Review: Trigger by Scarlett Dawn

Item: Trigger (Origin, #1)
Rating: 3.5
Author: Kate

Posted May 11, 2020 by Kate

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Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Dystopian, Paranormal
Series: Origin #1
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Source: Kindle Unlimited

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 absolutely love King Hall by Scarlett Dawn, perhaps one of the best new adult paranormal/urban fantasy reads I’ve read, and one of my favorite found-family, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers books. That book had a true friendship in it and is an often-sought comfort read for me – I highly, highly recommend checking it out.

But that was the only Scarlett Dawn book. So while searching for a PNR that’s been on my TBR awhile for Romance-opoly, a year-long reading challenge I’m participating in (read about it here), a remembered the author and searched up some of her other books. Turns out, Trigger, the first in a sci-fi paranormal series, is available on Kindle Unlimited! So I one-click downloaded (for freeeee yay) and prepared to enjoy myself.

Let’s the set the scene a bit: this is a sci-fi/dystopian type of book with little-to-no world-building involved (not that I really cared, tbh). So I don’t really know what happened, except that there was a war (a hundred?) years before when the humans ruined the world and now there are two divisions of people: those who follow the General (our MC Poppy’s father) or those who work for the Corporation. We’re not really clear on all that entails, except that two individual leaders General Carvene and Mr. King (of the Corporate side) are enemies, and that there is a law that all women must be married by the time they’re 25, or join the Corporate Army.

I pointed inside the room. “Someone may want to call a medic. I hit him pretty hard.”
One male instructor groaned, disappointment in his eyes, staring at the prone body on the floor of the glass room. “What a shame. Victor had so much potential, too.”
I walked down the stairs with an extra pep in my step. “Not as much as me. Obviously.”

So our lovely main character Poppy is a few days away from the big 2-5, and she refuses to marry a stranger, despite her father’s best efforts. To avoid this horrible fate, she runs away to join the Corporate Army. But now the burden is bigger than ever because she has to pass the various tests that will gain her entrance to the Army. Think of the Dauntless trials from Divergent. This part of the book was actually pretty cool, as Poppy, who’d been trained in badassery from her General father for years, had to go through these tests to fight for her life and her standing within the Army.

But things get complicated when she gets involved with Mr. Godric King – her dad’s enemy – without either of them knowing the identity of the other. There is a paranormal aspect that comes into play here, but I shan’t give away any details ? I have to say, I really enjoyed Poppy was the main character. She was ruthlessly intelligent and kicked ass. I loved being along for the ride as she rises up through the ranks of the Corporate Army because she was so lively and fun. Her and Godric’s relationship was pretty fun, too, as they bantered the day away.

The Paranormal/Supernatural circumstances that came into play was a little vague. Yes, okay, some people in this book are shifters and that makes sense to me. But there’s a whole “unseen enemy” and that plotline felt a little superfluous, fragile and unpolished to me. The world-building, too, kinda sucked. There really wasn’t much of it, but I’m not even that upset about it. It’s a fairly short, quick read and I enjoyed the characters for what they were. Overall, it’s a fun read, but even while you can expect to enjoy yourself, please lower your expectations a bit.