**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net** 

Amber Smoke is the first solo book by House of Night author, Kristin Cast. It is the start of a new young adult fantasy/mythology series, called the Escaped. I didn't initially realize that this had to do with mythology when I read the description. It talked about souls escaping from their cages, but those cages are their prison in Tartarus. Once I started reading and realized this, I was super excited. Amber Smoke is a very fast paced and quick read. It set up the series pretty well, but not a whole ton actually happened in this book. And more questions were posed than answered. Still, I am more than intrigued enough to want to know what is going to happen next.

Amber Smoke is told for multiple perspectives because the two main characters start out in different realms and don't know each other. The furies had a son, Alek, that was to be the warrior of the underworld. To break a curse, he has to go above ground and round up the escaped and bring them back to face their fate. But to do this he needs the help of Eva. I'm not going to tell you why, because I thought that was a cool twist on the story, but I will say that you find out the basic nuts and bolts of why pretty early on. The rest of Amber Smoke is a big chase basically to find Eva and deal with the fall out of an on going crime spree investigation. There was a lot going on in Amber Smoke, and we were dropped into a world on the edge of turmoil. As a result, some parts of the story were mysterious and kind of confusing. More questions were created than were answered, but I feel confident that the next book will answer a lot of those questions and I think the series is just going to continue to get better.

Amber Smoke felt darker than the House of Night series. It was interesting to see this darker spin on mythology. I loved how Kristin Cast took some mythology elements and then twisted them, and turned them and made them completely her own. This is unlike any mythology book that I have read so far in the Young Adult genre. There is very light romance, mostly in the second half of the book, with the strong hint of much more to come. I think that is another reason why the second book and I are going to be best buds. I just know that Alek and Eva are on the edge of some strong feelings, and I can't wait!

Amber Smoke does a good job setting up what looks to be an action packed and interesting new series. I am very intrigued to see what Kristin Cast has in store for us next, and I am more than a little wary to meet some of the other escaped. These "guys" are creepy, deranged and plain icky. Amber Smoke felt like a paranormal crime noir show, with mythology mixtd in for good measure. It's a really cool concept. Fans of mythology and darker fantasies and paranormals should check out the first book in the Escaped Series.

 This review was originally posted on Book Briefs