Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Burn by Patrick Ness

35 reviews

queenneehola's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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yvo_about_books's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

Finished reading: May 15th 2024


“Sometimes you just have to feel bad about a thing. Sometimes that's the only thing that makes you human.”

It's true that I don't read a lot of YA anymore, but I wasn't exactly mad when my TBR jar thought it was time I finally picked up Burn. It's been a couple of years since my last Patrick Ness book, and there is just something about his writing that always has me intrigued. Add the fact that I needed a book with dragons for the POPSUGAR challenge and the fact that the blurb sounded SO good, and I've actually been looking forward to this TBR jar pick. I can't deny that I somehow ended up having mixed thoughts though... It's not a bad read, but not my favorite among his books either. I think part of my issue is that there isn't enough worldbuilding for a book about dragons. In this case, Burn would have definitely benefitted from more instead of less pages; even just 50 pages of proper worldbuilding would have made such a difference in this story. The whole racism/homophobia/bigotry was also a bit too in-your-face, and I wasn't a fan of how it was incorporated into the plot. I understand that this story is set back in 1957 and things were different back then, but I don't think it adds any substantial to the story other than making you hate certain characters even more. I would have loved more focus on other elements instead... Like for example the dragons, the cult, the prophecy and the assassin. There is plently of action to be found along the way, and especially the second part is brutal. Definitely make sure to be ready for some extreme violence! As I've already become used to with Patrick Ness' books, Burn is another quirky and almost whimsical read, although the story is pretty brutal with heavy-hitting topics and violence at the same time. Not for everyone and it could have done with more development, but I'm personally still glad I finally read it. 

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leftovergarlicbread's review against another edition

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emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Kept me super engaged and turning pages. All the plot twists were really good and unexpected but made sense. The author didnt just pull them out of his ass for shock factors alone. I liked the religious commentary with the dragon cult, and the comparisons you can make to a lot of bigger modern religions. The ending could have been a little bit better in my opinion i feel there wasnt really much of a cooldown. The climax ended and then the book ended almost immediately. I really really enjoyed how there was romance but it was VERY unforced. I also appreciate So Much that it wasnt between the two main characters. And that there was no love triangle. Overall a really fun and interesting read

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msreedy's review against another edition

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funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a good read! I never know what to expect from a Patrick Ness novel, and this one was no exception. It's not necessarily a harrowing tale of dragons and adventure, but it has its tense, heartbreaking moments, and the pacing was fairly quick, though I did settle on "medium" because the setup sometimes slowed things down, but I think it balanced very nicely. I'm not sure that I'll go on recommending it to everyone I know, but it's an incredibly unique book that I enjoyed quite a bit. I both love and loathe Ness's penchant for leaving readers with so many questions.

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hedwig2's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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paizliibubs's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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tortitaz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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anni_swanilda's review

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0


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aseel_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was surprisingly really good and fun to read! I liked the full circleness of the plot and just dragons?? A good time 

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moonlina's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Esta review tiene muchos spoilers.
Tenía muchas ganas de leer este libro, porque me encanta la manera de escribir de Patrick Ness en A moster calls, es es único libro que he leido del autor, así que en terminos de escritura este libro me dejo mucho que desear, se brinca de escena en escena demasiado, las primera vez si tenía una razón de ser y se sentían como punch-lines o cambio de escena si este libro fuera una pelicula, creo que hubiera sido mejor si esos cambios de escena en la que
Malcom y la agente Woolf complementan sus conversaciones estuvo bien
pero ya para el final se volvio tedioso; me parecio un poco predescible que
la agente woolf fuera  mithera thea, pero si me sorprendio que fuera la diosa
la relación de malcom con
Nelson se me hizo un poco desabrida
creo que mi observación en general es que le hizo falta prpfundidad y sentimientos, los personajes viven y mueren y no siento que me interese; Escuche a una youtuber decir que lo sientio como un "Fever dream" y estoy de acuerdo.

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