Scorched by Mari Mancusi Series: Scorched #1
Published by Sourcebooks Fire (9.3.2013)
Genres: Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
Source: I own it
Trinity
Don’t leave me here... It starts with a whisper. At first Trinity thinks she’s going crazy. It wouldn’t be a big surprise—her grandpa firmly believes there’s a genuine dragon egg in their dusty little West Texas town. But this voice is real, and it’s begging for her protection. Even if no one else can hear it...Connor
He’s come from a future scorched by dragonfire. His mission: Find the girl. Destroy the egg. Save the world.Caleb
He’s everything his twin brother Connor hates: cocky, undisciplined, and obsessed with saving dragons.Trinity has no idea which brother to believe. All she has to go by is the voice in her head—a dragon that won’t be tamed.
My thoughts
This book is very difficult for me to rate, because my thoughts about it were all over the place. There were some things I really loved, and some other things that I really didn’t love.
In the beginning, I was SO onboard for this book! I was absolutely loving it. I was hooked from the start and totally intrigued by the idea of it all. I found it very engaging, and I was sure this was going to be a 5 star book for me.
Somewhere along the way, my interest waned. A lot. The main thing that killed it for me was the twin male POVs. Firstly, I had a hell of a time telling them apart. Their names even start with the same letter! Caleb and Connor. They were practically the same person. I got confused at times because I couldn’t remember which brother was which, despite their different agendas. There was also a kind of love triangle going on, which made it even worse! The only positive was the fact that you couldn’t tell which brother was the “good guy” at first. They both believed they were right to the extent that you had to believe them, too. Both were on opposing sides, but you couldn’t decide which one to side with. View Spoiler »
Things I loved about this book: DRAGONS. Duh!! I freaking love dragons, and dragon stories are few and far between. I also thought it was interesting that Mancusi wove sci-fi and fantasy together in this story. It’s kind of a conglomeration of genres! There’s sci-fi elements like apocalypse and time travel, but the dragons made it more of an urban fantasy. It’s also dystopian-ish, in a way! Very cool. (Especially since fantasy and sci-fi are my favorite genres!)
I found the whole idea of this book intriguing. I am really curious about this Scorch…did Trinity really cause it?? Surely she couldn’t have known! (I think there’s more to the story here!) Also it’s kind of awesome that she’s pretty much a celebrity because her name is so well known in the future, but now she’s just your average girl. I typically hate the type of stories where an average girl becomes super speshul snowflake, but this one worked.
Also, Emmy was awesome! I love that Trinity and Emmy develop a bond even before Emmy hatched. And did I mention that the Nether was awesome?! There were so many unique aspects to this story that you can’t help but enjoy it. The prose was very engaging, too! It’s not dry in the least bit – actually, it’s very informal to the point that you feel like it’s a friend talking to you. It was easy to connect to Trinity.
Okay, after writing this review I realized that I enjoyed it more than I thought. It was a very unique story, and there were so many things that rocked. But seriously, the love triangle and difficulty telling the boys apart really dragged it down for me. More so when I was actually reading, because I was pretty annoyed by it. But I find that I’m quite excited to find out what happens in the next book! I’m really hoping to see more dragons than just Emmy, and see more of the legendary Fire Kissed! (And hopefully there will be no love triangle.)
Totally unrelated to the actual story, but can we talk about how beautiful this book is?! If you haven’t seen under the cover (which is glorious on its own), the book itself is a full picture. It’s got Emmy’s face on it, and it’s velvety, and Emmy’s scales are embossed! It’s awesome, you guys. It has super colorful endpapers, too!
Overall Assessment
Plot: 4/5
Premise: 5/5
Writing style: 4/5
Originality: 4.5/5
Characters: 2/5
World-building: 4/5
Pace: 4.5/5
Feels: 2/5
Cover: 4.5/5
The premise of this books looks so interesting! Although I’m hesitant because of the slight love triangle and I don’t really mind love triangles normally but between two brothers, I don’t know? What did you think of the love triangle? Otherwise I think I might just pick this book up! Lovely review:)
Don’t think I’ll be reading this one although I will be interested in seeing your future reviews for the book. Also: we need pictures of this cover!!
I was attracted to this book based on the cover–love dragons! but I was always told never to name characters with the same letter because it does just wheat it did to you–confusion. And to have these characters both be POV and twins–that’s like 3 strikes. Plus I’m not a fan of love triangles. I’m so glad I read your review first before getting this book.