Review: Talker 25 by Joshua McCune

Talker 25

Author: Joshua McCune
Series: Talker 25 #1
Publisher: Greenwillow
Genre: YA Fantasy
Format: ebook
Release Date: April 22, 2014
Source: egalley received from publisher via Edelweiss
Rating: 3.5 Stars
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***I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way changed my opinion of the book. The review below is my open and honest opinion.*** 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

It's a high school prank gone horribly wrong-sneaking onto the rez to pose next to a sleeping dragon-and now senior Melissa Callahan has become an unsuspecting pawn in a war between Man and Monster, between family and friends and the dragons she has despised her whole life. Chilling, epic, and wholly original, this debut novel imagines a North America where dragons are kept on reservations, where strict blackout rules are obeyed no matter the cost, where the highly weaponized military operates in chilling secret, and where a gruesome television show called Kissing Dragons unites the population. Joshua McCune's debut novel offers action, adventure, fantasy, and a reimagining of popular dragon lore.

My Review:

So dragons = awesome. Seriously, more dragons please. Why aren’t there more dragons in YA??? This book doesn’t waste any time. We are literally thrown right into crazy action. A dragon vs. military all-out battle. Things are a bit crazy. But oh man, is it exciting. The one complaint I have about this is that there was little time to introduce the characters. I had a little bit of trouble following who was who until further into the story because things were just happening so fast.

I really liked the main character. She despises the dragons for personal reasons, but the truth is that she’s blinded by her own hatred. She doesn’t see that there are two sides to every story. And I enjoyed watching her begin to understand that. The plot moves extremely quickly. Trust me, you’ll never get bored reading this one.

So I’m reading and reading and racing along unable to turn the pages fast enough. We are learning all about the different color dragons, how people can communicate with them. How to ride a dragon. It really had a How to Train Your Dragon feel to it only with a lot more violence and bloodshed. So I’m really super enjoying this book. But then something terrible happens. Animal abuse. There are some extremely graphic scenes where a few dragons are being tortured and I just couldn’t take it. Was it necessary to the story? Maybe. It definitely added something to it and showed some characters’ true faces. However, I can’t take animal abuse. I just can’t. I was crying and almost put the book down.

But I got through it (mostly by skimming through those parts) and got to the end. The end is another part that went wrong. Everything happens way too fast and I was left feeling confused and disoriented. What just happened? I even reread the last two chapters to make sure I didn’t just miss something, but was still just as confused after rereading. So I think this book would have benefited from slowing down just a little to hash out the finer details. But overall the book was really exciting. I absolutely loved learning about the dragons. Baby (one of the dragons) was my absolute favorite. So. Freaking. Adorable. And I enjoyed watching the main character struggle to break the barriers of her belief system. I am definitely looking forward to the sequel and am anxiously looking around for more dragon books. If you have any recommendations let me know! Happy reading all!

Have you read this one? What did you think of the crazy amount of action? Were you as in love with Baby as I was? How did you feel about the dragon torture? Did it completely turn you off to the book?