Saurimonde

by Scarlett Amaris, Melissa St. Hilaire

Moonlight and dark waters, a lover's low laughter, the taste of sunshine on her skin... You will die. I will die, the river whispers. We are all food for each other. It has always been the way... And love... love is the shining beacon which hides beyond the lonely shore.

Welcome to a world of terrible and sensual beauty, full of treachery, lust, violence, betrayal and magic, where the day and night are two very different realms and nothing is as it seems. Welcome to the world of Saurimonde... Do you dare to go there?

214 pages, Paperback

First published May 10, 2013

About the author

Scarlett Amaris is a screenwriter, author, researcher and presenter, who plays well with fabulous beasts & monsters. She's co-written scripts for the seminal horror anthology, THE THEATRE BIZARRE, the award winning documentary, THE OTHERWORLD (L'AUTRE MONDE), REPLACE: AT, and H.P. Lovecraft's COLOR OUT OF SPACE, starring Nicolas Cage. She's the co-author of the popular dark fantasy series, SAURIMONDE, and the latest entry, SAURIMONDE III, is available now at Amazon and selected retailers.

Official websites: www.scarlettamaris.com

Reviews

[Novel Grounds · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me through the loops. I was so hopeful for Saurimonde in the beginning, and well you see how that goes right from the synopsis. Her life is a tale of hurt and sorrow.

As you will see her life after “death” is one of erotic love and vicious endings to the days she is forced to spend in the forest where she was left by her horrible excuse for a husband. The days go by and the people of the village keep disappearing.

The way this story twists I was on edge with what was coming next. I really didn’t see the ending coming. It caught me and I was actually super excited with some of the turns it took. With this type of a story you need to be kept interested and it definitely did its job there. It was also a very original story. It wasn’t one of those stories that you unknowingly compare to a similar in the genre. It was the type that you went in blind with what was coming next. Loved it.

The writing was great. It took a bit to draw me in, but once it did I really didn’t have trouble with it. The characters were well developed and you got a great picture of the era and the life styles you were dealing with. A great quick read for anyone. Mythics, romance, suspense, mystery all tied into one.

[Bob Arctor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Seductive Tale! Love, betrayal, and mysterious dark things in the night, Saurimonde is filled with a passion and force that both delights and afrights. A real page-turner!

[Victor Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

With Saurimonde being my first taste of the dark fantasy/horror/paranormal romance genre—I couldn’t resist the taunting dare in the blurb—I cannot compare it to similar works. So this review is not that of an “expert” but of a casual passerby, lured by other common causes with one of the authors, Scarlett Amaris, and an abiding curiosity about books that fall, however loosely, into the wide spectrum of literature that might be classified as “visionary fiction.” The stylized Playboy cover with its promise of titillation, I admit, also helped me, an older male with otherwise less flamboyant reading habits, open the door and walk into the authors’ foreboding den of dreamy fairytale, explicit sexuality, and shudder-inducing evil perpetrated not only by Gilles, an over-the-top caricature of the domineering and lecherous husband, but also by the beautiful and sensual Saurimonde, of whom we’d least expect such.

First observation: it’s a page turner. While I often struggle through the last hour of the day allotted to reading, evenings with Saurimonde always shot right past my bedtime. Perhaps it was a combination of the story’s surface simplicity, the breezy language (the use of modern slang in a medieval setting did take some adjustment), and lavish imagination that propelled me into that magical zone beyond the ticking clock.

But beyond the entertainment and stimulation provided by the strong dose of sex and mayhem, there was a subtle sense of something a lot deeper. However, unlike some books in which the intended message is made annoyingly explicit—You, dear reader, are likely too dumb to get it right, so I’m going to spell it out for you—Saurimonde just left me wondering. My imagination was awakened to fantastic possibilities on several levels, not unlike the effect of the timeless classical fairy tale, the prototype for all visionary fiction. Now that’s pretty high magic for any book to achieve. Highly recommended—if you dare.