Slayers, 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?

Tori has always had a strange affinity for all things dragon and when her parents finally let her go to dragon camp she couldn't be more excited. When she arrives, however, she finds out that she is part of a special group of teenagers called Slayers who have the ability to fight and destroy dragons. Dragons themselves aren't evil in this book, rather they're wild, extremely dangerous beasts which can be controlled by dragon lords (who are evil). Tori enters training and is faced with snobby girls, two hot guys who maybe sorta like her, and major hair crises. Tori has to decide if she's going to abandon her stereotype of snobby rich girl and join her fellow slayers (who she meets two weeks before she has to make this decision) or if she's going to go back home and forget that dragons exist.

This was one of the most amazing books I've read in a long time. I don't know if I say that often but I literally could not put this one down and I thoroughly recommend it to everyone. There were several cliche aspects to Slayers but at this point it seems like every YA fantasy novel is cliche, and Slayers does manage to get away with less than most. The most obvious one is the love triangle. Usually love triangles bug me because if I root for the guy/girl that isn't chosen I get upset and if I root for the one who does make it I get annoyed that the loser is hanging around. With this one I found myself happy with both Dirk and Jesse (I think that's his name-correct me if I'm wrong) and loving the story and the guys too much to pick a side.

Overdrake (the evil dragon lord) has a spy in camp and I knew right away who it was. I would be proud of my intuition if not for my suspicion that the reader is supposed to guess by his first confession who he is. And the author is so good that I think she did do it on purpose. One unique thing about this book was the totally unpretentious main character. She'll be the first to tell you that she's spoiled lazy and has her priorities a little mixed up, but she'll also step up and save the day when she has to. I love that she doesn't pretend to be a hero and is honestly herself through the whole book. Tori is smart enough to see through herself and it made for an utterly satisfying heroine. I loved her vanity, and her approach to dragon slaying was totally me so I appreciated that even more.

Instead of the magic happening to magical creatures (such as werewolves, vampires, and the like) I liked how the magic happened to the main characters. Yes, the dragons cause the superpowers, but the dragons are only animals and the supernatural stuff we focus on is what's happening to the teenagers. Speaking of the teenagers, letting a bunch of 16 year olds save the world actually makes sense in this book, surprisingly enough. At this point I'm so used to the adults leaving the real saving to the kids that I barely noticed that C.J. Hill explained why Dr. B wasn't doing the slaying himself. Once I thought about it though, I realized how genius it was and I am grateful for a book that covers all the why's.

5 stars. READ IT!!!