Reviews

*4.5*
I saw so many reviews that were saying this book was mid or horrible. but I loved this book.
characters: I honestly was in love with the dragon (when it was in human form ofc) and the assassin cult member's povs were really fun (except for the homophobia obviously). the detectives really reminded me of umbrella academy and that's all I have to say about them. sarah was not a horrible character, nor was she really special.
plot: the plot had potential to be super cheesy, with dragons AND a multiverse, but it was really well executed. all the twists and turns were <3.
romance: there weren't really any romances but I did like malcolm's dedication to Nelson. (even if the feelings didnt seem to be reciprocated

brisingr's review against another edition

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1.0

DNF halfway through. This book did not give what it was supposed to be given, which is a HUGE disappointment because this sounded so amazing: an alternative history type of book featuring dragons (and one!! named Kazimir!! slavic names my beloved you will never be pronounced correctly by English speakers who narrate the damn audiobooks though) and a main character with a spelling variant of my name (and it's my lifelong goal to find a character named 'sara(h)' in books that is not a total bitch).

But............................ so many themes and not one coherent point in here. So many useless and boring scenes. And at the middle of it, an assassination, the American spy fear craze over Russians of the 60s and the end of the world are somehow still not even the most dramatic thing supposed to be going on??? You mean to tell me there's STILL once again this much story left??? And it's supposed to start making sense......... when exactly? Disappointed this got published to be honest, it's in an utterly unreadable state of messiness.

Maybe I'm just old and fantasy YAs will just never again hit the right spot for me. But I can't see how anyone is supposed to take seriously a book that is offering NOTHING but empty themes, convoluted promises of clarification with no end in sight and shock value with no depth.
This is a SHAME because I really, really wanted to like this :(

Also, for a book with a dragon on the cover and who is presented as a book about at least a dragon... the dragon certainly had way too little screen time to make it worth my time.

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

Content Warnings

mira_tanyasita's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

melliemakesdragons's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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.

Content Warnings

tracie's review against another edition

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4.0

3.5

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