Scorched by Mari MancusiPublished by: Sourcebooks Fire on September 3, 2013
Genre: Dragons, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Pages: 352
Source: NetGalley
Buy on Amazon • Book Details
Rating: ★★★★½
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.
I LOVED Scorched! Most of all, I adored the story. That’s what rocked this book. I mean, dragons? DRAGONS!! YES! DRAGONS! There were just so many elements that appealed to me. The dragons (duh), the idea of a “chosen one”, the time travel, the apocalypse, the goal to save the world.. all of it! It’s the recipe for an awesome fantasy book.
Another thing I adored about Scorched was how the author wove fantasy and science fiction together. On the one hand, we have dragons and “The Nether” (a place where dead and unborn dragons live.. almost like a virtual reality world). That’s fantasy. But we also have time travel and cool gadgets from the future. I thought the combination was really unique, and I loved reading a dragon book that actually takes place in present day (rather than in a pure medieval-ish fantasy world).
There were only two things I didn’t like about Scorched. First, I didn’t like the “almost-romance”. Trinity has “moments” with both Connor and Caleb. She never starts dating either of them, but she randomly kisses both of them (sometimes on more than one occasion). So they weren’t dating, it wasn’t truly a romance, but she had intense “moments” with both of them… and I didn’t like it. I think because it just felt so out of sync with the story and completely unnecessary. Also, she kissed them both like hours after meeting them. At first I thought it was an annoying insta-love-y triangle, but neither relationship ever developed, so it turned out okay, but it still felt unnecessary and awkward.
And on a similar note, I kept getting Connor and Caleb mixed up. I was okay with them at the beginning, but as the story went on their roles and behaviours blurred, and I forgot which one was which lol. I blame the fact that their personalities were so similar, they’re twins, and they both have names that start with “C”.
Secondly, I wish there were more dragons! The first half of the book was before the egg even hatched, and then in the second half we only got bits and pieces of actual dragons. I absolutely LOVED the scenes with dragons, but that’s why I wish there were more of them! I kind of wanted actual dragon riding, dragon wars, and things like that. But since the dragon only just hatches in Scorched, we don’t really get any of that (we get stories about that, but it doesn’t actually happen).
But, I’m pretty sure that Scorched is a series (at least I hope so, based on that ending), and I’m really looking forward to reading the next book! I foresee epic dragon training sessions, dragon flying, dragon wars, and ALL THINGS DRAGONS! Bring it on, Mari, I’m so ready!
The Verdict
Despite the kinda but not really romance, this book does sound like an amazing fantasy. I LOVE dragons. They are my guilty pleasure, like pirates.
Sounds interesting, though I am not sure if I would like it or not as I am not a total fantasy/sci-fi person. I did like the author’s vampire series called Blood Coven, so I won’t just count this one out..I might put it on my TBR pile. 🙂
Wow great review! I honestly feel like this book came out of nowhere. I hadn’t heard anything about it and then suddenly it was all over Twitter and is now popping up on blogs. It’s a little weird >.>
But ohhh dragons! That’s enough to make me want to pick it up. I’ve always loved dragons but have realized I’ve only read like a handful of books that actually involve dragons (mainly The Inheritance Cycle). I’m a little sad that you don’t see a whole lot of them, but that’s okay. I’ll do my best to keep Caleb and Connor separated when I get my hands on it, and hopefully I’ll enjoy it. 😉
Yay! So happy this was a hit for you. I love DRAGONS. I will need to pick this one up at some point. Bummer the romance didn’t hit right. bleh. But I can ignore that for some awesome dragon scenes 🙂
My Friends Are Fiction
I can see why the almost-romance would annoy you, especially if it seemed like just a plot device, maybe the second book will build on the romance, and hopefully it’ll do it well. I’m really glad that you loved the sci-fi/fantasy merge, too, because I usually love books where I find that they cross genres and it’s hard to classify a book as just one genre. The dragons sound amazing, too, and like they really built on the book. I’m so happy you loved Scorched, I have to check this out soon I saw a lot of people really excited about it during BEA 🙂
Fantastic review, Ashley! <33
I love dragon stories. This one sounds exciting, although the random not-quite-romance doesn’t. I love when fantasy and sci-fi mix, and your explanation was very easy to understand.
Haha, so I wasn’t the only one who had a few problems with the twins? But yes, this book was so great and I also loved this weird but awesome combination of SciFi and Fantasy!
The romance could have been stronger though…
I love this cover! Sci-fi, fantasy and dragons – this sounds like a book I would totally love. Thanks for the review!
I’m usually not into dragon books, but this one truly sounds different in unique! I’m curious to see how Mari mixes in that science fiction aspect in present day, the way you described. Hmm, a bit of insta-love and love triangle doesn’t sound too bad, so I think I can handle it. I feel like I’d really enjoy this one! Wonderful review, Ashley. 🙂
YAY!! So glad you loved it! I was very intrigued by it because I adore dragons, but it reminded me a lot of Eragon, and I was afraid it’d be a rip off of that. (Have you read it?)
But I love the idea of fantasy and sci-fi together! This sounds amazing, I’m going to have to bump it up on my TBR list 🙂
I hadn’t heard of this book before today, and today I’ve seen it on at least 3 or 4 different blogs and I think it looks awesome! How could dragons not be awesome? Also, I love when authors blend genres like fantasy and sci-fi so it sounds like something I would love. Great review!
That reminds me very vaguely of Eragon but the mix with sci-fi interests me very much! It’s not everyday you get a good dragon novel that is not set in another world or in the past. 😀 Admittedly, I think the almost-romance parts would annoy me but I’ll get over it! Gonna have this on my TBR!