Book Review: Talon

Title: Talon

Author: Julie Kagawa

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Book Blurb:

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:

Okay...so I know that this book has been receiving a fair amount of negative reviews--DISREGARD THEM ALL!  Talon completely blew me away. I was a bit tepid going into this book after hearing so many less than stellar reviews, but I just had to buy the book because the cover was simply gorgeous (#booknerdproblems).  And I was not disappointed--both content wise and cover wise.  I mean, look what I found beneath the dust jacket: 

Okay, I'm done gushing about the stunning artwork/design.  Let me get straight to the story itself.  First of all, I want to make clear: IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A HARD CORE DRAGON FANTASY BOOK, TURN AWAY.  Yes, this book contains dragons (quite a few of them, as a matter of fact.)  But the dragons we're dealing with assume the form of human beings in order to disguise themselves and to blend in with society.  And also, did I mention this book takes place in the modern world?  Yes--you heard that right; I was quite surprised by this because there are very few dragon containing/dragon based books that takes place in the real world (of course, Hogwarts is real too.)

One of my favorite aspects of Talon is the dual (and later on, tri) point of view.  Ember is a dragon disguised as a human under the orders of Talon.  Think of Talon as the Big Brother of the dragon society--it' omnipotent and anyone who breaks away from Talon is hunted down.  I found it very interesting to read a story from a dragon's point of view--1st person POV, no less.  This was definitely unique and made Talon stand out from other dragon/fantasy books.  Garret, another main character, is a dragon hunter.  In many ways, he reminded me of Thomas with a dash of Metias from Legend by Marie Lu.  Last but not least there's Riley, the rouge dragon who Ember is learning dark secrets about Talon from.  And yes, there's definitely a love triangle thing going on between Ember, Riley and Garret.  But the writing was so good that I am completely willing to overlook that :-)

The plot...that plot.  Gosh I am such a sucker for plots that are based off of dramatic irony.  (Take Legend for example.)  Actually, in many ways, the basic plot structure of Talon reminds me that of Legend's.  Except that instead of a girl hunting down a boy, it's a boy hunting down a girl in the case of Talon.  Garret is hunting down dragons and meets Ember--but has no idea that she is in fact one of the dragons he is supposed to kill. 

Talon is wonderfully written and look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Rating: