A Book Obsession..: Early Review: Rogue by Julie Kagawa

Early Review: Rogue by Julie Kagawa

, by Kt Clapsadl

Rogue by Julie Kagawa

Talon #2

Ember Hill left the dragon organization Talon to take her chances with rebel dragon Cobalt and his crew of rogues. But Ember can't forget the sacrifice made for her by the human boy who could have killed her—Garret Xavier Sebastian, a soldier of the dragonslaying Order of St. George, the boy who saved her from a Talon assassin, knowing that by doing so, he'd signed his own death warrant.

Determined to save Garret from execution, Ember must convince Cobalt to help her break into the Order's headquarters. With assassins after them and Ember's own brother helping Talon with the hunt, the rogues find an unexpected ally in Garret and a new perspective on the underground battle between Talon and St. George.

A reckoning is brewing and the secrets hidden by both sides are shocking and deadly. Soon Ember must decide: Should she retreat to fight another day…or start an all-out war?

I'm not the biggest fan of love triangles. Most time they just annoy me rather than make me feel torn like the character does. However, there are sometimes where there is enough reason behind the heroine being torn that I don't mind it, which is the case here. Ember's own identities between her human and dragon self are like two completely different people, so it makes sense that each side of her would be drawn to a different thing. Unfortunately however, despite understanding that conflict, I frankly do not feel much of an attachment to either hero. There's just a disconnect between myself and the characters that made it hard to really get attached or sucked in to the romance, which made the whole thing somewhat of a let down. I just think that for there to be a love triangle, there just needs to be more of a connection and stronger built romance rather than just the words of attraction. I just didn't feel the pull.

Ember is a tricky character for me. On on hand, she's fiesty strong and refuses to follow authority blindly, which I love about her. I can easily seeing her becoming a true character to reckon with as she gets a bit more experience under her belt. But that same rebellous nature about her annoyed me as well. Several times throughout the last book and this one as well it felt like she was disobeying and going against what was asked of her just for the sake of "bucking" authority. There were a few times her behaviour/reactions were completely and entirely reckless for no reason other than to be stubborn and reckless it seems. For example, they are on the run from both St. George and Talon at one point, and she is asked to stay put and out of sight for her protection so they don't get caught. Of course, she gets "stir crazy" and goes out risking all their lives just because she was bored. It made her seem selfish and immature, and frankly put me off. I prefer a character to rebell for a purpose rather than immaturity. That being said, she's still very young and naive, and as more and more things happen I have a feeling she'll grow.

I have to admit I'm a bit frustrated with this series. It has all the makings of a completely great read, between the unique world, interesting cast of characters and the rotating first person narrative that really works for me, plus a fast paced plot to boot. However, the execution of everything isn't quite what I had hoped, between the love triangle disconnect, and the overly reckless heroine, I just can't sink into these books as much as I would like. Don't get me wrong, they are interesting and entertaining reads, but I just feel like there's unrealized potential not being met here, but hopefully the future books correct that.

(Received a copy from the publisher)

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