Burn

Product Information

And another thing I strongly did not like was the ending. I thought it was cheap and just too easy. The fact that Sarah stayed in the parallel universe and all the deaths that happened on Earth #1 got reversed made me mad. Literally every single dead person got resurrected and she got to re-start a new perfect life – nah, fam, I’m not about that life. The use of the resurrection trope bothered me to no end and I simply could not get on board with all that. The pacing of the story is on top of that really nice too. There is constantly something happening and the characters are constantly on the move. There is not one dull moment, the story never stands still, it also doesn't go in circles. And all the pieces of the puzzle also come really nicely together in the finale. If you're the kind of reader who enjoys a nice plot with loads of action this is totally the book for you. I am massively disappointed because I was expecting so much more and also because I was highly anticipating this novel.

Burn by Patrick Ness – The Last Book On The Left Book Review: Burn by Patrick Ness – The Last Book On The Left

Told in two parts and the third person, Burn is told from various viewpoints. The plot plays out as three separate stories yet interweaves them when the time comes. Apparently I was wrong because quite literally everything went wrong. And I am really sad about it. Set in 1950s America at a time when humans and dragons co-exist. We meet young Sarah Dewhurst and her father who is waiting for the arrival of a dragon that will help them on their farm, as they are much cheaper than people. The dragon, a Russian Blue named Kazimir is there though to protect Sarah and to save the world. Indeed, it was so much that little to nothing made sense, if I have to be honest. I personally found the story to be messy and fragmented. It did not flow effortlessly and smoothly; it was choppy and overwhelming and confusing.Let me start this review with saying that this is a total and absolute case of "it's me and not the book". I think that this book does a lot of things right and I'm pretty sure that someone who's not me can find this their favorite book. Most of all because the plot is quite nice AND most of all really well done. There is a very clear goal from the start and along the way more and more questions are answered and more and more pieces of the puzzle revealed. There is SO much that I loved about this book that I cannot even tell you for the sake of spoilers. Places I did not see things going. And like, it's seriously SO GREAT so can you just trust me? Awesome thanks. Here's what I can tell you: The fact that the cast of characters was, indeed, a whole freaking cast did not help the overall clarity and smoothness of the book. There were too many people and too many points of views and so everything was bewildering and confusing. And with the introduction of the characters from the parallel universe, things just got worse. This is a cat and mouse chase like no other. Who has been misled and who is really trying to stop a war whether that be between men or men and dragons?

Burn - Read for Good Burn - Read for Good

I think this book could have worked with a higher word count. More time to establish the world-building, more space for the characters to develop, more room for the story to breathe and settle. Because this was one wild ride and I believe it might have given me a concussion. The more fantastical elements were certainly very unique in their conception but my more high-fantasy-loving-self struggled to fully invest in all that occurred, despite appreciating how it was constructed. This was certainly a strong and inventive novel, if not wholly the one for me. It is also just an incredible story with twists that I didn't see coming at all. Yeah, there's nothing more to say except I never wanted to put this book down and now I love it, the end.

Where Expectations Met Reality

Burn combines the best of Ness’ works - a world much like our own but with one fantastical aspect, characters you’ll love, and a storyline that will have you completely engrossed. I read Burn in a single sitting in a couple of hours, it’s that good. The twists and turns that it contains with, the teenage assassin Malcom of who discovers being gay does not matter and makes his alternate dimension self (Hugo) know that too. Obviously, I could not review this book and not talk about the dragons. There are two main ones in ‘Burn’ and they remain quite mysterious through the book but we slowly learn more about them and their society. The dragon that works on Sarah’s farm in particular was one of the best characters in the book in my opinion, he had a strong sense of duty and was involved in one very satisfying moment which I won’t go into because of spoilers. Both of the dragons played an integral part to the story and the way things ended with the dragons (and many of the characters) just screams out for a sequel. FBI Agents Woolf and Dernovich have been given the task of finding the assassin and stopping him after he killed some of their men with the help of a dragon.

Patrick Ness » Burn

Whether or not you appreciate multiple points of views in storytelling is down to personal preference. For me, I’m not the biggest fan, so that might’ve contributed to my ambivalence. Although, even beyond my preferences, I thought Burn suffered from this approach as it became a little too fragmented. The character developments felt incomplete and the plot pace didn’t quite hit the synergy it needed to gel the individual points of view together. Ness has such a skill for seamlessly blending reality with more fantastical elements and yet maintaining the focus on real-world ambivalence with his running social commentary. Despite the plot being distinctly other-worldly this also opened up historical international conflicts as well as the sexism, racism, and homophobia rampant in this 1950's American setting. How Ness showcased and overcame this xenophobia was extraordinary and my favourite part of the book. And once more Book Box Club got me a book that I wouldn't have bought myself. Of course, I had seen this book on the internet already. I know quite a few people who were really looking forward to this one and I came across it while making my wishlist for June. However, for some reason this book didn't really speak to me and I don't know why. Sometimes it happens. I read a blurb and somehow I kinda know that it's not gonna be my new favorite book. A young man from the cult is sent on a mission to the very same farm, but is he there to halt or enact the prophecy? Following him are two FBI agents, ruthless and prepared to stop at nothing. There is romance, persecution, a goddess, alternate universes and much, much more. But at the centre of it all is Sarah, a seemingly ordinary girl who may just hold the key to preventing the end of the world. The story is set on a farm in Frome, Washington, in 1957. It begins when the father of a teenager, Sarah, hires a dragon to clear a field for them with his fiery breath, but the arrival of the dragon heralds a series of horrific events. A number of acutely drawn characters make this world authentic and fascinating. There is a bad cop whose hatred seeps throughout their small town and whose every move and word is toxic. There is Sarah herself, a teenager who lives alone with her farmer father after the death of her mother, and there’s the boy next door, Jason Inagawa, for whom Sarah has romantic feelings. There is also a cult of dragon worshippers who believe in a prophecy that predicts the end of the world.

My Thoughts and Feelings

Another aspect that empasised the choppiness and fragmentation of the story was that there were two (2) distinctive parts with two (2), unfortunately, very similar build-ups. And this characteristic doomed the book, in my opinion, because it felt as if the story, in the second part, was repeating itself and that made for a dragged and boring reading experience.