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A review by aprildiamond
Talon by Julie Kagawa
2.0
My rating is more like 2.5 stars.
Unfortunately, reading this book kinda reminded me of why I don't like YA as much as I could. I know, I'm generalizing, but the problems I have with this are usually found in YA novels as opposed to the books I usually read.
Anyway, so when I first started reading this book, I was thinking "Oh hey, this is like [b:Seraphina|19549841|Seraphina (Seraphina, #1)|Rachel Hartman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387577872l/19549841._SY75_.jpg|17375239]!" In both books, there are dragons that have human forms and are trying to integrate into human society. Sadly, the similarities stopped there. Which sucks, cause I really like [b:Seraphina|19549841|Seraphina (Seraphina, #1)|Rachel Hartman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387577872l/19549841._SY75_.jpg|17375239].
The main problem I have with this book, and this is important because it affects the whole thing, was the stereotyping. There is SO MUCH. WHY? Contrary to the beliefs of this book, girls (including teenaged girls!!! wow!) can talk about more than clothes, shopping, and boys! Come on. Those are like, the most basic filler topics you can use. The book really tried to convince me that throughout the ENTIRE BOOK, not one of Ember or her friends talked about movies, books, video games, jokes, funny stories, their life goals, food, etc? There are so many topics that people can talk about, but we decided to go stereotype. Okay.
You want more stereotypes? Great! How about the love triangle? Does someone want to explain why so many YA books use the love triangle? Please? Make it make sense. It's old, it's tired, and I am very much over the "one dude gets jealous when the girl even glances at the other dude" trope. Every book that uses the love triangle also tries to explain why the girl can't choose a guy. The reasons are always some BS. This book is no exception. Apparently, Ember and her dragon form are separate beings (??) and they both want different guys. Yeah, I'm confused too. Ember IS a dragon. So what is this nonsense??
Okay, how about the guy stereotypes? Like where Ember tells Garret that he's a guy, so he's gotta be good at those shooting games! I'm not even sure what that's trying to convey. Boys are... more likely to shoot things? They have better eyesight?? I really don't know.
Or maybe the being in love with someone 2 seconds after you meet them? Garret and Ember meet for the first time and "can't stop thinking about each other". Yiiikes.
I could talk about (bad) tropes in this book for ages, so let's move on. The characters... were also not my favorites. I liked parts of the characters. I liked that Ember had attitude, and she was funny at those parts. I didn't like the rest of her character. I TOTALLY GET that she wanted to be free from Talon because they were going to plan out her whole life and she would get no say. I would feel the same way. What I don't understand is how she's so narrow-minded about it! Girl, they're gonna plan out your entire life and all you're mad about is the fact that you won't get a hot girl summer and won't get to date Garret?? Sis, we're talking career/life choices that you will never get to make!! So that aspect was weird.
On to Garret. I loved his internal conflict with himself (it was one of the best parts of the book), but it's a pity that it resulted from the "love at first sight" thing with Ember. In addition, I didn't really like Garret . His internal thoughts were great. But his actual, surface level personality? Really boring, actually. I can't remember a single thing about what he was like. He just kinda existed. Maybe that was because he was so used to being a proper soldier, but then how does it make sense that ANYONE fell in love with him??
Riley was probably one of the better characters, along with Dante. Those two were a bit more interesting. Dante played his part extremely well, and that's another reason this book isn't 1 star. I had some problems with Riley (he was a little weird at times) but he had some funny lines and he was pretty chill.
All of this could have been somewhat forgotten if the plot had been spectacular. It definitely wasn't. I was waiting and waiting for something to happen, like when they would figure out stuff about Talon or St. George. But it kinda just turned into a romance novel with little hints about the story that was supposed to be the main focus. The action was so minimal. But we finally got some good content near the end, action and mystery wise, so that kinda saved this book from the one star dungeon.
Basically, characters? Eh. Plot? Had potential. Stereotypes? Too many. Wayyy too many.
Final note: The phrase "where the sun don't shine" appears in Ruby Redfort, I believe. That's set in the 70s. Why is it in this book? Literally who says that? Oh well, whatever.
Unfortunately, reading this book kinda reminded me of why I don't like YA as much as I could. I know, I'm generalizing, but the problems I have with this are usually found in YA novels as opposed to the books I usually read.
Anyway, so when I first started reading this book, I was thinking "Oh hey, this is like [b:Seraphina|19549841|Seraphina (Seraphina, #1)|Rachel Hartman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387577872l/19549841._SY75_.jpg|17375239]!" In both books, there are dragons that have human forms and are trying to integrate into human society. Sadly, the similarities stopped there. Which sucks, cause I really like [b:Seraphina|19549841|Seraphina (Seraphina, #1)|Rachel Hartman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387577872l/19549841._SY75_.jpg|17375239].
The main problem I have with this book, and this is important because it affects the whole thing, was the stereotyping. There is SO MUCH. WHY? Contrary to the beliefs of this book, girls (including teenaged girls!!! wow!) can talk about more than clothes, shopping, and boys! Come on. Those are like, the most basic filler topics you can use. The book really tried to convince me that throughout the ENTIRE BOOK, not one of Ember or her friends talked about movies, books, video games, jokes, funny stories, their life goals, food, etc? There are so many topics that people can talk about, but we decided to go stereotype. Okay.
You want more stereotypes? Great! How about the love triangle? Does someone want to explain why so many YA books use the love triangle? Please? Make it make sense. It's old, it's tired, and I am very much over the "one dude gets jealous when the girl even glances at the other dude" trope. Every book that uses the love triangle also tries to explain why the girl can't choose a guy. The reasons are always some BS. This book is no exception. Apparently, Ember and her dragon form are separate beings (??) and they both want different guys. Yeah, I'm confused too. Ember IS a dragon. So what is this nonsense??
Okay, how about the guy stereotypes? Like where Ember tells Garret that he's a guy, so he's gotta be good at those shooting games! I'm not even sure what that's trying to convey. Boys are... more likely to shoot things? They have better eyesight?? I really don't know.
Or maybe the being in love with someone 2 seconds after you meet them? Garret and Ember meet for the first time and "can't stop thinking about each other". Yiiikes.
I could talk about (bad) tropes in this book for ages, so let's move on. The characters... were also not my favorites. I liked parts of the characters. I liked that Ember had attitude, and she was funny at those parts. I didn't like the rest of her character. I TOTALLY GET that she wanted to be free from Talon because they were going to plan out her whole life and she would get no say. I would feel the same way. What I don't understand is how she's so narrow-minded about it! Girl, they're gonna plan out your entire life and all you're mad about is the fact that you won't get a hot girl summer and won't get to date Garret?? Sis, we're talking career/life choices that you will never get to make!! So that aspect was weird.
On to Garret. I loved his internal conflict with himself (it was one of the best parts of the book), but it's a pity that it resulted from the "love at first sight" thing with Ember. In addition, I didn't really like Garret . His internal thoughts were great. But his actual, surface level personality? Really boring, actually. I can't remember a single thing about what he was like. He just kinda existed. Maybe that was because he was so used to being a proper soldier, but then how does it make sense that ANYONE fell in love with him??
Riley was probably one of the better characters, along with Dante. Those two were a bit more interesting. Dante played his part extremely well, and that's another reason this book isn't 1 star. I had some problems with Riley (he was a little weird at times) but he had some funny lines and he was pretty chill.
All of this could have been somewhat forgotten if the plot had been spectacular. It definitely wasn't. I was waiting and waiting for something to happen, like when they would figure out stuff about Talon or St. George. But it kinda just turned into a romance novel with little hints about the story that was supposed to be the main focus. The action was so minimal. But we finally got some good content near the end, action and mystery wise, so that kinda saved this book from the one star dungeon.
Basically, characters? Eh. Plot? Had potential. Stereotypes? Too many. Wayyy too many.
Final note: The phrase "where the sun don't shine" appears in Ruby Redfort, I believe. That's set in the 70s. Why is it in this book? Literally who says that? Oh well, whatever.