Early Review – Shattered (Scorched, Book 2) by Mari Mancusi (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Length: 400 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: September 2, 2014
ISBN-13: 978-1402284618
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Scorched series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

I got a copy of this book to review through NetGalley. This is the second book in the Scorched trilogy. I haven’t heard any news on when the third book will release. I actually ended up liking this book even more than Scorched. The story took some excellent twists and really made this a refreshing YA read.

Trinity, Connor, and Caleb along with the dragon Emmy are still in hiding and running from place to place. They are all struggling. Emmy is unhappy with being forced to hide, but when she is exposed to other humans things get much worse. Now Trinity, Connor, and Caleb have to come up with a longer term plan. Surprisingly help comes from someone in Trinity’s past.

This was a well done continuation of this series. There is a lot of action and a lot of running from place to place. Social media plays a large role in the story, as videos of Emmy are captured and broadcast widespread very quickly. We hear from a number of different viewpoints throughout the story and that format works really well in this book.

Some new characters are introduced into the series and they added a lot to the story. The new character with the largest role is Scarlet, she is the one who gets the initial video footage of Emmy. Scarlet has had a rough life and sees Emmy as a way out. Scarlet is in the story a ton and I really liked her character.

I was concerned about the whole Trinity, Connor, Caleb setup. However Mancusi actually makes fun of the love triangle scenario in the story and breaks away from this traditional YA plot device quickly. Love triangles are something I really dislike in YA books, so I was glad to see Mancusi take the story in a new direction. After all why should the heroine be dependent on any of these boys to get done what needs to be done?

We get to spend a lot more time with Emmy in this book and I really enjoyed that as well. There were a lot of twists and turns and surprises in the story too. There is more about time travel as well and we learn where the Dracken got their beginnings.

The writing is well done and flows well, making the book engaging and easy to read. I am so curious to see how everything plays out in the next book, so far the story has been completely unpredictable.

Overall I actually liked this book quite a bit more than Scorched and I am definitely going to keep reading this series. I enjoy the creative storyline and how Trinity makes mature choices throughout. I would recommend this book to those who like dragons and like reading sci-fi/fantasy. There was a lot here to like and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Ebook Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge