I received this book via the author, Scarlett Dawn. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.
Trigger by Scarlett Dawn Series: Origin #1
Published by Self Publish on 2017-03-21
Length: 218 pages
Reviewing eARC Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2017 Dystopia Reading Challenge, 2017 New Release Challenge
New York Times bestselling author, Scarlett Dawn, has created a fresh and magical new adventure for romance and paranormal lovers alike. Shifters rule the world through corporations after the humans all but destroyed Earth. It's too bad humans are still oblivious. They have no clue terrifying beasts run their broken world.
And then along came a human. A beautiful and klutzy human.
She's the trigger the shifters have been waiting for...
But beware of the soul-sucking darkness soon to follow.
I’m not gonna lie. I had high hopes for this book. Trigger by Scarlett Dawn is the first in a new dystopian series about shifters. I adore dystopians and the idea of making a dystopian world where shifters are the rulers was intriguing to say the least. The fact that I have so far loved everything I’ve read by the author also raised my stakes in this book. Unfortunately I was underwhelmed and had a hard time finishing the book as a result.
The story follows Poppy, the almost 25 year old daughter of the resistance leader. At the beginning of the book, she feels trapped. She has two options thanks to the government’s rules: marry and start popping out babies or join the Corporate army. Her father trained her to be a soldier and she’s darn good at it. She doesn’t want to marry, even though her father has already handpicked her soon to be husband. In a rash decision, she has a one-night stand and then makes herself disappear, joining the CA’s ranks.
The man she had her one-night stand with? Yeah that would be the man who rules the CA, her father’s enemy and now her boss. I like Godric, but he’s mysterious and kind of absent except for the booty calls. It makes it hard to get a good handle on him. I would have liked for him to be fleshed out more.
The saving grace of the book is Poppy’s training and boot camp like entrance into the CA. It reminded me of Tris’s training when she joined Dauntless in Divergent. High-stakes and ruthless. I found myself holding my breath and cheering as Poppy completed each task.
The downfall of this book was the poor world-building which I was honestly shocked by. Scarlett Dawn is known for her vivid worlds and so I was expecting some subtle weaving of the world as we followed Poppy in Trigger. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. In fact, it was hard for me to glean much about this dystopian world. And the shifter aspect, while alluded to in the blurb, doesn’t become a part of the story until well past the halfway mark. Maybe that is why I felt the story dragged on in parts…I kept waiting for the shifters to arrive.
Overall Trigger was just okay for me. However I did enjoy the story enough that I want to read the next book. I’m hoping that now the world is set up, there will be more building as the series continues. If you enjoy paranormal romance with a hint of dystopia, I recommend you give this book a try. Also a note: each story in the series will be a standalone, featuring different couples.
About Scarlett Dawn
New York Times bestselling author and award-winner, Scarlett Dawn, is the mastermind behind the Forever Evermore fantasy series, the Origin paranormal dystopian stories, the Vampire Crown paranormal romance thrillers, the Mark science fantasy saga, and the Lion Security contemporary romance series.
She lives in the Midwest, adores her music loud, and demands her fries covered in melted cheese.
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