Book Review
Title: Scorched by Cassie Swindon (The Linked Trilogy Book 1)
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Rating: 3.5 Stars
As most of you will know Scorched isn’t the kind of book I’d normally reach for but I was surprised by how quickly the story sucked me in. We are introduced to Kyra, a drummer in a band who is trying to escape her abusive boyfriend and manager. When he finds out what she is planning she makes a run for it until she is cornered by him but is saved by Jadox and his dog, Chocolate. Jadox knows who Kyra is and expects her to have magik like him but she has no idea what he is on about which is difficult since Jadox needs her necklace. He does try to steal it but it burns him and he wonders how Kyra can wear it without pain but in her frightened and angry state Kyra accidently wishes for all the men to disappear and they do as she gets her magik at this very moment leaving on Jadox behind. At first Kyra is confused but when she realises her nephew was included in the males that disappeared she knows she has to fix what she has done.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Jadox has to take Kyra away since they are in danger still but we know he seems to have an alternate agenda but it doesn’t explain why he wasn’t affected by Kyra’s magik. Jadox is trying to convince Kyra to come with him when he receives news that one of the Magik village has been found and the witches are being rounded up all over the place. He ends up convincing Kyra to go with him under the guise of joining her sister, Hallie but he is lying to her and she did phone the police on him. They find out a little about each other and Kyra’s magik which Jadox calls Golden because her ability to manipulate fire which is extremely rare among the magic people. Kyra does end up speaking to Hallie who has joined the army to hunt down the witches as she thinks they are responsible for the disappearance of her son which is technically true but it is Kyra who made the wish. Kyra agrees to join her sister even though it would most likely get her arrested or killed when Jadox reveals that he was lying to her and Kyra flips out which happens to be her default mode.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, it turns out Jadox isn’t the only man left as other male Mystiers survived but not those half-breeds born between mystier and human. They are being hunted by Isaac Nilson, another Mystier who believes that Jadox is behind the men disappearing and blames him for the death of his wife and disappearance of his son. Alaska, Jadox’s sister helps them escape to Draven but Nilson demands Kyra before they leave and Jadox is wondering what he wants with Kyra. In Draven, Kyra meets Gemm who makes a prophecy that she must Link before the Luna Festival or Draven will cease to exist but Alaska doesn’t believe the prophecy and neither does Kyra but she is still curious because of the connection she feels with Jadox. Jadox tells Alaska to train Kyra to control her magik and she ends up telling Kyra that there are books in Vayu, Isaac’s village that might be able to help her get her nephew back before she meets with her sister but I don’t get good vibes from Alaska right now.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Kyra begins to learn more about Mystier society and why they stay hidden from the regular humans but there seems to be more than anyone is letting on right now. However, when Nilson attacks Draven looking for Kyra and planning to kill Jadox in the progress we soon learn that these myths and legends are very real and might play a big role in the series later on. During the encounter Kyra’s ruby is taken along with the Draven emerald which was thought to be lost which is not good. The human world is also changing with the lack of men since the President has issue a law giving women two options, enlist in the army or be required to become pregnant and neither option is something Kyra wants. Kyra has an advantage though since she has come into contact with one of the Mystier gods and understands better what they want but she needs to harness her own power and become stronger by Linking. Jadox develops on this as he knows the Mystiers will need an army of their own since the humans are killing any witch they capture and Linking with Kyra is the easiest way to strengthen them, but Linking has drawbacks that haven’t been fully explored since Linking outside of their own element was severely discouraged. There is a little adult content but nothing that I would classify as spicy yet but I can see the romance developing at quite a slow pace which I am enjoying.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Jadox and Kyra have only hours until the Luna Festival and Kyra will need to link with someone before dawn but she can’t stand being bound to any other man than Jadox so she chooses him and the pair link. It almost doesn’t go as planned because Kyra is so guarded and doesn’t let Jadox in but she eventually gives in. With their new power they realise someone is attacking and it’s Nilson who has come for Kyra but when he realises she has already linked he tries to kill Jadox but they protect each other. Nilson was also hunting for Kyra so what he was saying about Jadox not being the right man could be correct but I doubt it. Jadox is banished from Draven though because of it so the pair make their way towards Vayu for the spell book they need to bring the men back but Kyra has planned to meet Hallie nearby. Even though Kyra tries her best Hallie finds out that she and Jadox are both witches and denounces her own sister, even though they aren’t blood related and brings down the protection around Vayu. Kyra takes off knowing things are going to become really bad as she attempts to stop her sister from going on a rampage caused by the loss of her son.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Swindon is throwing twist after twist at us as Kyra realises that she likes Jay and doesn’t want to be separated from him leading to them getting it on for the first time. While this scene was particularly well written I got the author’s intent behind it but it did make me cringe a little. Afterwards, they are found by Isaac who threatens Jay’s life unless she brings back his son and she does manage to bring someone back but it is her nephew not Isaac’s son which leads to Hallie being shot mirroring the death of Jay’s own parents. Afterwards they are all locked up and left to die in freezing cells because Kyra won’t link with Isaac until the magical deity that tried to kill her earlier offers her a deal to save them and she accepts. However, they have to deal with Isaac and get both necklaces back from him and they have the human army bearing down on them as well since Hallie betrayed their location before Landon was brought back. Things aren’t even going well then since the deity turns up and snatches Landon meaning Jay and Kyra have to separate again since she is the only one who can handle the ruby without being burnt but Jay has to rescue her nephew. Kyra is teleported by Alaska to the likely place Isaac is hiding with the necklaces and this is about to go down but I don’t know how.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, the final showdown has some elements that I was expecting and some that I wasn’t which made it interesting but it did have some issues. The first was the pacing which at times felt really off like the story was moving way too fast and we didn’t get time to get to know the characters and get attached to them. The second was the smutty elements, initially it was pitched at 3 on the spicy scale and right now it is at a 1 which isn’t the issue I had. The issue was the spicier scenes were really poorly written and unless this gets better in the sequel it probably isn’t going to end up with a high rating overall as it really made me cringe. The scene between Kyra and Jay was meant to be super emotional since she finally let her walls down and it ended up coming across as a really quick romp with no build up or emotional impact. Overall, it had some decent elements and has room to grow since this is the first book in a trilogy so I have high expectation for Severed.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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