Book Review: Slayers: Friends and Traitors

The Slayers – teens who have powers to fight dragons—are back by popular demand in this high-octane sequel, now with a new cover package!

Tori is at a White House dinner party when she hears a horrifying sound: dragon eggs hatching. It means in less than a year, the dragons will be mature and dangerous. The Slayers are well-trained, but their group is not yet complete, and Tori is determined to track down Ryker Davis, the mysterious Slayer who has yet to surface.

What Tori doesn’t bargain for, however, is the surprising truth about her powers: she isn’t a Slayer after all, but a Dragon Lord, with a built-in predisposition to protect dragons, not kill them.How will she overcome this to save the lives of her friends?  Quoted from Goodreads

********************

I love this series. Well, I'll be honest, I love anything by Janette Rallison (aka CJ Hill), and this is no exception. I may even like this second book better than the first one.  Basically, it's everything you love about the first book times 2. We get more action, more danger, more romance, more conflict, broader setting, and more dragons.

So I'm going to start where I usually end: the romance.  I actually really am enjoying this love triangle.  Wait.  Hold back your groans.  I know that the love triangle has been overdone a bit in YA, but like I said before, I actually like it here.  It helps that I like both guys (for very different reasons), and I honestly have no idea who Tori is going to end up with. It's not like the Twilight "triangle" where we all know Bella was going to get with Edward and Jacob was created to add conflict, drama and angst.  

Next, the plot.  Friends and Traitors end a few months after Slayers ended.  I was glad we got a glimpse of the camp, but it was fun to change up locations and see all the main characters back in their everyday lives.  Plus, when we do get attacks, it's not just a summer adventure but intrudes on their lives. It makes everything more personal and the danger more menacing.  Plus, there's just plain more going. 

The characters had to grow up a lot in this book. Jesse is trying to prove that he's a good leader.  Dirk has the whole unrequited love/family loyalty issues to deal with, and Tori has to juggle being a presidential candidate's daughter and a slayer at the same time.  Then there's the whole Dragon Lord thing Tori has to deal with. I love the conflict where she wants to kill dragons and protect them at the same time.

The ending was excellent.  It's one of those rare second books were it reaches it's own high points while still building towards the final book.   All in all, it's a great series. My only complaint was how long it took for this book to come out, but I'm hoping this third book comes out quicker.  So should you read it? Absolutely.  Its a very strong 4 stars for me, and one of the series I'm looking forward to the most. So if you haven't started it, now is a great time, and if you have read the first book, what are you waiting for?