Book Review Scorched by Mari Mancusi

Title: Scorched

Author: Mari Mancusi

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Release Date: September 3, 2013

Series: Scorched #1

Source: Hardcover

Number of Pages: 340

Letter Size: Medium

Synopsis:

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.

Review:

Sixteen-year-old Trinity lives with her grandfather in a small west Texas town. Both of her parents are gone, and she has to fight off child services who think that her grandfather is not fit to raise her. Trinity will do anything not to go back to foster, care but her grandfather is more of a hindrance than help. Her grandfather runs Foxx's Fantastic Fossils, a small roadside museum that has seen better days. Desperate to attract visitors, her grandfather starts to exhibit Chupacabra corpses and racks of a jackalope. The word around town is that old age has finally caught with him and that he's turning mad. Now he has just bought a frozen egg that he claims is a dragon egg. Trinity doesn't believe him, for their are no such things as dragons, right?

Scorched, by Mari Mancusi, is a delightful read. The imagery is beautifully written and the plot keeps you hooked throughout the entire novel. Trinity is a very like able character and you can't help but relate to her. Grandpa will make you think of your own grandparents....being easily trusting, not liking technology and complaining about the kids these days. As a reader you will easily start to agree with Conner about how the dragons must be destroyed or with Caleb that dragons can be tamed and used for the betterment of humans. By the end of the novel you will definitely be torn about what should happen to the dragons. The author does a good job of showing that there are two sides to every story, and that not everything is black and white. Scorched leaves you with the interesting question of whether you would destroy something innocent because of what it could do or do, or let it live at the risk of costing thousands of people their lives?

The plot was mostly fast paced except that I thought that some of the time Trinity spent at Dracken headquarters was dull and slow moving. One thing I think that could have improved this was if the author made the Potentials a little more memorable. I easily forgot about them once Trinity had been introduced to them. I wish that the author had developed their characters a little more, though I do understand that because Trinity didn't want to talk to anyone they were mostly there just to move the plot along. Overall though this novel suitably impressed me and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel when it comes out.

Recommend for: People who like fantasy or dragons.

Rating: 4/5 Stars