Slayers by C.J. Hill

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?

I really liked this book!  I was so excited when I won it, as it was written by one of my favorite authors, whose name shall not be mentioned (coughJanetteRallisoncough).  And it did NOT live down to the challenge!

Let's talk about characters!  I didn't really like Tori when she starts to notice that there's something weird about her dragon camp.  But all in all, I grew to like her, as she was a great, well rounded character, who wasn't too "Mary-Sue" in a bad or perfect way.  Once again, I didn't like Jesse at first, but once again, he grew on me.  And once again, I didn't like Dirk at first, but this time he didn't grow on me.  I didn't like him, then I learned his "little" secret, and I didn't like him even more.  Then, I started to feel bad for him, as his situation was pretty bad.  Lilly and Alyssa were mean, but even though, I kind of liked what Lilly's character added to the story.  Bess was fun, and Rosa was sweet.  Shang was cool cause he put up with Lilly.  Kody was okay, but he wasn't really all that memorable.  I also thought Mr. B (Bartholomew) was a good mentor, though a bit loony.  All the other characters were pretty good.  Ryker was sort of a name that floated around and in the end you got to meet him as sort of a "this is what happens next book"!

The plot was awesome, and even though it differed greatly from the authors previous works, and that was probably why the author went with a pen name.  Although it was really different, you could still see how it was written by the author under the pseudonym.  The plot was smart, and it left me wanting more.  I liked how the dragons were bad.  It seems like all dragon books have good or neutral dragons.  Personally I like those books, but SLAYERS was kind of refreshing! 

I am a big lover of fantasy, so this was a really great read.  It was also a romance and action book, so that was nice.  The romance was kind of cliche, but it was also sweet, and the guy I was rooting for ended up with the girl!

I can't wait for part two in this series!  SLAYERS actually only took place in four days, so I'm sure the next books will take place during the rest of the month that the characters are at dragon camp.  I'm assuming the next book will be about Ryker Davis, by the way SLAYERS ends.

I give this book a 5/5 and would recommend it to lovers of fantasy, action, adventure, romance, and a certain author name Janette Rallison!

Market: YA
Language: MILD (the h-word and stuff like "so and so said a string of curses")
Sensuality: Mild, just some kissing
Violence:  Moderate