Hill, C.J. Slayers: Friends and Traitors.

Hill, C.J.  Slayers: Friends and Traitors.  Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends  2013  390p  $16.99  ISBN 978-1-250-02461-9  hs  Fantasy  E-BN    

This is a great book for the teenager who loved dragons as a child.  Overdrake, a Dragon Lord, has two dragons and several eggs.  He plans to use them to destroy cities in order to take down the current US government and put himself in charge.  The Slayers are training to fight dragons to prevent this take-down.  They believe that the government can be fixed in other ways.  One Slayer who is actually Overdrake’s son, hiding his true identity and acting as a spy, has betrayed the group to his father.  He knows where they live, and he knows their skills and weaknesses and their strategies.  Once the betrayal is discovered, the Slayers try to protect a reluctant new member and save each other from destruction.

Intense, exciting battle action plays well against some psychological mind control and romantic action among the group.  The action of the teens is realistic even with the superhuman powers from the dragons.  The story moves along at a fast pace after a somewhat slow start.  There is a growing maturity in Tori throughout the story.

This would be a thoroughly enjoyable read for the student who has enjoyed Paolini’s work but wants something modern and urban.           

Summary: Modern-day, urban fantasy involving dragons and the people who desire to kill them (Slayers) and those who want to use them for political gain (Dragon Lords).  There is lots of both physical and psychological action.  High school     

Dragons-Fiction, Adventure-Fiction                                --Joan Theal