Review: Scorched (Scorched #1) by Mari Mancusi

Author: Mari Mancusi
Series: Scorched
Genre: YA, Sci-Fi/Time Travel, Fantasy
Release Date: September 3, 2013
Format: Ebook

My Rating: 4 Stars

Summary From Goodreads: 

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

The Plot: When Trinity's grandfather finds what he claims to be an ancient dragon egg, Trinity thinks that he's crazy because there's no way dragons could have ever existed, right? Well, the reality and her childhood fairy tales suddenly become intertwined after a strange boy breaks into their museum the night the egg is show cased. After meeting Conner, who came from the future to destroy the egg and save the world, Trinity is forced to come to terms with the fact that dragons really do exist, and that one day, they may destroy the earth. On top of all that, she is starting to her voices in her head, the voice of the unborn dragon that is asking her to find and protect her. This happens to mean that she's Fire Kissed, as in she has the ability to connect with her dragon. Trinity's luck gets even better when she's kidnapped by Connor's dragon loving twin brother, Caleb, while on the run with Connor and the dragon egg. Caleb belongs with a group that wants to save the dragons and train them to fight in wars. Trinity starts to think that Connor made them sound a lot worse than they seem. But while their intention may have been good, Trinity's opinion about them quickly changes once she stumbles upon some dragons in their compound that have been scientifically experimented on. 

The plot of Scorched moved at a pretty even pace. It didn't feel like any particular place dragged and it was definitely interesting. Mari Mancusi's writing style flows well and keeps the reader's attention. The world building was done excellently with the Netherworld and technology. 

The Characters: Trinity made a fairly good protagonist, but she did annoy me sometimes with her decisions and lack of decisions. She could be very indecisive at times, while at other times she did stupid things that made me want to yell at her. On the other hand, I actually liked both Caleb and Connor. Both of them have a deep sense of loyalty to their cause and are willing to protect Trinity with their lives. I also switched between liking the dragons and thinking they were bad. On one side, the dragons are portrayed as gentle creatures in the Netherworld and protective of the humans, but in Connor's visions we see them as vicious beast who burn humans on sight and ravage the earth.

The Romance: At the same time, the romance between Caleb, Trinity, and Connor (yes, there is a love triangle) was not for me. Connor and Trinity's relationship was pretty much instalove (although I am team Connor), and Caleb was more infatuated with Trinity and worshiped her since she was the Fire Kissed. Their relationship just seemed awkward to me.

I haven't read many dragon books before, but overall I highly enjoyed Scorched and definitely recommend it to those who love fantasy, time travel, and dragons. I look forward to reading the sequel!

                                                                                                   

 

 

About Mari Mancusi    

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Mari Mancusi always wanted a dragon as a pet. Unfortunately the fire insurance premiums proved a bit too large and her house a bit too small--so she chose to write about them instead. Today she works as an award-winning young adult author and freelance television producer, for which she has won two Emmys. When not writing about fanciful creatures of myth and legend, Mari enjoys goth clubbing, cosplay, snowboarding, watching cheesy (and scary) horror movies, and her favorite guilty pleasure—playing videogames. A graduate of Boston University, she lives in Austin, Texas with her husband Jacob, daughter Avalon, and their dog Mesquite.