Talker 25 (Talker 25 #1) by Joshua McCune - Starting August 20th 2015

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Debut author Joshua McCune's gritty and heart-pounding novel is a masterful reimagining of popular dragon fantasy lore, set in a militant future reminiscent of Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker and Ann Aguirre's Outpost.

It's a high school prank gone horribly wrong-sneaking onto the rez to pose next to a sleeping dragon-and now senior Melissa Callahan has become an unsuspecting pawn in a war between Man and Monster, between family and friends and the dragons she has despised her whole life. Chilling, epic, and wholly original, this debut novel imagines a North America where dragons are kept on reservations, where strict blackout rules are obeyed no matter the cost, where the highly weaponized military operates in chilling secret, and where a gruesome television show called Kissing Dragons unites the population. Joshua McCune's debut novel offers action, adventure, fantasy, and a reimagining of popular dragon lore.

[Reading Rediscovered]

Ch 1 (view spoiler)[ Ok...so dragons just appeared one day. Great. Melissa's dad checks on dragons in the area. And she heard a dragon talk to her...strange beginning. Has potential. (hide spoiler)]

CH 5 (view spoiler)[ So is Melissa against the dragons? Or with them? What's with the 'farmgirl' and 'farmboy'? There are no farms around. Are they fighting the dragons to kill them or 'fighting' them to see what they can do? Except they're actually hurting them. (hide spoiler)]

Ch 6 (view spoiler)[ Ok I think it's making a bit more sense now. The people are fighting the dragons to make sure they don't hurt people while also trying to learn where they came from, why they came and now how they're breeding. This might turn out to be good but it's taking quite a while to make sense. (hide spoiler)]

Ch 13 (view spoiler)[ Jedi? Is the author just trying to throw in nerd things to build his cred?
I have to keep re-reading things at this point to see if they make more sense. I hope things start to come together soon because it's still very confusing. I'm not enjoying this as much as I had hoped to. (hide spoiler)]

Ch 17 (view spoiler)[ So Mel gets a makeover. Why? What is the point? Are they going to make her fight dragons? And if so, why the makeover... (hide spoiler)]

Part 1 (view spoiler)[ Most unsatisfying book so far. By now I should understand why most things are happening, who all the characters are, and what the ultimate goal is, but I can barely answer those questions. I'm only pushing through because I want the BR points, if I'm completely honest! (hide spoiler)]

[Reading Rediscovered]

Ch 22 (view spoiler)[ These girls with Mel are so weird - I don't understand them. (hide spoiler)]
Ch 23 (view spoiler)[ This chapter didn't seem to fit. It didn't make much sense at all in the overall scheme of things. (hide spoiler)]
Ch 28 (view spoiler)[ Killing Dragons by torture but also torturing humans who can speak to them? Are they against the dragons or against the humans? (hide spoiler)]
Ch 33 (view spoiler)[ So now Mel doesn't care that they killed the dragon. And James is reconditioned...he's so weird now. (hide spoiler)]
End (view spoiler)[ The last 150 pages went by a lot faster & for that I am very grateful...I was so done with this book. Mel got reconditioned, but not really, then escaped and is now back with the insurgents & James isn't really dead even though she stabbed him? Wow...I am so confused by this book. I will not be getting the next one. I had high hopes, but they fell so flat. (hide spoiler)]