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peculiarb 's review for:
Talon the Black
by Melissa Mitchell
"Talon the Black" by Melissa Mitchell thrusts Claire into a fantasy world where wild dragons threaten a 50 000 year old peace.
The cover immediately drew me in and, after reading the blurb, I had to get my hands on it. Mitchell constructs a detailed world with a very long history, where the Drengr, half dragons-half humans, rule Dragonwall and protect its human citizens, while living along side goblins, dwarves, and Sprites. Mitchell's world is bigger than life and that really comes across through Claire who looks at it all in amazement. It's also worth noting that Mitchell doesn’t hesitate to delve into the nitty gritty of keeping a castle running; unlike most novels, Mitchell doesn't shy away from topics like chamber pots and menstruation.
Melissa Mitchell also pays close attention to her plot. "Talon the Black" has two distinct parts that symbolise Claire's transition into her role at Dragonwall. The first part is largely character exposition, with the audience getting to know Claire, Cyrus, and Dragonwall, before Claire is thrust into court politics that threaten her life. On the whole, it was a good plot, I found myself enjoying it more as all the elements came together towards the end of the book.
However the pacing wasn't ideal and the constant jumps between POVs and locations were hard to keep up with. While they added to a general understanding of the story or the circumstances that led to the book's events, they distracted from the plot, even dragging it down at points.
Michell's writing also didn't help. It's very wordy, especially when it comes to characters from Dragonwall. The way they speak is meant to recall older times, but it ends up being tedious to read through, if incomprehensible at times, Since certain Dragonwall characters have their own POV, it makes getting through whole chapters a challenge, to the point where I would skip paragraphs at times without missing anything major. As the book goes on, this became less noticeable, put I didn't appreciate having to push through half of it before that point (I even considered putting it down more than once).
Another problem I had with a book was the heteronormativity of it all. In a world with shapeshifting dragons, relying on the human male-female binary bugged me, especially given the disadvantageous position women are placed in. Claire's choices are frequently ignored or overruled, as are other women's in the novel, and having one side character raise the issue doesn't make up for the tone set by the other instances. On top of that, the Drengr are always men and their riders always women through some predetermined mating bond, and the women are bound to giving the Drengr one heir, one side character even goes so far as to classify the riders as broodmares upon learning this. To top it all off, the process of finding a mate includes the women in the kingdom lining up to touch dragons and form a bond when they're 15 because that's around the time they become "women" aka get their periods. Because the drengr are slow to age, this can give age gaps such as 32-15 which was unpleasant to read about to say the least.
Honestly, Melissa Mitchell's action packed plot and interesting worldbuilding didn’t make up for the "Talon the Black's" pitfalls and, as such, I won't be continuing with the series.
The cover immediately drew me in and, after reading the blurb, I had to get my hands on it. Mitchell constructs a detailed world with a very long history, where the Drengr, half dragons-half humans, rule Dragonwall and protect its human citizens, while living along side goblins, dwarves, and Sprites. Mitchell's world is bigger than life and that really comes across through Claire who looks at it all in amazement. It's also worth noting that Mitchell doesn’t hesitate to delve into the nitty gritty of keeping a castle running; unlike most novels, Mitchell doesn't shy away from topics like chamber pots and menstruation.
Melissa Mitchell also pays close attention to her plot. "Talon the Black" has two distinct parts that symbolise Claire's transition into her role at Dragonwall. The first part is largely character exposition, with the audience getting to know Claire, Cyrus, and Dragonwall, before Claire is thrust into court politics that threaten her life. On the whole, it was a good plot, I found myself enjoying it more as all the elements came together towards the end of the book.
However the pacing wasn't ideal and the constant jumps between POVs and locations were hard to keep up with. While they added to a general understanding of the story or the circumstances that led to the book's events, they distracted from the plot, even dragging it down at points.
Michell's writing also didn't help. It's very wordy, especially when it comes to characters from Dragonwall. The way they speak is meant to recall older times, but it ends up being tedious to read through, if incomprehensible at times, Since certain Dragonwall characters have their own POV, it makes getting through whole chapters a challenge, to the point where I would skip paragraphs at times without missing anything major. As the book goes on, this became less noticeable, put I didn't appreciate having to push through half of it before that point (I even considered putting it down more than once).
Another problem I had with a book was the heteronormativity of it all. In a world with shapeshifting dragons, relying on the human male-female binary bugged me, especially given the disadvantageous position women are placed in. Claire's choices are frequently ignored or overruled, as are other women's in the novel, and having one side character raise the issue doesn't make up for the tone set by the other instances. On top of that, the Drengr are always men and their riders always women through some predetermined mating bond, and the women are bound to giving the Drengr one heir, one side character even goes so far as to classify the riders as broodmares upon learning this. To top it all off, the process of finding a mate includes the women in the kingdom lining up to touch dragons and form a bond when they're 15 because that's around the time they become "women" aka get their periods. Because the drengr are slow to age, this can give age gaps such as 32-15 which was unpleasant to read about to say the least.
Honestly, Melissa Mitchell's action packed plot and interesting worldbuilding didn’t make up for the "Talon the Black's" pitfalls and, as such, I won't be continuing with the series.