Black Talon
Dragonblood Assassin • Book 1
by Jaime Castle, Andy Peloquin
Why You'll Love This
An emperor's dragon-bonded assassin and a rebel who wants dragons dead are hunting each other — until they're not.
- Great if you want: dual-POV fantasy with morally grey characters on opposing sides
- The experience: fast-paced and propulsive — conspiracy threads tighten with each chapter
- The writing: Castle and Peloquin keep the dual voices distinct and the tension taut
- Skip if: you prefer standalone fantasy — this ends mid-arc, series-style
About This Book
In a city riddled with corruption and buried secrets, Kullen serves the Emperor as the Black Talon—an assassin bound by oath and by something far more dangerous: a soul-deep connection to his dragon, Umbris. When a shadowy faction called the Crimson Fang moves against the nobility, Kullen finds himself hunting killers whose motives are far more complicated than simple rebellion. On the other side of that conflict stands Natisse, a woman shaped by grief and fire, convinced that bringing down the powerful is the only justice worth fighting for. What begins as a hunt becomes something murkier, more personal, and far harder to walk away from.
Castle and Peloquin build Dimvein with the kind of gritty texture that makes a fantasy city feel lived-in rather than painted as backdrop. The dual-perspective structure keeps tension coiling tightly—Kullen and Natisse occupy the same dangerous world but see it from angles that keep colliding in unexpected ways. The prose is propulsive without sacrificing depth, and the dragon bond adds emotional weight that goes well beyond spectacle. At 520 pages, the story earns its length.
