Talon Review

TALON
Series: Talon (Book One)
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Release Date: October 28th 2014

Book Length: 449 pages
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Source: Physical copy, Goodreads 
Review: 5/5 *Full Review Below.

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. 

Please tell me I'm not alone in thinking the word 'Dragon' must mean this:

Rest assured the book is nothing like this although in my defence the cover didn't exactly help my thinking!

This book has had mixed reviews right across the board and I think it may come down to whether you are familiar with Kagawa’s work or not and your expectations. For those of you who have read ‘The Iron Fey series’ or ‘Blood of Eden series’, BIG WARNING this book is not the same, the writing is completely different and there’s also a lack of world building. However her work is still spectacular, this book concentrates more on the romance, which is FINE BY ME, I adored it.

            The story focuses on twins Ember and Dante who are dragons hiding in their human form. They are given the summer to be free before taking their place at Talon headquarters, to basically work and reproduce for the rest of their lives. The book does not focus on their dragon form, training or even a huge adventure plot instead it focuses on the twins last chance at freedom.

Ember hates Talon and what it stands for and refuses to just be another dragon in a so-called cage, so naturally she rebels against absolutely everything! She’s fierce, feisty and everything you would expect from a sassy redheaded dragon. What she didn’t plan on was falling in love with the enemy. It’s not her best move but my god you just can’t blame her.

            Ladies let me introduce you to Garrett my future boyfriend. He is amazing! As many of you may know that Kagawa’s romances are extraordinary and in my opinion unbeatable, do we remember Ash from Iron Fey?!  What makes this romance even better is that Garrett really is the enemy; as in his sole mission is finding the ‘sleeper’ (dragon hiding human form) and killing it. Could this romance be anymore forbidden? There was so much bloody angst in this book I just couldn’t cope; every time they interacted I was swooning!

This book is full of love, betrayal, jealously, angst and a little bit of action, to me if was the perfect combination of everything. The ending was an absolute killer at one point I was considering penning Kagawa a letter demanding for Rogue but alas she remains in my good books as we don’t have to wait an whole year nooo.. It’s out April 28th 2015! Authors take note. I was going to rate this book a 4 due to the lack of world building I usually associate with her work but she still managed to draw me in the same and it was an excellent start to a brand new series. So in summary if you loved Kagawa’s previous work then please do give it go but if you do prefer a bit more action/adventure this may not be for you. Fellow romance lovers, this is perfection. I’ll just leave you with a little snippet because I’m literally obsessed ;).

“I found myself hating him, wanting to hurt him, to drive him away from the red-haired girl who was supposed to be mine.

Breathless, I slumped to the wall, numb with the realization. This anger, these illogical feelings of rage and possessiveness... I was jealous. I was jealous of a girl I was supposed to be stalking, seducing, for the sole purpose of revealing her true nature. This had become more than an objective, more than a mission.

I was falling for her. ”