Monday, May 25, 2015

Review: Rogue by Julie Kagawa

From Goodreads: 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?

My Rating: 3.5 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: More action-packed and less-focused on romance, Julie Kagawa’s Rogue is a much stronger novel than its predecessor, Talon. What I really liked about Rogue though was that I no longer had to suffer through Ember exploring what it means to be a human.

While Garret was pretty much relegated to the background and Ember remained as impulsive as ever, I came to like Riley in Rogue because we’re given his backstory and get to see him be a bit more vulnerable. I also liked having Dante’s perspective in Rogue because we can contrast his view of Talon with Ember’s, and get a better picture of what’s going on than either twin.

With Rogue’s cliffhanger ending, I’m looking forward to reading Soldier and seeing what Talon’s plans are for the future. 

Rogue was released in April 2015 by Harlequin Teen. 

Comments About the Cover: I like its simplicity, but I don’t think that it’s as pretty as Talon’s cover. 

In exchange for an honest review, this book was received from the publisher (Harlequin Teen) for free via NetGalley.

4 comments:

  1. I agree with you completely. Kagawa drifted apart from that odd contemporary feel and Rogue was a much better book because of it. It still suffered from certain problems, but it was enjoyable overall and it left me wanting more, which isn't something I can say about Talon.

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  2. Sounds like this one improved on the issues people had with the first book, which is great, because that was what was holding me back on starting this series.

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  3. Oh man, now you have me thinking I might need to change my mind! Because I was SO not feeling Talon (basically for the reasons you indicated) and I had really no plans to continue on with the series, but maybe... Depending on how the third book is received and whether the focus remains off the romance and silliness, I think I'll pick up the series again.

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  4. I still haven't read Talon. I don't know why, I just had a feeling that I'd be underwhelmed by it. But seeing how Rogue improves on its predecessor as you said^^ I'm feeling encouraged to get started on the series now :)

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