Talon (Talon, #1) in The Reader's Lounge

Jul 10, 2014 Jasprit rated it it was ok

Shelves: ya, arc-galley, fantasy, out-2014, read-in-2014

The last dragon themed book that I read and loved was Seraphina, I loved the world and character’s that Hartman created and her world building was fantastic. So when I heard about Talon I was beyond excited. The beginning actually started out really great too, Kagawa did a fantastic job at setting the back story of this world; dragons have been hunted by order of St. George for as long as anyone could remember. The men of St. George have been trained to track down and kill down any dragons, but The last dragon themed book that I read and loved was Seraphina, I loved the world and character’s that Hartman created and her world building was fantastic. So when I heard about Talon I was beyond excited. The beginning actually started out really great too, Kagawa did a fantastic job at setting the back story of this world; dragons have been hunted by order of St. George for as long as anyone could remember. The men of St. George have been trained to track down and kill down any dragons, but what they never expected was one of their own men to fall for one of the enemies.

When Ember and her brother Dante move to the area, all they want to do is fit in, no one so more than Ember, yes she knows she has to remain under cover, fit in as much as possible and of course remain loyal to Talon. But the more time Ember spends with other humans and of course the rogue dragon Riley the more she realises that there’s much more to life than Talon. But her brother is all she has, she doesn’t want to leave him to Talon, but what choice does she have? Kagawa once again did a brilliant job in getting you stuck in with the story. We wanted Ember to succeed in her disguise around humans, to keep her temper in check and as we didn’t know much about the order of St George I couldn’t wait for Garret’s arrival and for things to kick off. And whilst at the beginning I was all for whatever was developing between Ember and Garrett, it became a bit too obvious and forbidden for my liking. Yes Ember was a dragon and shouldn’t be falling for a human being, but she couldn’t help herself and yes Garrett knew from the beginning (which was another thing which rubbed me the wrong way), that Ember could be his target, but he decided to keep it undercover for way too long. Usually I’m all for forbidden relationships, but in my eyes Ember and Garrett fell for each other way too quickly. Yes in parts their relationship was sweet, but still I didn’t find myself completely behind them. And then when Kagawa decided to add a third component to this already strange relationship, it made me even less concerned with what was going down in this book. How quickly could Ember shift her feelings, I was totally baffled when this person even became a potential love interest as I always saw him as a friend. And then when we were given his pov too in the middle of the book, that made me even more confused.

All in all I was left slightly disappointed with Talon; it had the great potential to actually deliver an interesting start to what could have been a great series. But sadly I don’t think this will be one series I will be returning to.
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Mar 15, 2014 Pili rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I had been extremely excited about this book because DRAGONS! + Julie Kagawa had to be awesome, and although it was quite awesome, it was a lil different from what I expected.

What was most different from what I expected was that somehow I was expecting it to be more fantasy contemporary, and it was more like paranormal contemporary, I'm not sure if that difference will make a lot of sense to you guys, but it threw me off a bit at first.

The book is done in alternating POVs between Garrett and Emb I had been extremely excited about this book because DRAGONS! + Julie Kagawa had to be awesome, and although it was quite awesome, it was a lil different from what I expected.

What was most different from what I expected was that somehow I was expecting it to be more fantasy contemporary, and it was more like paranormal contemporary, I'm not sure if that difference will make a lot of sense to you guys, but it threw me off a bit at first.

The book is done in alternating POVs between Garrett and Ember and since we started with an epic chapter of Garrett taking down a dragon with St George's army and then we move to chapters with Ember and Dante trying to assimilate and behave like normal teenagers... it was a bit jarring!

There's so much we don't know about the past of Talon or St George's, only that dragons were nearly wiped out, that St George are trying to defend humanity and that dragons can take human shape, and that's something rather unique about this book and series, they feel more like were-dragons (paranormal) that the usual non-shifting dragons of fantasy.

The relationship between Garret and Ember was very sweet and although both of them kept lying to themselves because they kept on noticing things that pointed out to their real identities, I loved their time together surfing or at the fair, pretending that they could be normal without all the extra baggage!

The one thing that caused me to make a face was the love triangle... when it appeared at first I was all "grumble grumble why love triangle grumble grumble" but then it was clear that Ember was attracted to Garret and Ember's dragon was attracted to the rogue dragon, and that quite makes sense that "beast" and human part could have different opinions. I cannot help but ship Garret and Ember more than Riley and Ember but we'll see if I'm sailing the sinking ship!

The second half of the book is what made it worth of the 4 stars for me, because stakes keep getting higher, more things start happening with Talon, with the mission to discover the sleeper and we learn a lot more about the rogue dragons, the actions starts taking off and the final third of the book is non-stop and makes you want to flip the pages even faster!

By the end of the book there are quite a few questions unanswered about Ember and Dante being twins, about what Talon really is and what really happened between St George and the dragons originally! I cannot wait for book two, Rogue! Very well deserved 4 stars for this one! ...more

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Aug 05, 2014 Stacie (Shy Book Nerd) rated it really liked it

I absolutely loved this book! It had all the right things plus some. Even the love triangle was done well, and I hate love triangles. I feel much love for both Garrett and Riley.

Going into this I felt a little doubtful because I only read one dragon book before this, and it didn't end well for me. I put my worries aside deciding to try again. I'm so glad I did because I loved Ember from the very beginning. She was feisty, stubborn, had a mind of her own, and never let anyone put her down. Even I absolutely loved this book! It had all the right things plus some. Even the love triangle was done well, and I hate love triangles. I feel much love for both Garrett and Riley.

Going into this I felt a little doubtful because I only read one dragon book before this, and it didn't end well for me. I put my worries aside deciding to try again. I'm so glad I did because I loved Ember from the very beginning. She was feisty, stubborn, had a mind of her own, and never let anyone put her down. Even with the Talon telling her what to do and what her future would be like, she took matters into her own hands because she knew that Talon was not completely honest. She knew deep down that Talon was just as bad as the humans or St. George. I loved her personality too. She took everything with a grain of salt and just went with it. Ember was a cheerful, funny person with her human friends, and it just showed me that she could be normal too.

Going back to the love triangle. As I was saying before, I don't particularly care for love triangles especially when the girl is so indecisive that she's pulling the strings along of both boys and is practically cheating on them both. That's not the case here. Ember has her heart pretty much on just one boy and does not lead the other boy on, making it pretty clear who she chooses. Also, the author makes it really hard to hate both guys! But that is a good thing. Both Garrett and Riley have positive attributes about them which makes it harder to decide who Ember should be with. As of right now, Ember could pick either guy and I would be happy. Let's see how it goes as the series progresses.

I loved the relationship between Ember and Garrett. They are both sort of new to the world, acting as normal teenagers so everything is so fresh for them. When they first meet, they're both attracted to each other yet unsure because of the situations they are in. They're relationship blossomed perfectly with out the insta-love. They got to know each other and care for each other slowly. I liked how they both experienced new things together because they not only got to know one another, they got to know their own self as well.

There was not a dull moment in this book. From start to ending something was always happening. Whether it was the romance, the new adventures, or the fighting, I could not put this book down. I enjoyed every second of it making me crave more dragons! The last quarter especially kept me on the tips of my toes. Then the ending came. How could it end like that?! It was so sad because I was not expecting that ending, and I needed more! Can there be book two already? I NEED to know what happens to Garrett and Ember!

Overall, this was an awesome beginning to a new series. I think my only gripe I had with the book is the way Ember kept ignoring her intuition about Garrett. She would get a nagging feeling that he was a sniper, but then would just blow it off. I wanted to yell at her and tell her all the signs are there that he isn't a normal human being! Stop being a naive person. Aside from that set back, I most definitely recommend reading this book if you like dragons and lots of action, with some steamy scenes. It is truly a fantastic book and one of my favorites this year. I cannot wait to continue this series! ...more

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