In the Underworld, the three sisters known as the Furies, are jailers to the evil that would end humanity and destroy their own world of Tartarus. But when one of the sisters falls in love with a human, a curse is born and the evil of the Underworld begins to seep back to the mortal realm.

Their only chance is their beloved son, Alek, who is destined to be their warrior on earth. If he has any chance of succeeding, Alek must find a girl, the descendent of Pythia, and together they will be able to free the mortal realm of evil and end the darkness in Tartarus. But there is a timeline, for Alek cannot stay in the mortal realm for too long, and he is not the only one searching for the girl.

Eva is a hard-working college student, who loves her mom and her best friend Bridget. But her life is thrown upside down when she finds herself the next victim for a serial killer. Fighting for her life, she becomes even more scared and confused when her captor transforms in front of her, demanding her to pay for the magic of her ancestors. With evil demons, a handsome warrior, love and plenty of danger and misunderstandings, will Alek find Eva in time? And will Eva survive so that she may unravel her heritage and find her future?

AMBER SMOKE by Kristin Cast is book one of her new series, The Escaped. Aimed at the young adult genre, there is plenty of action and magic to keep you entertained, but there were parts of the story where pacing was an issue for me - some parts seemed crammed with details and information, and other parts were slow and sluggish. While I liked the character of Alek, I didn't really connect with Eva. AMBER SMOKE by Kristin Cast is full of magic and mayhem but I am not sure at this stage if it will live up to the high standard of her House of Night series.