September 12, 2018

Review: Inferno by Julie Kagawa

Inferno (Talon #5) 
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: April 24, 2018
Pages: 397
Format: Galley/NetGalley

TODAY, WE STRIKE BACK.

WE SHOW TALON THAT WE WILL NEVER ACCEPT THEIR NEW WORLD.

Ember Hill has learned a shocking truth about herself: she is the blood of the Elder Wyrm, the ancient dragon who leads Talon and who is on the verge of world domination. With the Order of St. George destroyed, Ember, Riley and Garret journey to the Amazon jungle in search of one who might hold the key to take down the Elder Wyrm and Talon—if they can survive the encounter.

Meanwhile, Ember’s brother, Dante, will travel to China with a message for the last Eastern dragons: join Talon or die. With the stakes rising and the Elder Wyrm declaring war, time is running out for the rogues and any dragon not allied with Talon.

The final battle approaches. And if Talon is victorious, the world will burn.

*Contains spoilers if you haven't read the previous books, or this one. Kinda hard to review it without spoiling some things from previous books that play big parts in this* 

Review: This is the book I've been waiting for this whole series! This was a solid well rounded, good book! I finally feel like there was significant growth, good choices, and great plot in this book. Inferno is definitely the best book out of this series! 

I really loved the growth with Ember. She finally takes the damn blinders off. She steps up big time in this book. She's helping lead the resistance and work at relations with St. George. She's also the one encouraging everyone to work together and fight for their futures and to take down Talon for the greater good. I was so proud of Ember's growth. She becomes such a strong leader in this book and I'm proud! I also really liked that things aren't tense anymore with her and Garrett and Riley. Since they settled the whole thing with who Ember chooses, they are able to focus on the upcoming battles and not with petty fights with each other over who gets her. I've come to accept Ember choosing Garrett. He's a good guy and he proved himself in this book as well fighting hard to get St. George to work with the rogues and work toward change. So I approve finally. He's showed he can very much be her equal in this book and I'm really glad for that. 

I also was pretty happy with Riley in this book. Despite not liking the fact all the rogues he's saved will have to fight and potentially die, he accepts Ember's push to fight Talon head-on instead or hiding and letting Talon go through with their plans. I definitely saw growth in Riley with the war going on. I'm also happy that he at least has also found someone that is his equal as well, though you wouldn't have thought it possible a few books ago. He's finally discovering that dragons can have feelings as well after believing it wasn't possible for so long. 

This is gonna be short on Dante. I still don't like him. Nothing can make me change my mind after the things he did. But I am glad he finally saw some of the truth behind what the Elder Wyrm and Talon were planning. Freaking took him long enough. I have respect for the fact he at least chose Ember over the organization when he found out the plans and sacrificed himself to save her after all he did. I might not like him, but at least he did something right in the end. 

I thought it was quite entertaining how hard Talon was trying to fight acting like they were still going to win. The rogues and St. George at this point were just making hit after hit against Talon and they refused to acknowledge they were losing this war. And the Elder Wyrm fighting until her last breath trying to keep her plans for humanity from dying. She had some nerve to ask Ember "what she had done?" Seriously, trying to force humanity into being Talon slaves pretty much just because some humans had stood up against dragons in the past. Punish every one for what a few did? Serious issues here. 

I also loved how much action we got in this book! We see our new allies stealing a gun from the US Army, breaking into Talon's breeder facility, taking on Talon as a whole at the facility holding the cloned dragons. So much action and plot building for the ending. It was so great compared to the other books! 

I really enjoyed the ending. Seeing Ember take over Talon so that way the dragons would still have somewhere to go and an organization to help them, but not one solely going to use them and force them into things. Seeing Garrett take over St. George in the US cuz he was one of like 11 left and they felt it best to put him in charge to lead the change. Seeing Riley step up and going to open another branch of Talon to help those that want to leave the organization get settled and survive on the outside. Even seeing the Eastern dragons willing to have contact with Talon now that Ember is in charge and working toward change. It was a great ending. And while not surprising to me, but finding out Garrett's life span has most likely been extended because of the dragon blood transfusion a few books back. It was definitely a good ending for Ember after all she goes through in this series. 

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September 07, 2018

Review: Legion by Julie Kagawa

Legion (Talon #4)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: April 25, 2017
Pages: 384
Format: Hardcover/Own

The legions are about to be unleashed, and no human, rogue dragon or former dragon slayer can stand against the coming horde.

Dragon hatchling Ember Hill was never prepared to find love at all—dragons do not suffer human emotions—let alone the love of a human, and a former dragonslayer at that. With ex-soldier of St. George Garret dying at her feet after sacrificing his freedom and his life to expose the deepest of betrayals, Ember knows only that nothing she was taught by dragon organization Talon is true. About humans, about rogue dragons, about herself and what she’s capable of doing and feeling.

In the face of great loss, Ember vows to stand with rogue dragon Riley against St. George and her own twin brother Dante—the heir apparent to all of Talon, and the boy who will soon unleash the greatest threat and terror dragonkind has ever known. Talon is poised to conquer the world, and the abominations they have created will soon take to the skies, darkening the world with the promise of blood and death to those who will not yield.

*Spoilers if you haven't read the previous books*

Review: So I have to admit, in the beginning, I was not super confident in the story because of how things were going in the first part. We see Ember lead the group into yet again, another trap set by Talon. I honest to god almost DNF'ed this book after that. I'm seriously sick of how stupid Ember is with her brother and thinking he won't just turn them over or have plans to get them in place. Like I swear guys, this girl just won't get it. I was like oh wow, they all got caught by Talon, I'm so shocked. *Sarcasm*

I obviously was not a huge fan of the beginning. Ember has not grow much at all regarding Dante. She is still incredibly naive thinking Dante had not planned for anything with their little rogue group. She still thinks her brother is loyal to her, when he's made it perfectly clear he is VERY loyal to Talon. However, in regards to Garrett and Riley, Ember did grow a little. She finally told Riley (much to my dismay) that she didn't want him waiting for her and wanting her just because of the life-mate bond. So she chose Garrett. While I am glad she grew a little bit with this and finally stopped leading them both on, I'm still kinda meh about her choosing Garrett. I understand she loves him and he's a good guy, but idk, I just wish every book didn't end up with the main character choosing the first main love interest that passes them by. But I do like that Ember and Garrett did finally come together and decide to warn the Order about Talon instead of letting all of them die like Riley was planning initially just to protect his rogues.

I just want to strangle Dante. I swear reading anything from his perspective just makes me want to throttle him. He's so brainwashed into thinking Talon wants whats best for them. It's pathetic. He is literally in charge of destroying an entire town and building a soulless dragon vessel army. Talon has no ones best interests in mind. It doesn't matter that Ember is the Elder Wyrm's own blood. They clearly didn't breed her for a good use. Does Dante know what they actually bred Ember for?? Because if he does, he clearly does not care about his sister like he claims. If he doesn't then maybe him finding out will be a freaking wake up call for the idiot!! Ugh!!! Dante just makes me so mad! 

I have to say, Talon has got some balls. Planning to take out all that they are doing in one night. They clearly had these plans in motion for a very long while. We all know their plans are also not just to protect their species. Talon wants power over everyone, pure and simple. They couldn't give two shits about preserving the dragon species. They only care about asserting their power over the entire world. They want control over every dragon, and they want to world to bow to them. They are power hungry monsters. 

I am also glad that at least one other person besides Tristan in the Order was willing to listen to what Garrett needed to warn them about, and even put aside differences and accept the help of the rogue dragons to push off Talon's attack. I am sorely disappointed it seems like most other chapter houses didn't take the threat as seriously. I mean, I feel like some people might have survived the attacks, but since so many were weary of where the info came from, I'm sure they didn't prepare like they should have thinking it was a hoax from Talon. 

I do have to say, I was surprised with who defected to the rogues and who she is working for. I was definitely not seeing either of those coming. I'm sure they will play some big parts in Inferno. Despite a shaky start, the ending of this was actually really great! Hoping Inferno will be a solid finale to the series! 

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August 27, 2018

Review: Soldier by Julie Kagawa

Soldier (Talon #3)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: April 26, 2016
Pages: 380
Format: Hardcover/Own

The price of freedom is everything.

When forced to choose between safety with the dragon organization Talon and being hunted forever as an outcast, Ember Hill chose to stand with Riley and his band of rogue dragons rather than become an assassin for Talon. She’s lost any contact with her twin brother, Dante, a Talon devotee, as well as Garret, the former-enemy soldier who challenged her beliefs about her human side.

As Ember and Riley hide and regroup to fight another day, Garret journeys alone to the United Kingdom, birthplace of the ancient and secret Order of St. George, to spy on his former brothers and uncover deadly and shocking secrets that will shake the foundations of dragons and dragonslayers alike and place them all in imminent danger as Talon’s new order rises.

Review: I really enjoyed this book up until the ending. I loved the twists and turns. The secrets coming out. The action. It was all so good! But then the ending just kinda flopped it. 

So we start with Garrett arriving in London and tailing the Patriarch of St. George to learn more about what they could be hiding. And Ember and Riley hunting down the traitor Griffin because he's been selling out Riley and his safe-house network. Invigorating start. I was actually a little bit shocked about the truth with how St. George was getting their info for raids. Though not completely surprised. I was shocked the Patriarch agreed to dealing like this, not surprised though with all the secret keeping and lies. And of course Griffin the freaking weasel demands protection if he meets with Riley and Ember and tells him how much he knows. Lets just say I'm not at all sad about what happens to him, just bummed they couldn't get more info out of him before it. 

So I was happy that Garrett came back as soon as he found out about the stuff going down with Talon and St. George and the trap Ember and Riley were walking into. That is so like him to come back and protect people he cares about and needs as allies. The supposed breeder facility trap that Ember and Riley did walk into was wow. How long had it been abandoned? Did Talon suddenly find out Griffin or others knew about it and packed and jumped ship like asap, or had they moved it a while ago and Ember and Riley were getting old info? Questions people! 

I'm not super keen on the love triangle anymore. We find out Riley is Embers life-mate. That's why she has such strong feelings around him. But of course Embers human side is still in love with Garrett. Honestly, I wish Riley could win. I know already that he doesn't. But honestly. Does the girl always have to end up with the first love interest she lays eyes on in every book? I have nothing against Garrett. He's nice and all. I just don't feel much interest in him as the love interest. But he's pushed as the one Ember will end up with so not much I can do there. 

I was incredibly intrigued by the Eastern Dragon, Jade. I found her pretty cool and definitely wanna see more of her in the next books. Of course Talon is going after any dragons not a part of the order. They don't unity under one banner, they want to control everyone and have power. I'm hoping we get to see more of Jade and saving the Eastern Dragons from Talons grip. 

Ugh. Why do we have to have Dante's POV. He's seriously so annoying. He's freaking brainwashed by Talon into believing everything and that he's doing what's right. And he's still got that attitude of acting like he's trying to protect Ember and that she's just lost her way. I really don't care about Dante. The little brainwashed Talon operative. And how he's training all these vessels for Talon to use. And he let an entire freaking town be destroyed by them!!! I feel no freaking sympathy for Dante. He could literally due in a St. George raid and I wouldn't care. I don't enjoy reading his POV. 

The ending. Ok, I'm letting lose that someone dies. Not who, but someone. But I think we've all learned that most of the time when a main character dies mid series, it doesn't stick and they actually aren't really dead and come back later on. I know that's whats happening here and I'm not amused. Like do YA authors not realize we've caught on to this little trend and aren't sold when a character dies mid series anymore? This just brought down the book for me. 

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August 22, 2018

Review: Rogue by Julie Kagawa

Rogue (Talon #2)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: April 28, 2015
Pages: 444
Source: Hardcover/Own

From the limitless imagination of bestselling author Julie Kagawa comes the next fantastic adventure in the Talon Saga.

Deserter. Traitor. Rogue.

Ember Hill left the dragon organization Talon to take her chances with rebel dragon Cobalt and his crew of rogues. But Ember can’t forget the sacrifice made for her by the human boy who could have killed her—Garret Xavier Sebastian, a soldier of the dragonslaying Order of St. George, the boy who saved her from a Talon assassin, knowing that by doing so, he’d signed his own death warrant.

Determined to save Garret from execution, Ember must convince Cobalt to help her break into the Order’s headquarters. With assassins after them and Ember’s own brother helping Talon with the hunt, the rogues find an unexpected ally in Garret and a new perspective on the underground battle between Talon and St. George.

A reckoning is brewing and the secrets hidden by both sides are shocking and deadly. Soon Ember must decide: Should she retreat to fight another day…or start an all-out war?

Review: I definitely enjoyed Rogue a bit more than Talon. It had much better pacing and more going on than to keep me engaged! While I definitely don't think it's the best out of the series either, it's definitely improving! :D 

I really liked the action and everything moving the story along. We weren't just stuck in one spot doing some mundane activities over and over again. We are on the move, hiding from Talon and St. George. Dealing with agents from both sides. Trying to find out whose the mole ratting out all of Riley's safe-houses for escaped dragons. There was so much going on and I loved it! I was expecting the fact our rogue/escaped group of Ember, Riley, Wes and Garrett was going to be tailed by St. George. Ember and Riley freaking broke into one of their chapter-houses and broke Garrett out. Of course they are gonna go straight after them and keep on their tail. Not only because they got Garrett out, but because dragons broke into the dragon-slayer home base pretty much. I was not completely expecting the big scene with the Talon agents initially. It wasn't until the informant Riley met with let it slip that he talked to others about the dragons that I knew it was a setup.

I really liked that both Ember and Garrett solidified their choices of leaving their respective orders. Garrett was figuring out that St. George was lying about dragons and how bad they were. And that they clearly didn't care about the fact some dragons didn't agree with Talons beliefs. He can tell St. George is lying or keeping secret a number of things and that doesn't sit well with him. And Ember is definitely solid in her choice to leave Talon. She refuses to be sent to kill her own kind and wants nothing to do with it. She's also questioning more and more of why Talon wants her back so bad and what secrets they are holding regarding her. And as she learns more from Riley about the things they made him do and how little regard they have for humans she hates Talon more and more.

However, there's also a flip side to this. There was so much naive gullible stuff with Dante, Ember and Riley. Dante is proving he's just a brainwashed Talon operative and refuses to listen to any reason. And having the nerve to claim he's trying to get Ember back because Talon is just trying to protect them and their kind and is doing whats best for her. Um, no. Your brainwashed by these idiots. They don't have anyone's best interests at heart except for their owns. I thought it was so funny that Dante was so cocky and confident he would convince Ember to come back and that Riley just led her astray. Didn't expect little sister to stand up to you and tell you no and that your wrong huh?? Ember, she still acts like she can save Dante. She still thinks Talon is just leading him astray and that if she could just get through to him he'd see reason. She doesn't understand her brother is no longer there. He's now just a brainwashed Talon operative 100% loyal to the order. She finally seems to get that through her thick headed skull when she hears from Dante himself that he set up the Talon trap. She just couldn't think big brother would do that despite all the proof until she witnessed it and heard it 100% from him. That he tossed her aside for Talon. And Riley. Despite questioning the informant and hearing him slip up, he brushes it off and acts like nothing is wrong. I would have been incredibly skeptical after that slip up. Riley's wanting to find and get to rogues before Talon seemed to have completely overtaken his mind to the point where he forgot to be careful and question things. And then Griffin (supposedly a trusted friend/informant in Vegas) sells them out. But Riley doesn't even do anything about it. Just questions how much money he got. I felt like Riley should have been a lot more on guard regarding Griffin.

I have to admit, the ending is bittersweet for me. Ember is so torn between her feelings for both Riley and Garrett. And since she couldn't tell Garrett she loved him like he loves her, he decided to go off on his own and find answers about St. George and the things they are hiding. I'm sure they'll come back together at some point, but still. Bittersweet. Definitely hope Ember can sort out her feelings and decide on which guy she actually does want to be with. I'm super interested in what Garrett is going to find out about St. George though. And also really interested in finding out who the traitor is that keeps ratting out the location of Riley's safe houses.

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August 17, 2018

Review: Talon by Julie Kagawa

Talon (Talon #1)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: October 28, 2014
Pages: 449
Format: Hardcover/Own

THE DRAGONS OF TALON: Once hunted nearly to extinction, they are now poised to take over the world.

THE ORDER OF ST. GEORGE: The legendary dragonslayers will stop at nothing to wipe dragons from the face of the earth.

These mortal enemies are locked in secret and deadly combat, with humanity none the wiser.


To take her rightful place in the Talon organization, young dragon Ember Hill must prove she can hide her true nature and blend in with humans. Her delight at the prospect of a summer of "normal" teen experiences is short-lived, however, once she discovers that she's also expected to train for her destined career in Talon. But a chance meeting with a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught.

As Ember struggles to accept her future, St. George soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian is tasked with hunting her down. But when faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything the Order has ingrained in him—and what he might be willing to give up to uncover the truth about dragons.

Review: Overall, I genuinely enjoyed Talon. I do enjoy a good dragon novel and was not disappointed with this. Plus its Julie Kagawa. She writes some pretty awesome books. 

So I'll just start with my big complaint about the book. I felt like it took a while to really get the story going. We get like half a book of our characters trying to assimilate and blend in with humans and pretty much hanging out with these characters day to day as they build friendships, relationships, etc. While I get that this stuff is important to the story line, it felt like the first half of the book was just dragging on. It seemed like most of the mind blowing secrets and action scenes were left for the last third of the book. So while I like the story and everything, I didn't love book one because everything was so dragged out in the first half. I'm glad I pushed through though because the second half was amazing. I definitely think the series going forward will be better since we got a lot of the establishing characters and backgrounds out of the way now. 

I really liked our main characters Ember, Garrett and Riley. I loved how all three of these characters were able to think outside of the respective organizations they came from and see that things were definitely not as they seemed. Riley is a Rogue who left Talon a while ago after finding out the truth about what they do behind closed doors and has been saving other dragons from Talons grasps. He is so focused on saving other dragons that Talon wants to kill for not being good enough or questioning anything. Ember is training for her position in Talon but does not like the strict rules, the secrets being kept, the fact they choose what position you will hold and the fact they don't tell you until you prove yourself in training. It's not pleasant having your entire life planned out with absolutely no say in it. Garrett is a soldier with St. George. It's all he's ever know. Hunt dragons, kill them, next mission. Until he meets Ember and realizes St. George just might be wrong about dragons when Ember shows that she has a very human side that they supposedly shouldn't have. 

I have to admit, I thought it was kinda funny how Talon tells Ember and Dante they are supposed to assimilate and blend into the human world. But then their Talon guardians get pissed off when they actually act human. And Dante is just so brainwashed he goes along with everything from Talon. The moment I thought was the funniest is when their Talon guardians were raging on Ember about potentially getting hurt surfing. Saying if she keeps putting herself in danger by doing activities like that they'll force her to give it up. NEWSFLASH. Humans put themselves in danger all the time to do activities like that. Keeping her from doing activities like that in a beach town is going to make every one more suspicious, not less. And then getting up in arms when Ember doesn't eat dinner on occasion cuz she's having a hard time dealing with stuff. Again, humans actually do that a lot too. I don't know how many times I've just picked at my food instead of scarfing it down cuz something was on my mind. They got a lot of nerve saying fit in with humans, but then getting pissed off for doing things humans do. All they wanna do is force the idea that dragons are superior to humans and it should be no issue to act like it. Oy.

I do have to admit, Ember was definitely naive at the end. Expecting her brother to go rogue with her. He literally is Talon's poster child. As soon as he told Ember he'll meet her at the rendezvous point, should have set off alarms. He could have sat in the car when she met Garrett before leaving if he wanted to go. The fact he found an excuse to not go with her should have told Ember he was going to betray her. But she was so wrapped up in thinking her brother cared more for her than Talon despite his constant actions that she let her judgement be clouded when it came to him. I am super interested in what Ember and Riley are now planning when it comes to saving Garrett in Rogue. 

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October 25, 2017

Can't-Wait Wednesday [#1]

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight the books we are eagerly awaiting. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Inferno (Talon #5)

Author: Julie Kagawa

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Expected Publication Date: April 24, 2018

What if dragons walked among us in human form? Enter a modern fantasy of heroes, sacrifice, forbidden love and enemies turned allies who have no choice but to fight side by side… Don't miss the epic conclusion as Ember, Riley and Garrett face off against Dante and the Talon dragon clones. Join them…or burn.

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