“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 in 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.
Solider 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 Embers 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” – Talon, Julie Kagawa 
I read the first 75 pages of this book in about 3 weeks, and then the other 370 pages in 3 days. This was purely because of exams, and in a way I wish I had held off reading the book until my exams were over so I could devour the whole book as one. I loved it! The characters, plot and the setting. The story was told amazingly, which I’m not surprised at since it is a Julie Kagawa book! I love dragons, and this book was the best I’ve read yet! Honestly, it was slow-paced during the first half of the book, but in the second half it really picked up especially in the last 100 pages. In this book there was a lot of world building and story setting ready for the sequel. It was a great setup for the coming books. The dragon world ‘Talon’ was explained excellently, even if there are some twists and turns about it later on in the book. Whilst reading I was fully enthralled in the world, I was so intrigued and wanted to find out more and more.
The characters in this book were amazing! There wasn’t a flat character throughout the whole book. Each character was important and helped push the plot along. You could tell that each character had been well thought-out and they were all very complex. There wasn’t a single character that I didn’t like, besides possible one called Colin (no spoilers!) I loved all the different character relationships. I loved the sibling bond between Ember and Dante, and I loved seeing how that progressed and changed during the book. The friendships were really well constructed, and made me want to be a part of the world just to be involved with those friendships. I loved the banter between all the characters too, the way they all bounced off of each other. The jokes they made about and with each other. I also really like seeing the differences between Ember and Dante, and how that difference became increasingly bigger towards the end of the book. The character development in this book has to be my favourite, especially for Ember and Garret! They learnt that not everything was as it seems, and the way Julie Kagawa had their characters progress was just great. I can usually pick out a favourite character, but this time I can’t, I honestly love them all too much.
This is definitely a series that I’m going to keep up with. I’m going to get my hand on a copy of Rogue as soon as possible! I cannot wait to see how Ember and Garrets story progresses. I want to see how Dante is coping with the task his was given in the epilogue. There are just so many characters that I need to know about (Riley and Wes for example) I’ve read 9 Julie Kagawa books, and all novella’s she has written for her Iron Fey series, and this is by far my favourite book. I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds!
I seriously recommend Talon, if you’re into Dragons, and Fantasy. It keeps you wondering, and the characters are remarkable!