Friday, December 9, 2011

Slayers

From Goodreads:
Dragons exist. They’re ferocious. And they’re smart: Before they were killed off by slayer-knights, they rendered a select group of eggs dormant, so their offspring would survive. Only a handful of people know about this, let alone believe it – these “Slayers” are descended from the original knights, and are now a diverse group of teens that includes Tori, a smart but spoiled senator’s daughter who didn’t sign up to save the world.

The dragon eggs have fallen into the wrong hands. The Slayers must work together to stop the eggs from hatching. They will fight; they will fall in love. But will they survive?


This book is written under a pseudonym by a best-selling author of YA teen fiction *cough*Janette Rallison*cough* because it's out of her usual genre. Said author is not really trying to keep her identity secret, so I don't feel too bad about outing her - she's mostly going along with her publisher's thoughts that this book might reach a larger audience under a pseudonym.

My thoughts? It's Janette Rallison! It's dragons! How could it be bad? It's not and I loved it. It's a little bit X-Men meet Percy Jackson and yes, some plot elements do feel a little over-used and cliche (and predictable), but it doesn't seem to matter much because the writing is so great. Janette Rallison is still funny, the YA romance is still sweet and entertaining, the characters' powers are cool, and the dragons are terrifying. I loved all the dragon mythology. The first and last chapters are sooo good and I can't wait to read the sequel.

This book actually shows some surprising depth too. We delve into the psyche of a traitor. There are several surprisingly complex and compelling characters, to tell the truth. I won't say any more because I don't want to give anything away, but I really enjoyed this and will probably buy it. Never mind that the cover looks like it has some weird dragon-ish looking rocket ship (it's supposed to be a dragon egg).

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