Talon by Julie Kagawa

Genre:  YA Paranormal Romance

Talon Series, Book 1

Julie Kagawa's website

Expected publication date:  October 28, 2014

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Goodreads):

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.

Ember and Dante have spent their lives at a Talon base learning about their dragon past, humankind and how to assimilate themselves with the humans.  At sixteen, they are finally allowed to join a human foster family who will help them blend in with humans.  Living in Crescent Beach, a small California tourist-beach town, life couldn't get better.  Ember meets friends and learns to surf (an awesome substitute to flying by the way).  But then Talon steps in when a rogue dragon is spotted in the area.  Ember must use all of her resources to figure out what Talon is all about and how it will affect her future.

Garret has spent his life as a St George soldier: someone who's committed to killing dragons.  When the organization hears word that a sleeper, or a hatchling, is being released in Crescent Beach, they decide Garret would be the perfect teenager to infiltrate teenage social circles and sniff her out.  But when Garret meets Ember, he finds an attractive girl with human feelings just trying to have fun.  And he finds himself wanting to hang out with her more and more.  As his search for the sleeper dragon continues, he begins to hope it isn't the girl he's falling for.

It's dragons and Julie Kagawa; expect awesomeness, right?  But what I got was a dragon-dragon-dragon hunter love triangle.  That's been done before.  (I think I'm in the mood for something original now.)  What I enjoyed about this book was learning about Talon and how that organization worked.  Talon is an all-controlling group that plans out your dragon future all in the interests of the dragon species.  And when it came to Garret, the lover boy?  Yawn...  The guy I thought interesting was the rogue dragon.  I don't know -mixed emotions here.  I finished the book in two days and was super into the story, the writing.  It's an excellent story-telling, but I feel like it wasn't very original.

Another series that I'm sure will captivate Julie Kagawa fans.  But ever since finishing The Forever Song, I might have fallen in a rut with her books.

Thanks goes to Around the World ARC Tours for providing my a review copy.