Shattered

Shattered by Mari Mancusi
Book 2 in the Scorched series. YA fantasy with dragons. Best read as part of the series. Two times lines. Cliffhanger.
Trinity, Connor, Caleb, Emmy, and Scarlet continue the adventure. One starting with an egg and a baby dragon. The second where their story is in the history books and the world has changed after dragons destroyed the world.
Caleb and Conner are still at odds. Trinity and Emmy keep trying to go the right thing and poor Scarlet is confused and being manipulated.

I like that the characters are “good” or trying to do the right thing. Kindness isn’t a bad thing. But it can give the other side a lot more leverage and opportunity. Plus they are young. Didn’t we all make stupid mistakes and choices in our teens?
So suspending reality, I enjoyed this suspenseful adventure and look forward to reading the final book in the trilogy.

🎧 I alternated between a paperback copy and an audiobook. The paperback helped with the time jumps and keeping the adventure straight. The audiobook is narrated by Mariam Volle. She has a great voice for the young adult format. She actually sounded a bit younger than the teens in the book but that may have been partially since I listened to the book at 1.4 speed to be closer to a comfortable talking rate for me. Voice variations and emotions were clear and distinct.

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Disappointed with the Narration

If you could sum up Shattered in three words, what would they be?

Action, Mystery, Intrigue!

What did you like best about this story?

Scorched is a great story, with plenty of action, mystery, and emotional connections to the characters to keep me interested.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I don't know where to start. I'm an adult and I enjoy dragon stories and other young adult fantasy sometimes. However, I felt like the narrator's voice came across as far too young for this story. She tried really hard, but this book includes many adult voices, as well as teenagers, and many accents, from southern, to Irish and she just couldn't handle it. All the voices sound the same- like a 10 year old girl. When she voices the adults, she does not express their emotions in a believable way. She sounds like a child, pretending to be an adult. There are a few drunken men and her attempt to speak for them was ridiculous. I was so disturbed by her voicing, I actually looked her up, to see how old she is and was really surprised to learn that she is in fact, an adult. Why did she voice adults in the story with such a childish voice? Is that all she can do? Unfortunately, this was a real distraction for me. I wish I had not purchased the audible version, and had just read the book myself. I will definitely read the third book in the Scorched series, but never, will I ever purchase any Audiobooks voiced by Miriam Volle again.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

It was a very precious moment when Emmy is in the motel room, facing the wall sadly and Trinity finally comes to her and they are able to reconcile.

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Narrative is a downfall

I have read the first book in the series and know the characters as young adults. I was excited to find the second series as a narrative but when I heard the voices the Narrator was making for the characters I was totally confused what I knew to be young adults sounded like children. Actually it left me wit a vision of the Rugrats cartoon characters playing make believe dragon.
I love the story line but should have been more selective in the narrative.

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First one is better

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Do away with the flash backs. The decisions were bad for teenagers. Letting dragon get caught while they still had a chance in the open with TV cameras as well. It just didn't make any sense.

What was most disappointing about Mari Mancusi’s story?

That the decisions were bad and the choices the main character made were just plain bad. To let her bond get torn away by a guy she just met. to let her Dragon be taken by the bad guys. She had already made up her mind to put the dragon first but when it counted she acted as if it just happen and she's acting dumb make a decisions to let Conner kill Emmy is completely stupid.

How could the performance have been better?

A better reader that made more sense or a more believable reader. Taking the truck and running into the other one.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It moved the story because I knew they would have to fight the bad guys but with all the self sacrificing. and self loathing is just not what a teenagers do.

Any additional comments?

I hop the last book makes more sense. I hope Conner shows more redeeming qualities cause all he seems to be is a killer or labeled a killer. But he just wont seem to kill a bad guy at the least possible times.

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1 person found this helpful