Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for SCORCHED being hosted by Sourcebooks Fire! Today I have an interview with the author to share with you and my review of the book!
Scorched (Scorched #1)
Author: Mari Mancusi
Genre: YA Fantasy/Science Fiction
Release Date: September 3, 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Description:
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.
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.
1. If you could sum up Scorched in one sentence, what would you say?
Scorched is like Terminator but with dragons.
2. What was your inspiration for writing Scorched?
I had just finished an eight book vampire series and wanted to write about something new. I’ve always had a fondness for dragons—ever since I was a child—and thought it would be pretty great to get paid to write about them. But I didn’t want to write a pure fantasy novel—I felt like that had been done a million times before. I wanted to bring my dragons into the present day. What would happen if a dragon egg was unearthed by a glacier due to global warming? How would people react to having dragons back in the world?
3. Do you have to do any special research for the book?
I did a lot of research into time travel, specifically time travel paradoxes and how to avoid them. I started by looking at a lot of movies and soon realized Hollywood doesn’t really care if the time travel makes sense. And maybe that’s okay—if people are along for the ride. But I really wanted to at least try to make it plausible—that there was a sense of logic behind the time travel. And that took some research. (And a lot of diagrams of alternate time lines.)
4. Are any of the characters based off of people you know?
I’d never admit it if they were, ha ha! But no, this book and its characters come purely from my imagination. Trinity is a gamer like me, but that’s pretty much where our similarities end.
5. How did you become a writer? Was there a person or situation that prompted you to start writing?
I’ve always written. Before I could even pick up a pen, I would dictate stories for my mom to transcribe. When I was in high school I used to spend class time writing stories for my friends that starred them and the rock stars who loved them. But it wasn’t until my dot.com company went bust and I was suddenly unemployed that I had time to actually sit down and try to write an entire book. So that was a fortunate misfortune there!
6. What tips do you have for aspiring writers?
Write every day. Make time for writing—make it a priority. Don’t be embarrassed
or make excuses that you’re, “Not very good.” Don’t put your work down or disparage it to others. Own it, love it, live it. When you start acting like a writer, you’ll start feeling like a writer. And that will make a difference in the actual writing. Also, start learning how to live with criticism and rejection. If you can’t take that then you’re going to have a very hard time in this business!
Thanks for stopping by the blog and chatting with us today Mari!
Scorched is a young adult fantasy novel that begins a new series featuring our leading lady - Trinity - and twin brothers Connor and Caleb - and the dragon that connects them all. It all starts for Trinity when her grandfather tells her stories about a dragon egg being hidden somewhere in their small Texas town. Trinity doesn't believe him, of course, until the day she begins to hear a voice inside her head - a voice that isn't her own. This voice is begging Trinity to find it and protect it with everything she has. Enter in Connor and Caleb - twin brothers who have traveled from the future where dragons are commonplace and have all but ruined the world. Connor wants only two things: Find the girl and destroy the egg. His brother, however, is his opposite and wants to save the dragon his brother is bent on destroying. Trinity must come to terms that dragons do exist, that one is speaking to her, and the future depends on her actions. On top of that, she has to figure out which brother to believe - or if she can really trust the voice of the dragon inside of her mind.
I haven't read any books containing dragons before, so this was a great first for me. I loved the whole aspect of dragons being real - although it was a bit hard to accept that they would be real in our world. In a different world or a different time - no problem. But a dragon egg hidden in a small Texas town was a bit hard to digest at first. After I got used to the idea, the story had me hooked until the last page. Trinity is a great main character - she's smart, brave, and does what she believes is the right thing. Connor and Caleb were really fun and interesting secondary characters and I enjoyed how they interacted with each other and with Trinity throughout the novel. The plot was exciting and full of action, adventure, and fantasy. I loved learning about the future that twins came from - it was almost a dystopian world and was really intriguing to read about. I'm hoping we'll get to experience more of that world in the books to come in the series. The writing itself was exceptional - very fast paced with tons of vivid imagery and descriptions that had me easily imagining myself alongside the characters throughout the book. Being my first real dragon fiction, I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed it and how it surpassed any expectations I had for it. I'm definitely awaiting the the next installment to see what will happen next. Highly recommended for fans of YA science fiction and fantasy.
Wow, Steph, this whole dragon idea looks amazing
ReplyDeleteI am definitely adding this to my TBR
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