Review--Inferno by Julie Kagawa

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.

Inferno is the epic finale to Julie Kagawa’s sensational series, Talon! A world filled with dragons in the modern age fighting a long battle with the Order of St. George, the humans sworn to protect humanity from the dragon. But times have been changing greatly over the course of this series. Dragons and a few of the members of St. George have been working together to fight a common enemy, the Elder Wyrm.

What I love about this series is how easy it is to dive back in after a year or sometimes longer since last reading from it. Things just continue on in a nice steady stream. When we start Inferno, we see Riley, Ember, and Garret on a mission to talk with another dragon Wyrm who is one of three of the oldest dragons in existence. He has had a grudge against Talon for ages, so if helping this trio of teenagers helps take them down, he’s all in. He sets them on a course that will help them build an army to wage against Talon and this particular help is something that Riley has been searching for for ages.

This series has held me riveted since the very beginning. I’ve loved watching Ember interact with Garret and Riley, too. She was such a fun loving character. She wasn’t at all what you’d expect from dragons, which naturally, was the appeal for Garret and probably Riley too. Though as we all know, Ember has made her choice when it came to romance and that choice was Garret. That honestly made me the most happy because I liked Garret. Even when he was the enemy, you could slowly see him start to change, little by little. He eventually became one of my favorite characters in this series. Though, what with needing to save the entire world, there’s very little time for romance for the two of them…or the other characters.

Inferno truly just continues to build up the pace, tension, and action in the story! One mission leads to another and another and then soon the planning for the takedown begins. Working with other members of St. George will be trying, as not all of them have made the transformation into believing that not all dragons are bloodthirsty monsters.

What I’ve also enjoyed about this series was the multiple points of view. We get to know everything this way, and worry not friends, it’s never confusing as to what’s going on. For the most part, Ember, Riley, and Garret are always together so we just get different perspectives on their current situation. Adding in Dante again, let’s us in on what’s happen on the enemy’s side. It’s a real eye-opener for the characters and the reader.

It’s so hard to write a review for a series finale. There’s so many things I want to say and talk about, but when I start getting chatty I might let something slip! Lol. Don’t want to do that obviously, so I am always restraining myself from writing too much. There was a heavy mix of emotions going on throughout the story and while one event had me bursting with emotions, I honestly felt like I knew it was coming. Needless to say that Inferno held up to all my expectations! Just as I started to doubt a theory I had brewing after Legion, the issue is address just moments before The End came around. Which naturally made me all happy and bubbly inside! Lol!

While Julie may tear our hearts to pieces throughout the series, (and I really do think she enjoys that! Lol.) I always have faith in her that she will not leave me heartbroken by the final end. And with three series completed, I can say that holds true for this latest one as well. I feel like it’s always important to end a series in a way that final and yet hopeful for the characters future. That weird way of where everything is all said and done, but we can rest easy knowing that our favorite characters will continue on living, even if no one is there to write their stories. As I said, it’s weird, but I like knowing that my favorite characters from this series will still be living on in some fashion!

If you haven’t read Julie’s Talon series yet, I highly urge you to do so! Never has there been a dragon series that held me so riveted and enchanted! It’s pure magic in modern times! It’s a series not to be missed!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars