BOOK REVIEW...[ARC] Scrap by Emory Sharplin

On the brutal streets of Hellip, a village in the vast empire of the cruel King Ibis, you either become good at running from the king’s Blackcoats or you die. This is the lesson that twelve-year-old Tucker Scrap, abandoned as an infant among the orphans of Hellip, learned early. Along with her friends Ash and Kally, Tucker spends her time keeping one step ahead of the unjust laws, stealing what she needs to survive, and pondering her own unknown origins—and those of the enchanted bracelet with which she was found.

Now, both Ash and Kally have vanished from the orphanage, perhaps headed for the faraway city where Ibis still rules. When a mysterious girl named Vivian arrives in Hellip with a strange invitation to Tucker, the leader of the orphans decides that this may be her opportunity to find her missing friends. But more than this: it may become an opportunity to recover her hidden inheritance, and to change the fate of an entire kingdom.

The introduction to a fantasy world rich with ancient magic, enigmatic gypsies, palace labyrinths, and deep woods haunted by strange and forbidding creatures, Emory Sharplin’s debut novel tells the story of Tucker Scrap: a bold, memorable heroine at the center of a centuries-old mystery, stepping into her destiny at last.
Expected publication: May 17th 2013 by Green Leaf Book Group

I received this ARC via NetGallery for an honest review.

I was a little skeptical when I started reading "Scrap" but over all I did like it. :)

Since I'm a sucker for anything with fantasy and magic, my interest didn't take long to get peaked and I found myself in a world of the medieval era filled with magic, mayhem, and a centuries old mystery that involves our bold, quirky heroine.


SO MY THOUGHTS:
The plot line was very original which RARE these days in books and the characters were quite likable.

I also felt that the pacing was "just right" and the story had this colorful quality that kept me always on edge since the story was a bit delightfully unpredictable at certain points. WHICH IN TURN, kept me immersed in reading the book till finish. 

On a side note: I didn't like the ending. Here I am reading and totally engrossed in the story and it comes to a brusque conclusion. I was literally thinking, "How can the author do this to me?!?!" If I had known that there was going to be a sequel [or perhaps this book is a series??] then I might have prepared myself a lot better but I didn't. Now I have to wait for the next installment in the series to come out... *sigh*


My Rating:

-Overall : 9
-Plot : 8.5
-Writing : 8.5
-Characters : 8.5
-Cover : 7