I honestly don't know what to do with this book. Finished it yesterday and just couldn't make my mind up about it. It's definitely a Patrick Ness novel in all its originality and weirdness. It reminds me of Release in that two separate stories are being told in one book. And of course, it's gay, even though the blurb might not make it seems that way. My problem, I think, was that there was a disconnect.

I'll try and explain why but I can't guarantee that I'll do a good job. The first thing that properly irritated me were the many POVs. There are at least 12. That's a lot for such a short book. The plot was all over the place and I got really annoyed when I was thrown out of a storyline that had me really invested. I see why Ness did it, but I'm convinced he could have pulled it off with only half as many POVs. You would think that the characters suffered from these very short episodes that we stayed with them, but they were very well-drawn and had the necessary depth to make me care for them (some more than others of course). What did suffer though were the relationships between them, particularly newly established ones that advanced way too quickly. That holds especially true for the gay romance, which failed to convince me.

Now, on the one hand this book is genius. There are very unexpected twists and I've not read anything like it before. It's like one of those film trailers that show you what the story is and make you super curious so you go and watch it in theatres just to find out that you didn't even know the half of it - there's so much more to the film than what was shown in the trailer and your mind is blown (I'm thinking of Kingsman - The Secret Service here). It just didn't work so well here. The fast pace threw me off and when I reached the 50% mark I kept thinking What the fuck is going on? I'm not going to say anything else here because that would spoil everything for you. It got even weirder when that one main character kissed that other minor character. He just kind of lost me there and I really don't understand how that was necessary. If you've read the book you know exactly what scene I'm talking about. Kinda random, kinda pointless.

One last thing I want to mention is the representation: the two main characters are a Black biracial girl and a white gay boy. There's also a Japanese-American love interest and a Guatemalan-American love interest. This book is set in the 1950's and although there might be dragons in this alternate world, racism and homophobia still exist. Overall I believe the representation was good but bear in mind that I'm not an OwnVoices reviewer when it comes to the POC characters. Also, expect xenophobic, racist and homophobic violence, abuse and slurs.

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.

This is Patrick Ness at his finest. I say this as someone who doesn’t really like fantasy but who does like good writing. This book is beautiful and poetic and true and also has its fantastical setting grounded in a pretty solid science foundation, very much in the vein of Phillip Pullman. Plausible and very much relatable, I loved it.

I think, in the reading part of my brain, there’s always a little countdown to when the next Patrick Ness book is going to appear. I’m a fan of his writing in part for the same reason I’m a fan of Neil Gaiman’s writing, which is to say you don’t know what you’re going to get except that the writing will be fearless; the book will be, somehow, despite him never covering the same ground twice, also Very Much A Patrick Ness book. So I’ve been looking forward to BURN, of course, and I wasn’t disappointed. I think, though I hesitate to say it, that it might even be my favourite of all the things he’s written.
The seemingly simple premise is 1950s with dragons – a premise that is deftly evoked. Small town America (we’re in Frome, again!) in the midst of the Cold War, with a population of fire-breathers who have always been in there. And Ness extrapolates that basic fact of the universe he’s created in ways that make sense. In a nutshell: All-American is good; anyone different is bad; Russian is worse. With dragons come dragon fanatics; with the Cold War comes suspicion, fear, and conspiracy theories. It’s not a great time to be Sarah Dewhurst, a mixed-race teenager in a very white town, whose dad has just hired a ‘Russian blue’ dragon to work on their farm – something sure to bring on the wrath of the despicable Deputy Sheriff Kelby. Because yes, the human prejudices extend beyond the realm of people and into that of dragons – a species who really couldn’t care less about the piddly humans, let alone their arbitrary country borders, but work with them because… I trail off there, because spoilers. Anyway, the set-up is utterly believable, and the characters immediately engaging – crucial for the reader for the wild and messy ride that follows.
Yes - wild, messy… and utterly under control. I’ve read BURN twice now. The story does not go where you expect it to go – not even the second time – but that spontaneity and complete blasting to smithereens of Tropes You Thought You Knew is plotted very carefully. The clues are there, the path is inevitable (a concept that is itself examined in the book). And it’s all done with what I, we, have come to expect from Ness. A light touch, some humour, and a deep understanding of people and the hurt they carry, and their hopes, and loves, and dreams. An eye towards young people and that rawness of emotion, that feeling of the world descending quite suddenly and not being what anyone led you to believe it would be. And, of course, there are relationships to root for. My GOD do we root for them. I was in tears more than once, and I will not tell you whether they were happy or sad tears.
Five stars to this book. Five bright, shining, shooting stars. I loved it.

One positive outcome of burning my thumb & spending an hour with it under running water, was that I finished #PatrickNessBurn on #Netgalley & O.M.G. I just can't believe how well he can craft a story, I was on tenterhooks to the end, *so* clever @WalkerBooksYA

Patrick Ness really never writes the same book twice. I've never read a book quite like this before, and probably never will again, but that's what great about him as an author. Each of his stories is truly unique.

Burn is an historical fantasy set during the Cold War - 1950s America and Canada, to be precise - but with dragons. There's quite a large cast of characters, but I'd say the main two are Sarah Dewhurst, a mixed-race girl who lives on a farm, whose father has just hired a dragon, and "Malcolm", a boy assassin from what is essentially a dragon worshipping cult.

This is one of those books that is hard to review without spoiling too much, and I'd definitely say it's best to go in blind - the Goodreads blurb gives away too much! How everything comes together is fascinating, especially in the second half of the book, which I definitely preferred to the first. I was actually worried the book wasn't for me during the first half, as I was lacking the instant deep connection I usually get with Patrick Ness' works. Looking back I think it's because I'm used to his books having just one or two POVs, so it took longer for me to connect with the characters in the way that I'm used to. When I did, however, I really found myself enjoying the story.

While I don't think Burn hit me as hard as Ness' other books, it's a solid read and - as I said before - not like anything else out there. It's as weird and wonderful as you would expect a Patrick Ness novel to be, and well worth a read!

This is my third Patrick Ness book and the last book i read i didnt enjoy too much so i was very wary going into this one. I found this book intriguing cause it was focused on Dragons and i havent read many books about Dragons and it held up. I liked how the dragons could talk to the humans in the story. It was a bit of a detective story to work out how to stop the evil dragon and i liked trying to work out what was happening. There was alot of death in the book which i wasnt expecting. I didnt realise untill i was reading the lgbt aspect with two male characters which i was pleasently surprised with and loved it for that aspect though i have alot of questions at the end of the book that i still need answering. I did feel that this book was very jam packed and alot happened it short spaces of time which you really needed to pay attention to work out what was happening. 

I gave this book 3 stars.

A compelling tale of dragons set against the backdrop of the Cold War in mid-50s rural America. When Farmer Dewhurst hires a dragon to clear some fields and hopefully save his farm, his daughter, Sarah, forms an unlikely bond with the blue-tailed beast, Kazimir. The dragon warns her that trouble is coming but he is there to protect her. And when trouble arrives in the form of CIA agents, a racist local sheriff and an obsessed Believer hell-bent on killing Sarah, things start to escalate very quickly.
A tale of two halves, each set in adjacent dimensions, this is a wonderfully crafted piece of fantasy writing. Ness has won multiple awards, and it's not hard to see why, as he makes the fantastic eminently believable. Dragons, dimension hopping, shape-shifting... it all seems perfectly reasonable when in his skilled hands. A highly enjoyable read.

*3.5 stars!

Well, that was very weird but I couldn’t stop reading nonetheless.. 😂 It’s definitely not my usual cup of tea, but I always love reading books by Patrick Ness! If you don’t mind a little weird and if the synopsis sounds intruiging to you, I would highly recommend it! 🙌🏻

Patrick Ness and Dragons, my dreams come true. This book is everything I hoped it would be and more. As always the writing is absolutely beautiful, an art form on paper, I think this is one of his best books so far. It’s intriguing, full of twists and turns and the ending is just perfect and you feel satisfied, like a good meal, obviously leaves you wanting more, but that’s wanting too much of a good thing ! Ness is an epic storyteller and not all of this is comfortable reading, but with the story it shouldn’t be, but as always there is great hope , redemption and it’s ultimately uplifting. Another that’s going to be on my top reads of 2020

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

What I love bout Patrick Ness is that his books are always unique. The writing is beautiful and you know you're reading a book that's unlike anything you've ever read before.
Burn is no different.

We follow a biracial girl in the 1950's dealing with racist cops, the fear of a third World War, her secret relationship with her asian best friend, and a big bue dragon arriving on her farm, announcing a teenage assassin and dragon-worshiper is on the loose.
But we also follow so much more than one girl's journey.

Despite so many good ideas and nice writing, there was just a little too much going on for me.
It went from a nicely slow-paced first 100 pages to a continuation of twists and turns that actually lead me to wonder what was going on (I coudn't quite believe so many big twists could happen in such a short time).
There was such a shift between the first part and the second that I felt disconnected to the story I started reading (though this might appeal to many readers).

Even though I fully appreciated reading about a diverse group of characters (with such good rep!), I really wanted to care more about them than I did. And I strongly believe that is because there is so much happening from loads of different perspectives that in the end, our "mains" don't really shine as much as they could have.

I’d like to thank Netgalley and Walker Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.


“Sarah felt that any world that needed this many lessons must have something deeply wrong with it.”

Here is EXACTLY what is wrong with this world… there are not enough dragon books that have been published. I need to stress this a little more… This book was magical and engrossing from start to finish. Eek! Lets get on with the review!!

What is it about?
Sarah Dewhurst lives with her father on their failing farm and are in need of a dragons’ services in order to help them with their work. This is something that catches the attention of the towns folk as hiring a dragon for work is something that only the poor do. However, the Dragon (known as Kazimir) has arrived with a little more knowledge of Sarah than he’s letting on.

He also starts showing elements of wanting to keep her safe. This is paired with a potential prophecy, which involves Sarah herself as well as a number of other people including an FBI agent and a deadly assassin, makes Burn a gripping book that I think everyone should add to their quarantine TBR.

What I Loved…
Ahh! So many elements I love about this story! I absolutely LOVED the characters of Kazimir and Deputy Kelby. Kazimir portrays an air of mightiness that only a dragon character could do but on the other hand has a sliver of gentleness that shows when he interacts with Sarah.

Deputy Kelby is the archetypal character who I just love to hate – he is racist, sexist and everything that is wrong with this world and the world within the novel. I love the fact that Patrick Ness has added a strong dis-likeable character. It makes you fear for those interacting with him and just shows that in some instances how people act and react is not fair, but it takes courage to stand up to them.

Things I want more of…
If anything I would have loved to have had more of a background into the draconic world building and past of the dragons. I usually love hearing about mythical origins – especially mythical animals, and this book would have been a great had there been more of this. I am just being super picky here however! 🙂

Burn will be published on Thursday 7th May 2020. Get your copy here:

Amazon

Waterstones

5/5 stars – one that’s a great for audiences from 10 – adult!!

A world in which dragons and humans coexist in peace together. Where there is a threat of war looming over the world and a stand of violence against those who are seen as different.

Where a prophecy and a girl can either end or save the world.

A girl, a Dragon, a lover, a boy and a believer are drawn together, they make mistakes and learn from them, all for the good of the world around them.

I didn't know what to expect from this book but by the end I absolutely loved it!

All I can say is that Ness has done it again, creating such a brilliant book with the added addition of LGBT+ voices and themes of race and sexuality fantastically represented throughout.

A must read!

Thank you netgalley and the publishers for this arc, I'm blown away with how good it is!

Twisty-turney plot, fun and adventurous fantasy world with Dragos from Ness! It was an amazing read. I enjoyed it a lot.
Gripping and highly entertaining. Very much recommended!

Thanks a lot to the publisher and NG for this copy.

I recieved a free digital copy of this book from Waller Books via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and freely given.

I have to say first that out of the few books I've read by this author there had only been one I didn't enjoy and I'm excited to read the rest of his books. Because despite the fact that i don't read much ya anymore I love the writing and most of the time I totally forget that its ya.

This book was stunning... The writing was amazing and the plot was fabulous... The pacing however seemed a little off. It seemed to build very quickly at the beginning and then an unsatisfying ending,.. Which wasn't an ending at all... Which was good but also created a lot more questions - thankfully those were answered by the end... Or mostly... I did find the ending a little unsatisfactory... It seemed very abrupt... It was in the thick of things and then suddenly it was over. And the Kelby thing... That was incredibly annoying.

I loved the world building of being set in the real world and yet... Not... Because it's a fantastical world where dragons exist... And who wouldn't want that to be reality?!?

I empathsied with Sarah, all the knowledge and wisdom of a dragon at your finger tips, it woipd be amazing... And to be saved by a dragon... I think I'd worship them too 😂
I felt sorry for Jason and Sarah in their small backwards town full of racism, but i think they survived admirably.
Kazimir was a fabulous character to have the pov from an actual dragon is pretty cool and honestly the main reason i wanted to read this book. I love Kazimir's knowledge base and yet he was not all knowing but tried to help as much as he could.
Kelby was a total asshole... I am annoyed at his pov at the end... It feels totally unfinished and... Just.... Bad... Not good at all. But i guess its used to drive home Kazimir's point at the end.
I did like the fact the Malcolm tried to save himself and Nelson in the new world and that he was brave enough to go back to save Nelson in their original world, and I'm glad he took the spur.

Like i said i definitely want to read more of this authors work.... And i will eventually.

HO LY SHIT.
I could not put this book down. I could not. For over 350 pages I was just GLUED to my kindle and couldn't read it fast enough. It. is. epic.

First of all, it has dragons. And who doesn't love dragons? Because I sure do! Second of all, it has characters who are fleshed out, who are absolutely incredible, who are - to put it in the easiest way possible - MWAH *chefs kiss*

Honestly, Burn is such a wild ride. There are intrigues, plot twists, and just you wait what happens in "Part Two" because I was not prepared. I think my heart is still a little racing as I am typing this the morning after I've finished this book.

But let me get professional for a moment.

Burn is told by multiple POV's and each of them has a unique and distinguishable voice so that they were so easy to keep apart even though the changing of the POV wasn't confined as it's often the case to separate chapters, but could change within a chapter multiple times. The perspectives all varied in opinion and belief about one specific point in time and it was incredibly interesting to see this one event lived through multiple characters with different goals, all of them absolutely sure that their path is the right one.

With that said, clearly there must've been some wrong opinions and someone's - Malcom's - character arc? Beautifully executed. The pacing of the whole book was just right but the moment he realised that he was on the wrong side? BRILLIANT.

I did get a little worried, when I saw romance enter the already messy situation but it fits. It is not over the top forceful, it makes sense and again, for a lack of better words, it's beautifully executed both in terms of the story itself and the pacing.

I absolutely loved the ending and the only thing that I ask is... Mr Ness... how are Hugh and Nelson doing? What happened? I NEED TO KNOW.

Five stars for this one. 10/10. Such a beautiful wild ride that I couldn't be more happier that I got to go on. Read this book, everyone!

This book has been all I hoped it would be and so much more! I'm not gonna go into any details, because the twists and turns in this story truly took my breath away and I want everyone to have the perfect experience I had with it.

This is a book a bout dragons and magic, but it goes so much deeper than that. It's just truly such a spectacular read, that I would recommend to anyone who is into fantasy and even to those who think about branching out into it. There are some historic aspects to the story and overall I'm just so happy dragons are celebrating a comeback.

Burn is truly special and unique, even for someone like me, who has really read as much about dragons as one could.

I have a very special relationship with Patrick Ness’s books. They either break my heart in the smallest pieces (A Monster Calls) or leave me dumbfounded, wondering what the heck did I just read?! (The Rest of Us Just Live Here). «Burn» definitely falls more into the second category. While I liked the characters and the story more than in «The Rest of Us Just Lives Here», it was still a very weird book.

If you ever wanted a contemporary book but with dragons - «Burn» is exactly what you’ve been looking for! Patrick Ness often dabs his fingers in fantasy, sci-fi, and dystopian genres, but all of his books I read feel like a contemporary because of where he puts his attention to - mostly towards the character development, the relationship between the characters and various human emotions.

He is also the first author that comes to mind whenever someone asks me about a good queer recommendation. From his beautiful prose to heartbreaking relationships, Patrick Ness often writes about love, in all aspects and meanings of the word. The love between partners (no matter their gender), love between siblings, love between parents and children. And «Burn» isn’t an exception to that rule.

Would I recommend this book? If you’re already familiar with Patrick Ness’s writing, I would highly recommend reading this one as well. You might discover a new favorite or you might find hidden gems that the author seemed to bury in this story.
However, if you aren’t familiar with Patrick Ness’s books, I wouldn’t recommend starting with «Burn». So far, nothing could beat «A Monster Calls» for me.

Firstly, I would like to thank Walker Books, particularly Ellen, who helped me get this book early to review, so thank you. I also would like to point out a few triggers to be aware of in this book; at times there is use of racist and derogatory terms towards the main characters, homophobic remarks and homophobia, and sexist remarks are also used at times. Please let me know of any I might have missed!

Burn is a book set roughly in the 1950's during the Space Race/ Cold War period. However, in this world Dragons also exist alongside humans, but there is an outstanding rivalry between the two species, where peace is hanging on by a thread. In this world, Dragons are mostly subservient to humans, and used as workers. Until, a girl called Sarah's father hired a Russian blue Dragon to help on their farm. Struggling with life after the loss of her mother and a world where is is judged on the colour of her skin, she is launched into a world of murder, conspiracy and potentially the end of everything. Sarah is the key to survival.

This book was very, very fast paced! Once things started heating up, it really just kept going. Throughout this story, there is multiple points of view from at least every character introduced in the book. At first, it's intriguing to see the different sides to essentially the same situation, and it's very satisfying when all the points of view meld together and everything starts to make sense. Patrick Ness has clearly planned and thought out everything that happens in this book, as it all seamlessly fits together. I thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone's point of view and wasn't bored at any point throughout the story, which is always my worry with multiple P.O.V's in a book. So props to the author for that.

I enjoyed being able to gradually connect the dots of all the major plot points that were hinted and teased throughout the book, and yet still get surprised when certain details were revealed. The only thing I wish for, is more detail on the history of the Dragons and how it got to be the world it was. Whilst some things were explained at the end, there was still a few more details about the magic system and the Dragons that could have had more explanation. But, I'm a big Dragon fan, so I just always want more Dragons! The end leaves off very nicely wrapped up but yet open enough for the author to come back to, which I hope he does cos I really enjoyed this!

Overall, I give Burn 4 stars. I was very involved in this book and for a long time I just kept reading, as it really gravitated my attention. Being wary of the triggers I've mentioned, I would recommend any fantasy, and particularly Dragon lovers, to consider giving this book a read! Thank you again to Walker Books for providing me an early copy to review.

I kinda have a love/hate relationship when it comes to Patrick Ness. I love his ideas and how he builds his worlds.
I mean, who does come to an idea of mixing up a normal life on a farm with a Russian named dragon, a prophecy, and some bit of magic?
It is a different kind of storytelling and it is quite magnificent.
As the story evolves the there is one plot twist following the next and it is really something you have never read before. Ness is one of the most unique writers who will leave you with a lot going on, in your mind.

Reading this book was a wild journey. I had no idea on what to expect from it and what I found was so much more. It took a while to get used to the way the book was narrated (multiples pov), plus nothing really interesting happens on the first 50 pages or so. But I must say the last 100 pages were insane! I flew through it and as I said it was wild. All you need to know: dragons living "in peace" with humans, multiverse, corrupt people, racism, assassins, queer characters. Patrick Ness has a weird way to write his books and I thought this would be no different from the others I've read it. But man, I was so damn wrong.