Wednesday, May 23, 2012
[Book Review] SLAYERS by C.J. Hill
Jason reviews SLAYERS by C.J. Hill (Feiwel and Friends, 2011)
Slayers is a low fantasy YA novel about a pretty young rich girl who discovers that she has been descended from dragon slayers and is now destined to kill newly awakening dragons in order to save the world. This book isn’t quite as fast paced as other YA books, but the characters are strong and interesting and the author is good at building tension.
The main character is perceived by everyone around her as a stereotype and it’s interesting watching her not only fight off the stereotypes surrounding, but also trying to rise above her own weaknesses and shortcomings. Other characters are equally strong and although a few of them a little one-dimensional, they are interesting and the book (which seems to be starting off a series) seems to hint at more character development later.
As much as I enjoyed the book, there were a few shortcomings when it comes to predictability. The author seems to have borrowed elements from too many other popular YA series, but doesn’t always do them as well as the other series. The training camp that the group spends the majority of the book in is a little too similar to Half-Blood Camp in the Percy Jackson series and the clumsy attempts at shoehorning a love triangle almost from the start made me cringe a bit. The plot is otherwise interesting and well-developed and I look forward to continuing the series.
Jason Sharp, Whitehaven Branch Library
Labels: Fantasy, Reviews by Jason Sharp, Science Fiction, Young Adult
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