Joint Review: Talon by Julie Kagawa

by:  Julie Kagawa
published by:  Harlequin Teen
publish date:  October 28, 2014

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.


Right off the top, I really like the cover.  I thought it really captured the dragon spirit of the book without being too over the top fantasy.  This book wasn't really a big fantasy dragon book.  I liked that about it.  I'm not a big fantasy reader.   While most of the characters were dragons, they were in human form for most of the book.  That made it kind of like a typical YA novel.  16ish, pretty, female main character with a deep, dark secret getting involved with all the wrong boys.  There was a the secret government plot and all the various factions out to get her.  It followed the formula for YA trilogy success, this time the characters were dragons so that made it a little more interesting.  

I was the complete opposite of Autumn.  I didn't even finish the book. I kept texting reasons I was not liking Talon to Autumn.  I'll share a couple with you... First, I got tired of how beautiful everyone was.  Why does everyone have to be perfect and beautiful in YA?  Second, I kept coming up with questions like: If female dragons are supposed to be important, why would you send one out into the world?  Especially a teenager with no worldly experience. You just set her free on the town?  Seems kind of dumb to me.  Third, if you are going to want your kind to blend in and not call attention to their dragon selves why would you name them Ember and Dante?  Why not Jennifer or John?  It seems to me that a dragon hunter might ignore a Jennifer, but Ember screams, "Look at me! I'm a dragon!".   I finally gave up when Riley showed up and called Ember: "Firebrand".  I couldn't take anymore.