Talon by Julie Kagawa

One of the benefits of my current job is being able to listen to audiobooks throughout the day. I love reading, but between everything else that needs to get done it’s more in my realm to listen. As I listen I think about the stories flow and what I like vs what I don’t like. Are there aspects that don’t make any sense? Yada, yada. I thought I’d take this journey my brain already goes on and turn it into one of my blogs. This weeks book, Talon, by Julie Kagawa.

This will be the basic structure of these reviews. First, about the author. Second, a story summary. Third, I’ll go over the plot. Fourth, character development. Finally, overall readability.

Author

Julie Kagawa is best know for The Iron Fey Series, one I have not read. She’s been publishing books since 2010, according to Wikipedia, beginning with The Iron King, and her most recent publication, Night of the Dragon, the third book in her Shadow of the Fox series. Talon was released in 2014.

The Story Set Up

Talon is written in first person and is told through the eyes of three different Characters. Ember, a young dragon; Garret, a dragon hunter; and Riley, a rogue dragon. It begins with Embers arrival into a new home, Cresent Beach. Talon, the dragon organization, has sent her and her brother Dante her to learn how to live like humans. Their mission is to blend in. While Dante is more comfortable with the task, they both take to it like pros.

After a day of successful blending Ember sees a young man who she immediately recognizes as a dragon. He’s not from Talon, which means he a rogue dragon. A dangerous type of dragon that has abandoned the organization. Her and her brother could be taken away from the mission just from his presence alone.

Meanwhile, a young solider of St George, a dragon hunting organization, is called with his partner, Tristan, to uncover a sleeper dragon in Cresent Beach. They arrive and find some young teenagers being harassed by some older boys. Stepping in, Tristan and Garret easy beat these boys off and are introduced to Ember and her friends.

Plot (Spoilers)

An overly simplified explanation would be to say this is the run of the mill Romeo and Juliet stories. It has a lot of those elements within it, but it is deeper. Initially I was getting a very heavy, Twilight, but with Dragons, vibe. That was whipped away the further I read.

This story has all the right twists in it. You have a young dragon and a dragon hunter, they fall in love. There’s your Romeo and Juliet bit. You have rogue dragon who wants to rescue her from Talon, and he’s got a whole organization of his own. You’re constantly afraid for Ember as she defies all the rules, yet you can also tell she’s getting some special treatment as well.

All in all the story is three course meal and delivers it all pretty well. I can’t recall any point I felt like the story didn’t make sense. I felt like it was exciting and exceeded my expectations of what I thought was going to be a Dragon version of Twilight.

Character Development

This was the spot that really interested me. I love character development within stories. I’ll start with Ember.

Ember

She begins already questioning her place within Talon. This is a natural feeling to have as a teenager, but she’s just the right amount of on the edge that you question if she’ll stick it out or take the risk of leaving. Dante is the ultimate leverage and her relationship with him makes her decision even more challenging.

Throughout the story she builds these relationships with humans that really break down her dragon perceptions. This is were things get a little weird. Throughout the story she begins to refer to “her dragon” as if it’s a creature that lives inside her. While it does make some sense later on throughout this book it seemed out of place for her to talk as though she wasn’t a dragon, but there was a dragon inside of her.

She eventually flees Talon, but it was clear she was looking for a reason anyway. Dante says he’ll go with her, but doesn’t end up coming. This was the ultimate betrayal that made her decision set.

Garret

Garret had the most development. His character begins as hating dragons. His mission is to kill the sleeper dragon. He develops feelings for Ember and even though he hopes she isn’t the dragon, he’s pretty sure she is. Over time he realizes she has feelings like any human would which destroys his entire perception of Dragons.

He begins as a stiff soldier, and becomes more like a teenager by the end. He sacrifices everything he has to protect two dragons, one he doesn’t know and one he’s in love with.

Riley

Riley’s development is my least favorite. His change is basically that he takes more risks for Ember then he would for other dragons. He doesn’t begin narrating till the second half of the book. It feels a lot like a recovery so it could be more reasonable that he and Ember could have deeper feelings for each other. His character doesn’t so much develop as it is revealed through his thoughts once he starts narrating.

Summary

This is a great book. It’s was easy to read, and a lot of fun. It ends with a cliff hanger that makes you want to look for the squeal. I enjoyed it and I’ve continued on. I would probably say the first book would have a pg-13 rating. There’s a lot of language and some violence but neither goes to the extreme.

Personal Review

Over time I hope I can do better with these reviews. I underestimated how much I could write about a single book. My goal is to help other writers get out there. If you’ve got a book I’ll read it. I can review it here and give a brief review wherever it’s posted. Thanks for reading.