glinted off midnight scales, and leathery wings cast a long shadow over the ground as the dragon hovered in the air, glaring down at the battle below, then dove to attack.
The plot wasn’t very interesting, because, as I said, it was predictable. The characters made me feel like banging my head against the wall, though I really liked Riley. Unfortunately, I expected much more.
series: Talon #1
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.
What I expected:
What I got:
I love Julie Kagawa. I’ve read her Iron Fey series and I liked it. So I had great expectations upon this book. I mean… it’s about dragons! But I’m actually disappointed.
Ember and her twin Dante are exceptional. Dragons usually lay only one egg a time, so they don’t have siblings. They live in a Talon – organization that helps them to survive in a world, where dragons are killed by St. George – military forces, created to drive dragons to extinct.
Ember and Dante are supposed to learn how to assimilate with humans during their summer in California, while training to become actual members of Talon and start to work for the organization. But Ember doesn’t want to work – she wants to have fun with her friends, go surfing and do pretty much nothing.
Then she meets a rogue dragon that puts under question all she knew before, and falls in love with a boy, which is strictly forbidden and unnatural for a dragon. And yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have a love triangle.
Ember is soooo annoying. She’s whiny, childish and irresponsible. I felt like I was reading about a 10-year-old. All she does is rambles about how bad is Talon, because they make her listen to the rules and train her to become a real dragon, while she wants to go for a walk with her friends.
For example, she instantly thinks her trainer is a Bitch, because she teaches her how to fight St. George when our girl dreams about boys, and never pats her shoulder when she does something good (which isn’t often). She isn’t your loving mother, moron, she trains you how to survive in a world where dragons are killed!
Which was why I had so been looking forward to the summer, one final hurrah before I had to become a responsible member of the organization. Before I became a full member of Talon for life, which was a very, very long time for us. Three months, that was all I wanted. Was that too much to ask?
Um, let me get this straight. She trains in the morning. That she can do whatever she wants. She has a lot of time for surfing, shopping and for going out with her friends. But she never. Stops. Whining.
Moreover, it gets her a lot of time for doing stupid things. Her brother asked her repeatedly not to bend the rules, because if Talon finds out, they’ll be sent back. This is their only chance to prove themselves. Pfff, like this girl cares. She’s attracted by everything that is forbidden: hang out with a rogue? Check. Turn into a dragon? Check. Get attached to humans? Check.
The story was also predictable from the very start. We knew that Garret is from the St. George, and maybe that’s the reason why every time Ember met with him it looked obvious to me. But seriously: this guy has never heard about arcade, he has no friends, everything is new to him, as it’s for Ember. But that doesn’t ring a bell, for he seems perfectly normal to her. Garret also shows her that he is good at combat and that he’s a perfect shooter. But the girl doesn’t even ask where he learned it. For a dragon who all her life was taught that St. George is after them, she’s incredibly oblivious. All she cares about is for her feelings for him.
Also, this book is cheesy and full of clichés. Like the part where Ember and her friends met some strangers and decided to ride with them to a cave. As Ember thought, these guys were looking “for fun”. Then girls are saved from those rapists by a knight in shining armor, and guess what? It taught them nothing, they sat in the car with another stranger and immediately invited him to a party in the house of one of the girls. What the hell??? You don’t even know him!
I remember watching some documental film about dinosaurs, and there was a scene where one tyrannosaur killed another, so that he could leave its prey for himself. You get it, Ember?
The girl also does this strange thing when she talks about herself as a dragon and herself as a human, like they are two different persons. For instance, she-human liked Garret, while she-dragon bristled at the thought of him. Sounds like she has a split personality.
There were three POVs, Ember`s, Garret`s and Riley`s – the rogue dragon. And while I was annoyed by Ember, boys were actually good, if you don’t count their endless praises for her when she doesn’t deserve it.
The writing was good, I liked the battle scenes, it was epic. Also I loved the description of Kagawa`s dragons, it was pretty realistic. I mean:
Something dark, scaly, and massive erupted from the hacienda, sending tile and wood flying as it launched itself into the air. My heart jumped as I watched the monster soar above the canopy. It was huge, a full-grown adult, the height of a bull elephant and three times as long. Curved horns spiraled up from its narrow skull, and a mane of spines ran down its neck to a long, thrashing tail. The sun glinted off midnight scales, and leathery wings cast a long shadow over the ground as the dragon hovered in the air, glaring down at the battle below, then dove to attack.
The plot wasn’t very interesting, because, as I said, it was predictable. The characters made me feel like banging my head against the wall, though I really liked Riley. Unfortunately, I expected much more.
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