Review: 3.75 stars-more YA than NA
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 21, 2014
KING HALL is the first instalment in Scarlett Dawn's contemporary, new adult paranormal Forever Evermore series focusing on a group of four `Mystical' prodigies (vampire, shifter, mage, elemental) who have been blessed or `cursed' by bloodline or connection to take their rightful places as the ruling Kings and Queens of the paranormal world. As the final year of school comes to an end, our foursome will be thrown into a war, not of their making. The Commoners (humans) want to rid the world of the Mysticals (supernatural beings) and they will start with the destruction of King Hall on graduation night.Scarlett Dawn pulls the reader into a storyline that follows four twenty-something adults as them embark on a year of vigorous training, magical manipulation and mind numbing studies. We watch as strangers become friends and with it the realization that without one another they are lost. Working together, they are a powerful combination and in the end, it will be the individual losses and heartbreaking truths that will bring them closer together.KING HALL is labeled a new adult storyline but reads similar to many YA (young adult) stories and series. There is a familiarity about the premise ala House of Night and even a little Harry Potter thrown in for good measure. Our foursome will encounter discrimination and retribution from humans while struggling with their own identities as future rulers in a world on the brink of war.There were a few plot points that felt unnecessary including the opening sex-ed for supernatural beings-it was uncomfortable and felt forced-as thought the author was trying too hard. There were many humorous and funny as well as some heartbreaking moments in the storyline. Their mentors and current Kings put our foursome through some pretty tough tests but in the end, there were not prepared for hell that rained down on their happy celebration.As a new author, Scarlett Dawn has written a wonderful and seductive storyline that will be sure to please the paranormal fan in all of us. The sexual heat is minimal-most of the action is implied or after the fact- and in this it reads closer to YA. There is a big of a cliff hanger-one that has our foursome on the run- and in this you know, that together they will survive everything and everyone that is thrown their way.