Talon (Talon Saga, #1)

by Julie Kagawa

‘There are a dozen soldiers hiding in that maze. All hunting you. All looking to kill you.’

To the outside world Ember Hill is an ordinary girl, but Ember has a deadly secret. A dragon hiding in human form, she is destined to fight the shadowy Order of St. George, a powerful society of dragonslayers.

St. George soldier Garret is determined to kill Ember and her kind. Until her bravery makes him question all he’s been taught about dragons.

Now a war is coming and Garret and Ember must choose their sides – fight to save their bond or fulfil their fate and destroy one another.

‘The first in a new series, Talon leaves readers perfectly balanced between satisfaction and anticipation’ – BookPage

‘Kagawa knows just how to end a first volume for maximum cliff-hanger drama’ – Booklist

‘A strong, promising start to the Talon Saga’ – Publishers Weekly

• ISBN13: 9781848453371
• Publish Date: 15 January 2015 (first published 1 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Mira Ink
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 464
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[Kat @ Novels & Waffles]

“My heart gave a weird little flutter. I'd been around Lexi for over a month, listening to her gush over boys, watching her point out the 'gorgeous' ones. I understood human beauty now, and I'd even reached the point where I could nudge Lexi toward a cute guy, and she would agree that he was hot, but I still didn't get the fascination.

Maybe all the boy-watching had finally sunk in, because this stranger was, to use two of Lexi's favorite words, absolutely gorgeous.”

What do you get when you put a fiery redhead with a habit of rule-breaking, her overly protective older brother, and a cute soldier boy with a dangerous secret mission together? Something you've probably read before. You might have even seen it on The Disney Channel.

Dragons and Dragon Slayers – sounds promising enough, right? Wrong. Prepare to visit a doctor after reading this book, because you are going to sprain your eyeballs from all the eye-rolling you'll do. I stopped listening to the audiobook at around four hours in (out of 13). Honestly, I'm surprised I even stuck with it that long. Talon is just one big ball of cliche that has somehow managed to include almost every boring stereotype I can think of:

A bad boy who rides a motorcycle and dresses up in leather jackets: ✔
A forbidden romance with a boy who has gorgeous eyes: ✔
Cute Surfers with bleached hair who say "Duuuuudddde": ✔
Flat characters with no personality: ✔

I could go on, but I think you get the picture. There was absolutely nothing original going on here. The main character is a redhead with a short temper, a stubborn attitude, and is curious to the point of being stupid. Wow, never heard of that one before. Oh wait, yes I have. Moreover, she's a dragon named Ember with red hair. I mean, COME ON. Can't we be a little less obvious here?

Talon alternates chapters between two first-person narratives. The first is Ember Hill, a dragon hatchling who has been sent to live on a breezy California coast in order to learn how to blend in and act like a normal human teenager. Along with her twin brother, Dante, Ember spends her days surfing with her new SoCal friends who fit into that stereotype like a hand to a glove. Her inner dialogue is almost exclusively focused on how much she loves to fly, or how she wishes she were flying, or why can't she break the rules and go flying? If you didn't already catch on, she likes flying.

The second perspective is Garret Xavier Sebastian, who is a member of the secret dragon slaying society, The Order of St. George. This militaristic group hunts down dragons and kills them for the sake of protecting humanity. Garret is known among their ranks as, "The Perfect Soldier," and has been on dozens of deathly missions, despite his youthful age of seventeen. He's considered a seasoned solider, having joined the Order at fourteen. Can we just think about that? Why does this super secret, super dangerous, and super prestigious Order that has been around for hundreds of years allow fourteen-year-old boys to go running around with machine guns? Couldn't they find some more experienced recruits or are they so desperate that they are scraping the bottom of the barrel for people to join their ranks? Maybe I'm just being hypercritical here, but I wasn't buying into it. Oh, and side note, if I have to read one more description about how beautiful Garret's eyes are, I might vomit.

In the end, I found this book to be too juvenile for me to finish. The bland writing, the flat characters, and the over-reliance on stereotypes were hard for me to swallow. If I had picked Talon up ten years ago, before I was more familiar with the YA genre, I might have been able to enjoy it the same way you enjoy a Hallmark Channel movie. You're momentarily entertained, but not WOWed. Now, however, with so many books on by TBR list, I don't see the point in pushing myself to read something that at its best could be labeled, "Brainless fun," when I'm not in the mood for it.

[Sam@WLABB]

I fell in love with the storytelling of Julie Kagawa with the Iron Fey series, and I think I'm in love again. Talon was full of some many of those elements that just keep me reading: mystery, action, intrigue, villains, heroes, romance, and more. The book was a little Romeo and Juliette and there were dragons too! The book moves along at a good clip, no lulls here, and the last part of the book had my heart racing. As with any good YA book, we have a love triangle. Yeah, I am shipping (what I think is) the less popular pair, but I can't help myself.

[Nessa Luna]

A while back, I heard Julie Kagawa was coming to my town to sign her books, so I decided to put my name down for it - even though I had only read one of her books (The Iron King). I had been planning on reading one of her other series (preferably the one about dragons) before she came here, so I purchased both the first and second book of Talon (Talon and Rogue). But as 30 October crept closer and closer, I thought to myself I would never be able to finish them before that date. I still got them signed, and decided I would definitely read them in November. And so I picked up Talon a couple of days ago.

Personally, I hadn't really enjoyed The Iron King that much, because it was a story about fairies mostly and they are not really my favourite mythological creatures. Dragons, however, are amazing. I loved them in Harry Potter, I loved them in Tolkien's world, and I really want to love them in Eragon too (but I can't get through that book, sorry). So yeah, I really hoped I would love Talon. And I honestly did!

Talon is about Ember and Dante Hill who are sleeper dragons. Dragons who change into humans and live amongst us. They are placed in a little town in California for a sort of holiday before the real job starts. Unfortunately, their enemy, 'Bloody' St. George has found out where they are, and hunts them down. Because dragons are dangerous, dragons need to be killed. Or are they?

This book is told from a dual perspective (Ember and Garrett) throughout the first half, and gets a third POV (Riley) added in the second half. Honestly, I didn't really mind it that much, because I wanted to know more about these characters. They each had their own chapters, and their names were above the chapters as well, which made it less confusing. It also made the story a lot more interesting, because we got to read not only from a dragon's perspective, but also from the perspective of someone from St. George.

I liked Ember, and Garrett also even though I also didn't like him mainly for being a St. George soldier. But I liked reading about them, and that's all that matters - if you don't like reading from someone's perspective, the story will probably get a lot more annoying to read imo. I liked Dante as well, but later on in the story I started to doubt him more and more. And I was right, he turned out to be a Talon's boy through and through, such a shame. As for Riley, I honestly didn't know what to think about him at the beginning of the story, but I kind of like him now. It may have to do with the fact he had a POV in the second part of the book.

The thing I liked most about this story was that Ember (and Dante for that matter) already knew she was special. She already knew she was a dragon, and there wasn't 'but I can't be a *mythological creature*, I have always been a normal person! I have very normal parents! I AM NORMAL!'. No Ember knew she was a dragon from the start, she knew she was dangerous and could kill someone with one strike of her claws. I loved that!

What I didn't like that much was the sort of instalove that happened between some characters, and the fact that there was a bit of a hint to a love-triangle. Two things I really despise, but that didn't really make me hate the book more. In fact, I loved it. And no amount of love-triangle, instalove, blah blah blah could change my opinion (although I am scared for the next book). Julie's writing is just very nice, and I enjoyed reading every bit. There were some funny parts (like a tiny mention of Tolkien and someone quoted something from Shrek (SHREK!).

Anyway, if you love to read a young adult story about dragons, where the main character already knows she's special, go and read Talon! Just do it!

My opinion on this book in one gif:


(yes I saw a chance, and I took it with both claws).

[cornerfolds]

Talon is a book that has had my eye since it was first released last year. Let's be real. That cover is gorgeous! And it's even prettier in person because it's all shiny and perfect (dragons love shiny things). I just wasn't totally sure it was the book for me. I've heard it described as high fantasy AND contemporary, neither of which are at the top of my favorite genres list. But when I got a chance to listen to the audiobook I figured that it was time to see what all the hype was about.

This is definitely one of the more unique fantasies I've come across in my time as an avid reader. It really does seem to break genre boundaries and I really think it works. Talon is the story of Ember Hill and her brother, Dante, two dragons who are being integrated with human society. But there are rules. Lots of rules without any apparent purpose. Dante is willing to follow without question to the point of recklessness, but Ember isn't down with that.

I really loved Ember!! I thought she was believably badass while still being a teenage girl with teenage feelings (even if she didn't understand them). I felt like I could really identify her need to understand what was going on and why things were a certain way, and I could feel her frustration with being told to blindly trust the organization whose control she was under. I also really enjoyed her love interests (yes, there were two - this is YA fiction, after all).

At first Garret and Cobalt seemed like two very different people, but as the story progressed, they weren't that different after all and I could see how Ember was confused by their attentions. Garret and Cobalt both question everything, although one is slower to realize that things may not be as they seem. I think another reason why this was a love triangle that really worked because Ember did have to contend with her animalistic side as well as the part of her that had come to feel more human.

The world building was good, although there really wasn't much to build beyond normal California landscapes. Julie Kagawa did a great job of describing oceans and houses, I suppose. I'm really hoping that we get more insight into the dragon world in Rogue! I could really go for some more fantasy in my fantasy!

The story itself intrigued me almost immediately. I really loved feeling like I was going along with multiple characters in their quest to uncover conspiracies and truths. I am excited to find out what exactly the whole story is and why things are the way they are between Talon and the human organization, Saint George. Julie Kagawa has created a truly unique tale of dragons and humans in the present day with bad guys who are terrifying because they breathe fire and good guys who are honestly equally terrifying (humans are scary). One thing that kind of irritated me was Ember's constant use of "my dragon." I get it. You're a dragon. This is just a minor detail that kind of got annoying over the course of several hours of listening.

I enjoyed Talon despite being pretty unsure what I'd think! I do wish there had been a little more fantasy and a little less mall outings and smoothies, but I guess I knew what I was getting into. I am really looking forward to reading Rogue and finding out more about the apparently huge conspiracy behind everything! Oh, and more Cobalt! #teamcobalt for sure!

[angelarenea9]

This review is posted on my blog

I have been a big fan of Julie Kagawa for a few years now. I loved her Iron Fey series, and have recently finished her Blood of Eden series, so when I heard she was writing a new book about dragons I was ecstatic! It did take me a while to get started because of real life interfering (I know!) but I finally got a chance to read Talon.

I'm not sure what I expected from this book, but it was not this at all, and that's OK! This was such a unique book about dragons! This book is a story of a young dragon named Ember who, with her twin brother, is training to enter her adult life with her assigned role in Talon, the organization of dragons. Disguised as humans, Talon is waging a war against St. George, a religious organization determined to save humanity from the dragons. Ember's is forced to question everything she thought she believed when she is placed in Crescent Beach for her final training and meets Riley, a rogue dragon on the run from Talon, and Garret, an undercover St. George agent.

I loved the pace that this book moved at, there were lulls in the action but everything kept moving along. I think back to the first time I picked up one of Kagawa's books and her writing just keeps getting better. The changing point of views gave you a wonderful image of the whole story with some great dramatic irony.

I was a little disappointed that Kagawa went with the love triangle story line again with this series, unlike Blood of Eden. I'm not generally a fan of love triangles. That being said, she always manages to elevate them beyond two guys like the same girl, and this time is no exception. Ember is torn between raw instinct and passion, and a true human connection, even where she should not be able to have one.

Overall this book was spectacular and anyone who loves fantasy YA should read this!

[Linda]

Talon is different, because dragons. At the same time, there are some very familiar themes where sometimes a war is fought because of what they are used to, and because of the fear of those who are different.

This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews

[reveriesociety_]

Since this book is about dragons, and written by one my favorite authors, I was counting on it blowing my mind to a point of no return, which I guess it kind of did. But… Yes, there are some but’s.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved the plot. It was brilliantly executed and the little twists and turns were amazing.

What I realized, however, after finishing the book was that with all the action (if you may call it that), character development wasn’t very present. Sure, the most important change was there. But, to be truthful, neither Ember, Riley/Cobalt, or Garret were very memorable to me. That said, there is a lot of potential there, and I’m eager to see what happens to them in the next installment.

It was totally a plus to read the story in different POVs. It didn’t feel forced and I doubt it’d have worked as well if it’d just been Ember.

I don’t know how I’ll live until Rogue is out, but I’ll try to manage. The fact that an excerp of The Call of the Forgotten #3 will be featured in Rogue isn’t doing much for my feels.

This review and others can be found at A Writer's Tales too.

[Stephanie]

You know how there are groups out there shunning YA literature saying it's trope-y, stereotypical trash? I'm pretty sure this was one of the books they were reading.

I realize that is harsh but this book was so stupid.

[tweetybugshouse]

I totally love this different take on dragons. I really loved the how concept of talon, st. George and humans all being in some climatic war. Who will Ember choose, What will she do, What is her destiny it all so hypnotic and drags you right in. Love it Love it. Keeping my review brief as not to ruin it for anyone. I shared a ton of quote's as this also has lots of great stingers and one liners in it.

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2014/09/arc-review-talon-by-julie-kagawa.html
Talon is incredibly unique, and Julie Kagawa has created an incredible storyline about dragons, finding your feet and choosing your own path. Ember and Dante have spent the first sixteen years of their lives behind high walls and strict rules. They belong to a secret society of dragons simply know as Talon, which humans are oblivious to. Their aim is to provide shelter, protection and live in harmony with other dragons within their world, but Talon isn't what it seems. A rogue dragon who has cut ties with the community finds Ember and among the whispers and truths, Ember starts to realise that her life may have just been a lie. Ember and Dante are rare within their community, hatched from two eggs within the same nest, but that's where the similarities end. Dante is proud to serve Talon, to explore the world for three months and resume his place in society, while Ember's rebellion simmers just below the surface and Riley the rogue dragon ignites that spark. Like most young adult today, there could be a love triangle brewing, and although Ember finds herself gravitating towards Garret, she cannot deny her attraction towards Riley. But I applaud the lack of instant love, just a strong attraction between both she and Garret and the bond she shares with Riley, which is awkward enough.

There's no doubt how accomplished Julie Kagawa is, and absolutely loved her Blood Of Eden series. I was unable to put Talon down, yet again she's been able to produce another engaging and enchanting series, but also deviates towards the routine young adult read. It was highly entertaining and adept, but not the extraordinary read I had assumed it would be. I set my expectations far too high and was left slightly disappointed. I needed more dragon and less teen drama, but sadly the storyline didn't allow for Ember to spread her wings. In the final few chapters, we see traces of what's to come and I'm hoping that Rogue, book two in the series will explore the world of Talon much more.