Early Review: Soldier by Julie Kagawa

Soldier by Julie Kagawa

Talon #3

A fighter dedicated to saving humankind from dragons in strictest secrecy.

That was what Garret Xavier Sebastian thought he was part of as a soldier of the Order of St. George. What he learned from a fiery dragon hatchling twisted all he believed in and set him on a collision course with certain death-but not without a chance to put things right.

Betrayed and on the run again, Ember and rogue dragon Riley discover an unthinkable truth about Talon and St. George. They'll need Garret's skills and insider knowledge of the Order to negotiate an impossible deal-and if they fail, there will be no way to stop all-out war.

I have to admit I don’t really understand the love triangle in this series. It just doesn’t make sense or really work emotionally to be honest. I don’t know if there just isn’t enough depth to it to make it believable to me, or if thing just need to develop further, but honestly I’m let scratching my head. First off you have the complication that Dragons aren’t supposed to love or have partner, preferring to be solitary creatures. But then there’s this inexplicable bond pulling Ember and Riley together. It almost feels like the mating bond so common in shifter books which would make sense since the dragons are technically shifters although they are dragons really, just mimicking humans. But that there leads me to the other part of the triangle, Embers attraction and pull towards Garrett. She’s not supposed to be human nor be capable of love, and yet in so many ways Ember is very very human. While it’s something that was started to slowly be considered in SOLDIER, there’s really so much more to be figured out. I guess in the end I just need more from the romance for this triangle to work for me. As it stood in this book there was barely any moments romantically between Ember and either “boy” and even the ones that were seemed rushed and glossed over. I need more.

Onto the plot, this is one area where SOLDIER shined. The sheer amount of twists, turns, and machinations between all the various factions left my head spinning at times. It felt like Ember and co were under fire from all directions, and nothing and no one were safe one bit. It definitely made things more than interesting and the stakes incredibly high. Almost too high perhaps. By the end of the book I was left amazed at everything that had happened, the new developments and things revealed to come, and it’s hard to imagine a reasonable survival outcome for anyone. I almost feel like things are headed into unbeliveability territory. I could be wrong, but only time will tell in the next book to see how they get out of the building chaos.

Overall SOLDIER kept me entertained, but unfortunately it lacked the amount of depth I would like to have seen. This book and characters have so much potential in my opinion and I’d love to see so much more from them, but as seems to be the course for this series I feel like we’re only scratching the surface. I’m enjoying them well enough to continue the series as I’m definitely invested, but I can’t help hoping for more depth in books to come.

(Received a copy from the publisher)

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Other Reviews:
     The Thoughtful Spot
 

Previous Books:
     1. Talon
     2. Rogue