Customer Reviews

Scorched: The Dark Forgotten

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I recently read Ravenous, the first in The Dark Forgotten series and fell in love with the world Sharon Ashwood created and the delicious vampire, Alessandro and his mate and witch, Holly. During Ravenous, Mac is turned into a demon, and the repercussions of that carry over to Scorched, although this can be read as a stand alone.

Scorched starts off a year later - Mac, although not a full force demon, still has lingering side effects and is definitely not human. Alessandro, a vampire who patrols the town they live in, finally finds Mac. He sees him as a threat, and wants him dead. Mac pleads his case - his creator is now dead and all Mac wants is his life back, but Alessandro won't hear of it. He captures Mac and listening to the pleas of Holly (who has Alessandro wrapped around her finger) he spares Mac's life and throws him into The Castle - a prison of sorts for the supernatural.The Castle has been around for thousands of years, some of its occupants in there for that long as well. It is a maze of corridors. No one knows how big it is and it has a magic of its own. It is also failing, sections of it disappearing. Mac was in there a year ago and pure dread encompasses him when he finds himself in there again. Soon after he enters, he meets Constance, a vampire who was thrown in the castle the moment she was turned. She has never drank blood, so her turning process is not complete. Her adopted son, a demon incubus, was recently kidnapped by the guardsmen, thinking he is too dangerous to be out. She is desperate to get him back. Mac was a police officer in his former life and knows something about finding missing people. That, coupled with an attraction to Constance has him finding a purpose in his life once again. Many surprises await both Constance and Mac, and Alessandro and Holly find themselves involved in another fight for their lives.

I have a hard time rating Scorched. When I finished reading and logged it into Goodreads, I gave it three stars but I really need to break up my rating. My biggest complaint is that I didn't buy the romance between Mac and Constance. If I could pluck the romance out of this book, it would be hard for me to find anything else I didn't like! I loved the paranormal action throughout and thought the continuation of Alessandro and Holly was great. I even loved Mac in his demon form. I just didn't like how Mac and Constance start up and I didn't feel a spark as they continued.

When they first meet, Constance's son has been kidnapped by Castle guards and she is desperate to get him back. Mac has been thrown back into the castle by Alessandro and is panicked to find a way out. He is still reeling from the effects of being a demon for a year, even though his craving of eating people has subsided. Within in moments of being introduced, they are embracing. In Ravenous, Mac turned into a demon because he was tricked into kissing a girl. Yes, it has been a year since he was turned and I am sure he has - needs - but I would think he would be more cautious with his kisses.

Constance on the other hand - she needs to finish turning into a vampire so she can be strong enough to rescue her son. She picks Mac for her first "meal." So instead of biting him and getting it over with, she ends up kissing him and having lustful feelings. So, their first encounter to me didn't flow. And then they had this attraction that I just didn't see stemming from anything and throughout the book it just fell flat for me.

The Castle is the main attraction in this book and it is amazing! I love that in the world Sharon Ashwood has created, supernaturals are known to the public. Yet there is this Castle or epic proportions hidden from the world. It is accessed only from a portal, and most don't know about it. Their are guardsmen, those brutal, ruthless men that have been forced into service, hellhounds, and many other magical creatures all in this weird, dimensional place that has portals and maze after maze. Here we meet Reynard, a guardsman with a conscience, and Lore, a hellhound that is the occasional ally of both Alessandro and Mac. The Castle is such a unique entity and I really love how it has taken on a life of its own.

Another great character is Ashe, Holly's sister. She is a vampire hunter, and guess who she hates with a passion? Alessandro. Let me tell you, she doesn't give up. Even when Holly pleads with her to give Alessandro a chance, she can't. The fighting between them is really something great.

I also love the one-liners coming out of all the characters mouths. Some of the best sarcastic humor to be found in both Ravenous and Scorched.

Scorched delivers in all of the paranormal aspects. The romance didn't do it for me, but the uniqueness of the world, and the vibrant characters were enough to carry the story.

In Sharon Ashwood's previous book, Ravenous: The Dark Forgotten, Detective Conall Macmillan ended up losing his job, most of his soul, definitely his dignity and we weren't sure, but perhaps his life. All this happens because of Macmillan's particularly nasty lover-- literally a demon lover. This book, Scorched, picks up with Macmillan taking stock of what's left of his friends and home. And particularly what is he going to do next. It doesn't take him long before trouble finds him again in the form of a lovely, innocent, but certainly not helpless vampire who needs help in rescuing her son. Mac finds himself in the Castle, a supernatural prison, once again. There he not only faces a powerful foe but finds out a dark and dangerous secret about himself.

I really enjoyed the character of Mac. He is a fun, down to earth, and definitely not without appeal on the heroic front. The heroine, Constance, is believable, innocent but not without self awareness and strength. These two characters do as those of a good book should -- grow and evolve as they complete their adventures, but in the end you can still see them together. I was struck again by Ashwood's ability to create an excellent, smooth and sustainable plot. A great book to loose yourself in by the fireside!

I read Ravenous before I started reviewing, so I didn't do a review for it. Do you need to read it before this book? No, I don't think you do. You could if you would like to get just a little bit more idea of the background but I don't think it is needed to get into this story.

Mac returns to Fairview a year after the big show-down, which killed the female demon who made him the demon he is now - or what is left after Holly Carvers' spell that left him strong as his demon and very hungry but not able to eat human souls. Alessandro Caravelli has been waiting Macs return... to kill him, as punishment for his involvement with the demons against all other supernatural creatures trying to live peacefully with the humans and against the humans as well.

Alessandro seems to have softened some with living off his love with Holly now as apposed to feeding on blood, and puts Mac in the Castle - a supernatural prison. In the Castle Mac learns more of the Castle and its inhabitants along with finding a case that calls to his human nature. The Castle itself is in danger of failing. I start to feel for Mac in this book. He is just an innocent man who got mixed up with the wrong girl in the last book and now has to suffer as an unwanted demon. But Mac starts to find his way.

There is not as much in this book with Holly and Alessandro. These two are a wonderful couple (witch and vampire) and I really started loving them in Ravenous. You do get to meet Ashe, Hollys' sister. Now, you thought you had it bad with the in-laws? Try being Alessandro, living with probably the most powerful witch to live from a family of witches and her sister... being a vampire slayer.

I really enjoyed the tremendous amount of possible angles to the storyline here in the beginning. There was a good bit thought to happen with five great characters storylines. I really enjoyed getting all the different views in the beginning. Then, getting into the book it seemed to slow down in the storyline for me. It seemed that Holly, Alessandro, and Ashe got put on the back burner with Mac and Constance being the front line of the story. Which I loved learning about this couple, but I would have liked more from the others.

It was also given that the Castle is a very dangerous place, but I was expecting more from the Castle than I got. Then I got to the last seventy to eighty pages and the story picked up wonderfully again. I got here what I wanted from the Castle and got to have my favorite characters in the action as well.

The couple Mac and Constance was hard for me to accept at first with the way they got together. It seemed a little rushed or pushed, but by the end of the book they were perfect together.

In the end of the book I loved all the characters and all seems great... for a time. There is an opening to go into a book three. I will pick up book three because I have liked these characters again and the author has left me with hope for book three to have great possibilities.

I recommend your read the previous book Ravenous, before reading this book. I categorize this book and series as a romantic urban fantasy. At first I thought this installment was going the way of romance but I couldn't have been more wrong.

While this installment does mirror romance on the level that it has certain main characters and they each get their own turn during each installment for love. Also, as with most romances, the story was pretty predictable and in addition, the person in place to be Mac's love interest was obvious as well. That being said, the author did a great job of hybridizing the different formats and elements from both urban fantasy and paranormal romance.

The story picks up a year from where Ravenous leaves off. Detective Connall Macmillian has been struggling to recover from his date and mistress from hell! No one likes to contract an infection on their first date; however, one year ago, Mac's date intentionally infected him with the essence of a soul-eating demon. Suddenly his life went from being on the job and being of service to the community and enjoying life, to suddenly getting the craving for sucking out human life. Fast forward one year later, Mac is a wanted demon possessed criminal on the lam. Unfortunately for Mac, Alessandro Caravelli, the sheriff of the supernatural community has finally caught up with him and dumps him in the Castle. The Castle is a prison for the supernatural community. It houses/incarcerates the world's worst supernatural beings and over time has become the worlds dark forgotten. To Mac the Castle is a death sentence, until he realizes his luck has finally changed, because he meets and falls in love with Constance. Constance is a vampire who is also incarcerated at the Castle, whose incubus son has been kidnapped by the guards of the castle for their own nefarious reasons. Seeing Constance in such distress gives Mac a reason to be needed again. He finally sees that being half demon isn't a curse but can be a blessing if he uses his new talents to service others.

In this dark world that Sharon has created, magic exist and loads of supernaturals have come out of the closet to the public. As with all things different, human beings in all their predictable glory allow the supernatural community to attempt to assimilate into human society but only as second class citizens.

I judged this book solely on its entertainment factor alone. I completely enjoyed it and it kept me thoroughly engrossed from beginning to end. There were plenty of parts in this book that were just laugh-out-loud funny! I highly recommend this book to fellow dark urban readers and look forward to the next book Unchained due out 7/6/2010.

I also recommend:
Tainted (THE BLOOD LILY CHRONICLES)
Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 1)
Bad Blood (Crimson Moon, Book 1)
They Call Me Death
A Rush of Wings: Book One of The Maker's Song

Former detective Connall "Mac" Macmillan honestly can say he was on the date from hell; in fact it went so bad he was turned into a demon. He prays all the time to regain his humanity and being able to destroy Geneva the demon was a large step at regaining what he lost.

However Alessandro Caravelli the vampire distrusts the demi-demon so incarcerates him in the Castle, a prison with magical bars. For centuries Constance the vampire has resided at the Castle where she served Atreus the sorcerer who recently has gone insane. When the guards kidnap her adopted son, she pleads with Mac to find and rescue him. Unable to resist her, Mac investigates inside the prison he reluctantly with no choice calls home, but he begins to find clues that something is not right at the Castle and unless rectified many will die.

The second Dark Forgotten urban fantasy is a terrific thriller as Mac goes from the bad that happened to him in Ravenous to the ugly of being Scorched in a magical prison. The key to this super tale is his investigation inside the realm of magic as fans will want to join his escapades. Sharon Ashwood provides a super saga leaving the audience what next will befall Mac.

Harriet Klausner

I didn't really remember the previous book, Ravenous, too well when I picked up Scorched. Which was initially at a bit of a disadvantage, since the leading man Mac appeared in the last book - Mac was the cop who had been turned into a flesh craving demon but who was saved to some extent by a spell which leashed his demon.

Mac is really quite appealing in this book. Mac's lost everything but is still very heroic, and despite his struggle with his inner demon Mac is still by nature a protector. Which is fortunate since his heroine, Constance, a partially turned vamp who initially wants Mac for his blood - she needs her full powers in order to save her imprisoned foster son - instead gets Mac for a champion.

Scorched was interesting, but unexpected for two reasons. First, since a great deal of the story takes place in The Castle, a prison for supernaturals which lies outside of our world, most of the book had a more fantasy feel. And second, for some reason I thought this series was urban fantasy, not paranormal romance, so I was surprise that the leads from the first book, Alessandro and Holly, weren't the main focus of this story too.

Despite my expectations, I liked Scorched though and I probably would have like the book even more if I had read the first book more recently, because it took me a bit to come back up to speed on the characters and the world. Still, once I read enough to jog my memory I liked Mac's story and was able to enjoy the cameo of Holly and Alessandro as they try to deal with Holly's vampire hunting sister who shows up and plans to stake Alessandro.

But there is one upside to having waited so long to read Scorched, I already have Unchained in hand and I am totally up to speed and ready to see Holly's sister, Ashe, take the lead.

This book is the second in the Dark Forgotten series. This book features Mac, an ex-detective featured previously in Ravenous. He was kissed by Geneva, a demon and turned into a demon who craves human flesh. This book is mainly from his point of view. Holly and Alessandro from Ravenous are secondary characters. Mac is now half-human again, thanks to Holly, a witch, who blasted Geneva with a spell that knocked Mac into the Castle at the end of the first book. The Castle is a strange place where supernaturals are kept as prisoners. It has many halls, rooms, guardsmen and non-human residents. The residents of the Castle range from vampires, to sorcerers to dragons. Mac meets Constance, "Connie" a not fully Turned vampire. Connie's son, an incubus, has been kidnapped and asks Mac for his help in finding her son. Mac is kissing Connie barely before he knows anything about her. For the most part, I enjoyed the book, but I did not care for the romance. It smacked of big bad horny demon meets young, seventeen year old looking virgin who has little experience with men. Although Connie is hundreds of years old, she is repeatedly referred to as seventeen years old looking. I prefer urban fantasy to have a lot of action and a little romance with one hot sex scene. There was too much older tough demon looking out for young looking, inexperienced woman for my taste. But once you got past that, it was an entertaining book. We are introduced to a new character, Ashe, Holly's sister, who is going to be a very interesting character to read about in the next book.

All in all, it was a good book and I will read the next in the series.

Mac is still coping with his stint as a demon. Although he is mostly human, he was hunted for his past transgressions, caught, and thrown into the supernatural prison: the Castle.

Several hundred years ago, Constance was half-turned into vampire and became trapped in the Castle. She has raised an incubus, a hot commodity in the Castle. When he is taken from her, she is desperate to finish her transition into a full vampire and to get her son back.

Upon meeting Mac, Constance realized that Mac may be the answer to her problems. But, his demon side might be too much for either of them to handle.

Although he was the bad guy in the first book, I loved Mac. He is such a manly man and has a lot of integrity, even though he is part demon. His relationship with Constance was strange at times, but sweet since he took really good care of her. But, Constance seemed at odds with herself where she was both strong and weak. I couldn't decide if I liked her or not.

I enjoyed the continuation of Holly and Alessandro's story from Ravenous. Their part of the story was not the main focus, but they did play a pivotal role in this book. Even though I liked these parts, I felt sometimes they took away from the main storyline and slowed the book pacing.

In general, I found the pacing very slow. Maybe since the story was told in several perspectives, the plot seemed to creep along. Possibly there was too much setup. I'm not sure what would have made the pacing better, but it took me almost a week to read this book because I lacked the need to finish it.

Scorched is pretty good. Like I said, Mac sold the story for me and I hope he makes an appearance in future installments.

BookingIt Grade: B-

'Scorched' follows on from 'Ravenous' in that there are characters who feature in both books, but it also works as a story on its own, and is somewhat different in feel to the previous book.

In 'Ravenous' we met Conall Macmillan, a former detective who became possessed by a demon and was in thrall to a witch (who was defeated in the book). Now in 'Scorched' Conall ('Mac') is free of the witch but can't go back to his previous life as he is still part-demon. When Alessandro Caravelli, vampire hero of the previous book, comes across him he should technically kill him but instead exiles him to 'The Castle', a strange place where various magical creatures live.

Mac is able to get out of The Castle but not before he stumbles across an intriguing young woman, Constance. She is in trouble as her adoptive son is in danger and the Castle itself seems to be crumbling. Mac finds himself driven to help Constance and to try to overcome his demon side.

I enjoyed reading this book, it kept my attention and the switching between scenes in the Castle (necessarily bizarre) and in the real world worked well. We didn't see too much of Caravelli and Holly, the hero and heroine of the previous book, but they did play a part in this story. Characterisation was reasonable for Mac but I didn't quite get my head around Constance and wasn't entirely sure what he saw in her. I like the world of The Castle and its confusing nature although I felt that the big scenes of battles in the Castle towards the end of the book didn't always work. Still it wasn't a bad read and it's not as formulaic as many stories in this genre.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2010

Conall "Mac" Macmillian is determined to prove that he's no longer cursed to be a demon. With the death of the demon Geneva, all of Mac's powers as a demon should have been eliminated. Mac senses something is still awry and unfortunately so does vampire, Alessandro Caravelli. Mac's escape attempt leads him back to the dreaded Castle, a prison for the supernatural. This time, however, he encounters the vampire, Constance, and is drawn into her mission to free her kidnapped son. Will Mac be able to solve this case? And what will it cost him in the process?

Sharon Ashwood's follow up to the awesome book, RAVENOUS, is yet another stunning hit from this fabulous author! SCORCHED picks up where RAVENOUS ends and I would highly suggest you read RAVENOUS first in order to truly appreciate Mac's quest to regain his humanity. Sharon Ashwood does an excellent job both at building her world and at developing her characters and it would be a shame to miss some of the nuances by not having read both books.

I didn't think Sharon Ashwood could top RAVENOUS as it was one of my top reads of the year. Thankfully, I can say that Sharon Ashwood succeeded at adding more twists and turns to her already fascinating world while creating characters one couldn't help but love. Mac's plight is heartbreaking as he's lost everything thanks to Geneva's mad pursuit of power. Constance is a welcome balm to his soul, a woman who is innocent and yet not weak by any means. In fact, Constance has a warrior's heart, particularly when her adopted son is at risk. The chance for a happily-ever-after seems almost impossible for these two and yet Sharon Ashwood finds the perfect balance to make it work.

SCORCHED is yet another must-read from Sharon Ashwood. With this second book in the series, she has solidified herself as one of my new favorite authors of the genre. The unique flavor of her books makes them stand out while the characters have captured my heart. I only hope we'll see more of the hellhounds in the future as I'd love to see a story featuring them. Highly recommended!

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES