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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
Wow! This read was a real fun ride! A very grown-up superhero story with a hell of a pace, well drawn characters and fantastic, punchy dialogue.
Verity Fortune is my spirit animal. Need to get my hands on Scarred, pronto.
Verity Fortune is my spirit animal. Need to get my hands on Scarred, pronto.
Scorched is an Urban Fantasy, that centers on the whole Good vs Evil plot line, however when everyone wears a mask, how do you know who is good and who is evil.
We meet Verity in a mental Institution undergoing test/torture treatment, After she manages to escape she goes to her family for help where she finds that nothing is like she remembers. Her father who owns a multimillionaire dollar company, is dead and in his place her uptight sister is now head of the company and running for Mayor. Their company however is just a front for their hidden talents, they are a crime fighting family, who wear costumes and keep their town safe.
Since Verity has been missing, Law and order has gone down the drain, with the Super Villains Razor fire and the Gallery taking over and making everyone’s life hell. Verity can’t just sit and watch everything her family has worked for go to hell so she decides to go against her family and go after the villains.
At the beginning of Scorched I felt a bit lost it was like I was picking up the second book of the series, as it just jumps straight into the story, after I worked out what was going on I was hooked, Verity has no Idea who she can trust after someone betrays her and lets the hospital know where she is after she goes to her family for help. Verity has nothing, the clothes on her back no money nowhere to go but she can’t stay with her family where it is not safe.
I love how it is not a straight up and down Good Vs Evil fight, that it shows just what humans are capable of and that anyone can be hiding a bad side. Scorched really kept me in suspense because even though you think the plot would be predictable it really isn’t, It is enough to keep you turning page after page.
The secondary characters are just as dimensional as the main characters, I particularly liked Glimmer, her accomplice and friend/love interest, he is there for her when she can’t trust anyone and he wants to destroy Razor fire the bad guy just as bad as what Verity does. He helps her to discover who is the bad guys and who are the good guys.
Everyone has their own special powers, and as geeky as that sounds it is not like a comic book. I would compare it more to a show like Arrow where the heroes are not stuffy stuck up snobs and the bad guys are the ugly twisted creatures. Both good guys and bad guys are normal people with special powers, that also manage to hide themselves well to fit in with society. Scorched also has a more updated feel to it with the use of technology to track people and the use of weapons.
I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys watching Arrow or Lost girl, I am not sure about any books that it may compare to since I have never read ones like it. So if you have any recommendations let me know.
We meet Verity in a mental Institution undergoing test/torture treatment, After she manages to escape she goes to her family for help where she finds that nothing is like she remembers. Her father who owns a multimillionaire dollar company, is dead and in his place her uptight sister is now head of the company and running for Mayor. Their company however is just a front for their hidden talents, they are a crime fighting family, who wear costumes and keep their town safe.
Since Verity has been missing, Law and order has gone down the drain, with the Super Villains Razor fire and the Gallery taking over and making everyone’s life hell. Verity can’t just sit and watch everything her family has worked for go to hell so she decides to go against her family and go after the villains.
At the beginning of Scorched I felt a bit lost it was like I was picking up the second book of the series, as it just jumps straight into the story, after I worked out what was going on I was hooked, Verity has no Idea who she can trust after someone betrays her and lets the hospital know where she is after she goes to her family for help. Verity has nothing, the clothes on her back no money nowhere to go but she can’t stay with her family where it is not safe.
I love how it is not a straight up and down Good Vs Evil fight, that it shows just what humans are capable of and that anyone can be hiding a bad side. Scorched really kept me in suspense because even though you think the plot would be predictable it really isn’t, It is enough to keep you turning page after page.
The secondary characters are just as dimensional as the main characters, I particularly liked Glimmer, her accomplice and friend/love interest, he is there for her when she can’t trust anyone and he wants to destroy Razor fire the bad guy just as bad as what Verity does. He helps her to discover who is the bad guys and who are the good guys.
Everyone has their own special powers, and as geeky as that sounds it is not like a comic book. I would compare it more to a show like Arrow where the heroes are not stuffy stuck up snobs and the bad guys are the ugly twisted creatures. Both good guys and bad guys are normal people with special powers, that also manage to hide themselves well to fit in with society. Scorched also has a more updated feel to it with the use of technology to track people and the use of weapons.
I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys watching Arrow or Lost girl, I am not sure about any books that it may compare to since I have never read ones like it. So if you have any recommendations let me know.
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5, rounded up for GR. This was a fun, quick bit of book candy, like reading a cross between a superhero comic book and old timey pulp fiction detective novel. It's got a straightforward story with a decent twist at the end, enough for me to want to read the sequel.
Superherogeekaliciousextrabadassocious!
This was about as much nerdy super fun as you could squeeze into a single book, and a delightful read from start to finish. Hayes did a truly wonderful job of creating the superhero metropolis vibe, complete with smarmy politicians, secret identities, public showdowns, the lot. For comparison, I'd say it was very Batman-esque; especially with the added element of a crime-fighting duo of awesomeness that is Glimmer and Seeker. I hope to see a lot more of those two in the next book now that everybody knows what's what and who's who, because we've only just scratched the surface of that fascinating relationship dynamic, I'm sure.
Seeker - Verity Fortune - was an incredibly enjoyable lead with as much mystery surrounding her as anyone else since she has spotty memories at best of what happened right before she was captured and tortured for months. As the flashbacks increase and the puzzle pieces reveal themselves, a very shocking picture starts to emerge, and Verity finds the only person she can really trust is herself - and maybe not even that. The only character who even comes close to gaining her confidence is Glimmer - Mr. Save The World. I don't know much about him yet, but what I do know only makes me want to know more, and I'm definitely keen for any hint of romance from that corner the author wants to throw my way.
Scorched is the first of a new series, although I struggled to find a name for said series in any of the usual places online, or any news about book two, but all I'll say is there better be one! I'll certainly be checking Hayes' website for more info, and I suggest you join me in my stalker-like ways.
In short, if you like superheroes in all their glittery glory, complex heroes and sympathetic villains, then definitely check this book out! 4 Stars! ★★★★
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This was about as much nerdy super fun as you could squeeze into a single book, and a delightful read from start to finish. Hayes did a truly wonderful job of creating the superhero metropolis vibe, complete with smarmy politicians, secret identities, public showdowns, the lot. For comparison, I'd say it was very Batman-esque; especially with the added element of a crime-fighting duo of awesomeness that is Glimmer and Seeker. I hope to see a lot more of those two in the next book now that everybody knows what's what and who's who, because we've only just scratched the surface of that fascinating relationship dynamic, I'm sure.
Seeker - Verity Fortune - was an incredibly enjoyable lead with as much mystery surrounding her as anyone else since she has spotty memories at best of what happened right before she was captured and tortured for months. As the flashbacks increase and the puzzle pieces reveal themselves, a very shocking picture starts to emerge, and Verity finds the only person she can really trust is herself - and maybe not even that. The only character who even comes close to gaining her confidence is Glimmer - Mr. Save The World. I don't know much about him yet, but what I do know only makes me want to know more, and I'm definitely keen for any hint of romance from that corner the author wants to throw my way.
Scorched is the first of a new series, although I struggled to find a name for said series in any of the usual places online, or any news about book two, but all I'll say is there better be one! I'll certainly be checking Hayes' website for more info, and I suggest you join me in my stalker-like ways.
In short, if you like superheroes in all their glittery glory, complex heroes and sympathetic villains, then definitely check this book out! 4 Stars! ★★★★
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
SCORCHED by Erica Hayes: wherein a young woman by the name of Verity Fortune is a telekinetic Batgirl in a city with a rogues’ gallery to rival Gotham’s. Appropriately nicknamed the Gallery – part mafia, part supervillain cabal – its members wage a never-ending war against the ‘augmented’ Fortunes, who run the multinational Fortune Corp by day, and masquerade at night in various superhero guises. It’s Verity who gives this novel its Christopher Nolan-esque grit right from the start, after she escapes an asylum where she was held and tortured for nine months, with a shattered memory and little control over her powers.
Read the rest of this review on All Things Urban Fantasy.
Read the rest of this review on All Things Urban Fantasy.
3.5 Stars
One of my favorite types of heroines, are those you can relate to. The ones that aren't all that extra ordinary on the outside but instead are strong willed and strong minded people on the inside who you can root for and that is exactly what I got in Scorched. There are definitely superhero qualities but Verity doesn't start out as this epic hero in the beginning. We see her grow and flourish throughout the story which makes me love her all the more.
I loved that the story was unique and unpredictable. I never really knew what was going to happen next. There was a teany tiny bit of romance, enough to hold my interest without it overwhelming the story so I'm interested to see how that progresses. We had a well developed and multi layered villain and decent world building as well.
The flashbacks throughout the story had the tendency to get a bit muddled and confusing but overall we had a solid plot with unique characters and a story that was able to hold my attention fairly well. If you're looking for a new UF read thats more super hero than paranormal, this one is for you.
One of my favorite types of heroines, are those you can relate to. The ones that aren't all that extra ordinary on the outside but instead are strong willed and strong minded people on the inside who you can root for and that is exactly what I got in Scorched. There are definitely superhero qualities but Verity doesn't start out as this epic hero in the beginning. We see her grow and flourish throughout the story which makes me love her all the more.
I loved that the story was unique and unpredictable. I never really knew what was going to happen next. There was a teany tiny bit of romance, enough to hold my interest without it overwhelming the story so I'm interested to see how that progresses. We had a well developed and multi layered villain and decent world building as well.
The flashbacks throughout the story had the tendency to get a bit muddled and confusing but overall we had a solid plot with unique characters and a story that was able to hold my attention fairly well. If you're looking for a new UF read thats more super hero than paranormal, this one is for you.
Scorched is pretty much acquired taste- this is for those who love stories about superheroes and villains. Since I keep whining that I want to see more of superhero romances...this was right up my alley. :D
Now, I have to say that calling it romance is stretching- this is more UF, it's plot-focused and action packed.
The story opens with Verity Fortune running away from asylum where she was held against her will and her powers were contained. Verity is one of the augmented, she is a superhero Seeker with strong power of telekinesis.
Augmentation is genetic trait, so entire Fortune family is fighting secretly against organized group of villains called Gallery. But Verity soon realizes that she can't trust her own blood in her crusade against Razorfire who put her in asylum. Her only chance is teaming up with lonely hero, Glimmer.
There are few things I really liked about this novel:
1) heroine's age- she is 31! she is ass-kicking 31y old woman! I can't remember when I read this last time(if ever).
2) heroine is not pretty- She has burn scar on one side of her face, but it was mentioned she was plain looking before the accident.
3)Glimmer- Well, I guess Glimmer is a romantic interest, since Verity is attracted to him, but it was mentioned he is younger than her, so I think their dynamic is interesting. And Glimmer is great all around, I loved him.
4)Razorfire- Villain with delusion of greatness- I loved him! He is ridiculous- he is not just mean, he actually believes in shit he is promoting. :D
Biggest plot points were predictable to me, but it's one of those types of predictability where you think:"Oh, I guess this is going to happen and I hope it does, 'cause that would be awesome!" :)
so, I don't know if I should put that in my + or - column.
Things I didn't like:
1)heroine is not pretty- yes, the same thing I liked, I also disliked. The reason for it was that this seems to be something that heroine is agonizing over and over. You are ass-kicking hero! Who cares how ordinary you look!
Spoiler
It also sucks because it proved to be her demise, since she was swayed by male attention she is obviously not used to get.2)Verity's angst- conflicted feelings were a little over the top... She changed her priorities so many times...Every few chapters she was apologizing for something she did against agreement she made.
All in all, I had so much fun reading this and I hope we'll get to read more of books in this world- I am really interested to get more info on Verity's cousin Ebenazer!
Reminiscent of Carolyn crane's disillusionists series and the Justice series. Didn't bring anything new to the genre but was a good read.
DNF - Not the Super Hero Story I Wanted.
Trigger Warnings: This book has graphic, gory depictions of physical and psychological torture. There is a ton of ableist slurs in reference to mental illness. Some problematic portrayals of the main character’s mental state and a bit of internalized misogyny.
At first I was intrigued by this book. The opening of the story is dark and heavy on visceral horror, giving it a the gritty feel of a modern horror movie (like Hostel or Saw). Which puts it more into the Urban Fantasy genre, than Paranormal or Super Hero genres. This story is all about the ugly, dirty bits. Almost to the point that it felt like it kept wanting to shock me, over and over, which isn’t necessarily an issue. However, since I didn’t know any of the characters or stakes in the story it is in fact completely gratuitous. Where I should be given insight and empathy into who Verity is, I got what she is with no real depth.
Because of that, I couldn’t finish the book because I just didn’t care about any of the characters or the story. While I liked the super creepy feel of the opening the narrative lost all its nuanced charm once Verity got home to her brother, Adonis. Seriously, these are the actual names of the characters not super hero personas and that’s at once hilarious and deeply disappointing.
The already slow pace of the story regularly comes to a screeching halt for random pockets of info dumping. Worse, none of the information was all that interesting or original.
I can see where the idea for this story came from, and how the characters and set up took shape. My biggest problem, which I own as a personal preference and expectation of the Super Hero genre, is the story lacks the fundamental qualities of what super heroes/vignette crime fighters are and why I personally find them appealing . It’s a lot of themes and tropes of the genre piled into big mess of ideas that end up contradicting each other and making no sense.
Verity is part of a group of (pretty privileged) crime fighters who also have special powers that make them outsiders in society. So they hide in plain sight as super heroes? Rich, Of course they’re rich and in the public eye. OF COURSE!
Never mind that Verity never explains exactly why she is a crime fighter, nor does she actually you know FIGHT CRIME. It’s just the family business, along with a multimillion dollar corporation that does or makes what? I don’t know. Like crime fighting, I guess it isn’t an important detail.
Honestly, all of these things could have worked. I mean they’re all plucked directly from comic books and shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The difference between those stories and this book is they have enough world building to make all of wackiness believable. Scorched doesn’t really having any tangible world building.
It props up some cardboard thin, vaguely familiar settings and ideas around boring cliche characters that are equally underdeveloped. Which leaves the reader doing all the heavy lifting when it comes to buying into the world and characters. That’s a way too much work for any reader, much less an impatient one like me.
Maybe if I had stuck in there a little longer it would have all made sense. Maybe if I could have just slogged through all the boring overwrought descriptions and unnecessarily details descriptions of Verities mental trauma. Maybe there’s something amazing, buried in this story that would redeem it for me. But I’m never going to know because the lazy world building and slow pacing bored me to sleep before I could get to it.
Overall, I’m just so disappointed. I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn’t.
Trigger Warnings: This book has graphic, gory depictions of physical and psychological torture. There is a ton of ableist slurs in reference to mental illness. Some problematic portrayals of the main character’s mental state and a bit of internalized misogyny.
At first I was intrigued by this book. The opening of the story is dark and heavy on visceral horror, giving it a the gritty feel of a modern horror movie (like Hostel or Saw). Which puts it more into the Urban Fantasy genre, than Paranormal or Super Hero genres. This story is all about the ugly, dirty bits. Almost to the point that it felt like it kept wanting to shock me, over and over, which isn’t necessarily an issue. However, since I didn’t know any of the characters or stakes in the story it is in fact completely gratuitous. Where I should be given insight and empathy into who Verity is, I got what she is with no real depth.
Because of that, I couldn’t finish the book because I just didn’t care about any of the characters or the story. While I liked the super creepy feel of the opening the narrative lost all its nuanced charm once Verity got home to her brother, Adonis. Seriously, these are the actual names of the characters not super hero personas and that’s at once hilarious and deeply disappointing.
The already slow pace of the story regularly comes to a screeching halt for random pockets of info dumping. Worse, none of the information was all that interesting or original.
I can see where the idea for this story came from, and how the characters and set up took shape. My biggest problem, which I own as a personal preference and expectation of the Super Hero genre, is the story lacks the fundamental qualities of what super heroes/vignette crime fighters are and why I personally find them appealing . It’s a lot of themes and tropes of the genre piled into big mess of ideas that end up contradicting each other and making no sense.
Verity is part of a group of (pretty privileged) crime fighters who also have special powers that make them outsiders in society. So they hide in plain sight as super heroes? Rich, Of course they’re rich and in the public eye. OF COURSE!
Never mind that Verity never explains exactly why she is a crime fighter, nor does she actually you know FIGHT CRIME. It’s just the family business, along with a multimillion dollar corporation that does or makes what? I don’t know. Like crime fighting, I guess it isn’t an important detail.
Honestly, all of these things could have worked. I mean they’re all plucked directly from comic books and shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The difference between those stories and this book is they have enough world building to make all of wackiness believable. Scorched doesn’t really having any tangible world building.
It props up some cardboard thin, vaguely familiar settings and ideas around boring cliche characters that are equally underdeveloped. Which leaves the reader doing all the heavy lifting when it comes to buying into the world and characters. That’s a way too much work for any reader, much less an impatient one like me.
Maybe if I had stuck in there a little longer it would have all made sense. Maybe if I could have just slogged through all the boring overwrought descriptions and unnecessarily details descriptions of Verities mental trauma. Maybe there’s something amazing, buried in this story that would redeem it for me. But I’m never going to know because the lazy world building and slow pacing bored me to sleep before I could get to it.
Overall, I’m just so disappointed. I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn’t.
Verity Fortune aka The Seeker escapes from a torturous mental asylum to find her life in ruins and her family of super=heroes set to appease the city's greatest super-villain rather than fight him.
Verity soon hooks up with the only other super-hero currently fighting the good fight, but she's far from well. She keeps having seriously disruptive flashbacks to the events that put her in the asylum, and her memory of them is patchy at best. Meanwhile her family is actively hostile towards her while pulling a political agenda that would see the city try to appease Razorfire and his villainous Gallery.
There are pros and cons here. Pros would definitely be the idea of an unreliable narrator as a superhero. Verity is seriously messed up, and by the mid-point of this book, you're left wondering if she was in the asylum for very good reasons. (Her treatment there is never explained though, one of the more egregious of this book's dangling plot threads). Another pro is the ongoing dialogue around the rights of people to act as super-heroes while causing collateral property damage and injury or death.
The cons include a level of difficulty in the story that isn't matched by the level of skill of the writer. The unreliable narrator thing is great. Having that narrator have the emotional stability of a toddler on red cordial is not. Yes, she's been traumatized, both with the death of her father and the circumstances around that, and then by a torturous stint on an asylum, but there is no subtlety here at all. She's either competent or falling apart. Also the villain Razorfire makes very little sense at all and there's no hint of his end-game.
Finally, a warning and another con, this is not a complete book. The story is not even slightly resolved here and if you want any form of closure to the Fortunes and Razorfire in Sapphire City you'll need to read at least the next book (and the blurb doesn't sound promising about closure).
Verity soon hooks up with the only other super-hero currently fighting the good fight, but she's far from well. She keeps having seriously disruptive flashbacks to the events that put her in the asylum, and her memory of them is patchy at best. Meanwhile her family is actively hostile towards her while pulling a political agenda that would see the city try to appease Razorfire and his villainous Gallery.
There are pros and cons here. Pros would definitely be the idea of an unreliable narrator as a superhero. Verity is seriously messed up, and by the mid-point of this book, you're left wondering if she was in the asylum for very good reasons. (Her treatment there is never explained though, one of the more egregious of this book's dangling plot threads). Another pro is the ongoing dialogue around the rights of people to act as super-heroes while causing collateral property damage and injury or death.
The cons include a level of difficulty in the story that isn't matched by the level of skill of the writer. The unreliable narrator thing is great. Having that narrator have the emotional stability of a toddler on red cordial is not. Yes, she's been traumatized, both with the death of her father and the circumstances around that, and then by a torturous stint on an asylum, but there is no subtlety here at all. She's either competent or falling apart. Also the villain Razorfire makes very little sense at all and there's no hint of his end-game.
Finally, a warning and another con, this is not a complete book. The story is not even slightly resolved here and if you want any form of closure to the Fortunes and Razorfire in Sapphire City you'll need to read at least the next book (and the blurb doesn't sound promising about closure).