I enjoyed this book more than I expected, especially after hearing the initial discourse surrounding this book.

First off, I want to preface this by saying that I am in no way condemning reverse racism, however this is not how the book came across to me at all. Galen and Aramis are mixed race, with their white father's Skybreaker legacy behind them, where he was a powerful ruler but with a sometimes cruel streak, as seen as when he drowned entire villages for failing to pay taxes. Their mother was a blood witch and the Bloodwinn, offered in marriage to secure the treaty, so she is more a symbol of power than being possessed of real power, even though the marriage ends up being a love match. This is especially clear when we see the parallels between our MC, Ranka, and the former queen, as recounted from Aramis's memories. Despite being a blood witch, it is clear that both Ranka and the former queen preferred not to use their powers, with the queen trying to come up with medicines to help others like herself.

Furthermore, the Sunra siblings are not oppressors, as they have no real power: they are often kept in the dark about sinister goings-on in the city and across the country. More than anything, they are figureheads, celebrated until they are blamed when things go wrong despite it being out of their control since they were kept in the dark.
Aramis truly wants to help others, as evidenced by her deep desire to heal others and develop a cure, as well as her determination to figure out what's going on with the Hands of Solomei and her city, even without much support. Galen who is kind and gentle, doesn't want to be king, and he especially does not want to rule with an iron fist like his father.

I also found that rather than antisemitism, the qualities of being a blood-witch here were really a trauma response created by the need for protection, and are more symptomatic of chronic illness or PTSD, both of which I can deeply relate to. That and the fact that neither Ranka nor the other blood-witches are Jewish coded in any way, since it seems to afflict people of any race so long as they are exposed to the right (or wrong) circumstances and is borne from trauma. Ranka herself has dealt with abuse her whole life and has a skewer perspective of things, manipulated by other white people in power to believe that the Sunra siblings are to blame for everything bad happening in her life. Her battle is not just a physical one, but it is also one of a struggle to break from a conditioned trauma response and to break from a cycle of abuse she is so used to that she does not even realise it is abuse. The way Mix writes this is powerful and evocative, and I'm sure that many will be able to relate to the themes discussed in this story, and to hopefully find strength from it.

TL;DR: the adults are the ones to blame here, their plots and schemes all for their own benefit, consequences be damned. Aramis, Galen, Percy and Ranka are merely teenagers trying to make the best out of a bad situation.

DNF

I went into this wary after all the controversy surrounding it, with many peoplw much more qualified than me bringing up issues with antisemitism and racism.

I didn't get far enough to comment on this as it failed to grip me. Struggled through the first few chapters and had to DNF it

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for proving me with an ARC of this book.

I wanted to read this book because I wanted to form my own opinion on the controversy surrounding it, but frankly, I didn’t even get far enough to get to the potentially problematic parts.

Having looked into the controversy before I started reading, I had a pretty good idea of the direction of the plot, which seemed to be a rather basic YA fantasy story. But if done well, the tropes in the book are some I usually enjoy, so I wanted to give it a shot.

Sadly, it wasn’t done well in my opinion.
The worldbuilding was lackluster, it felt a bit surface-level rather than rich and immersive.
The writing style was my main issue: The narration felt distant, I love when I can lose myself in a book, but this one constantly took me out of the story because I kept stumbling over the writing. It was a lot of telling instead of showing.

I didn’t get far enough to comment on character and plot development, or even the characters themselves, though I will say that my impression was that Ranka felt pretty flat.

I don’t usually rate DNFs so I’m giving it 2 stars for the benefit of the doubt that it might get better later on, but I just didn’t care enough to keep going.

I lost my interest on the part where there's cabbage merchant being a victim of the commotion (yes it was THAT early) likee its literally from Avatar franchise and she just decided to put it in the book???? why won't she pick another commodity or smth😩

It is very difficult to express an opinion on this book!

In this review I will not talk about all the scandal that has been created around this book because reading it I understood the intentions of the author and I have not read anything bad or racist in this book it is just a controversial and parched situation but nothing more!

Anyway ... I liked the book! A good fantasy, well structured but unfortunately not too successful in its intent! I liked the characters but I found them not very characterized while I liked the love story a lot and it was very original!

In a nutshell: a book full of potential but which turned out to be forgettable ... but it was a lot of fun to read!

The Ones we Burn is out everywhere on November 8th! I strongly recommend you to read it to make a personal thought of this book too!

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with this e-ARC!

Once I started in this book, I found myself dragged along with the story. I really enjoyed reading about Ranka, she wasn't a hero, she wasn't a villain. She was something in between and that made it even more interesting. The line between good and bad is so thin and this book explored that very beautifully.
Normally I don't always like reading about witches, but this book was different. The storyline was strong, the characters were interesting and the worldbuilding was great. There was enough depth to challenge the reader, but it wasn't really difficult either. Some elements, like the friendships and love interests were predictable from time to time, but the story contained a lot of surprising and unpredictable turns that made the book very interesting, fun and exciting to read.
The exploration of the different characters was amazing, even though the story is only told through Ranka. You can see other characters grow, they make mistakes and learn from it. But especially Ranka. Her journey, the things she goes through, the things she leaves behind and the new experiences are truely beautiful, haunting and feel very realistic.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing an eARC to review!

I just wasn't getting into this and I felt like it was something I've read a lot lately - woman gets chosen to be a sacrifice to the ruler to save her people etc. I liked the idea of the protagonist turning down this destiny but it didn't last long, and I also haven't had much luck with 'I'm supposed to kill' you plotlines lately either so thought best to just quit while I was ahead.

I didn't really get far enough in to see why this book was so problematic, but I also just don't think it's a particularly good book? The dialogue felt very forced and the protagonist was telling us how much of a fighter she was despite us never seeing evidence of this.

If you're looking for a Viking inspired book that's a lot of fun read Sky in the Deep and if you're into the 'girl sacrificed to ruler' read For the Wolf or The Wolf and the Woodsman.

Posted to Goodreads

I did not fully connect to the story or the characters so I am giving it a 3 ⭐️ BUT that’s not to say it’s a meh book.
The story involved politics, adversity, self-development, action, magic and love 💕 and I really really enjoyed the last 25% of the book. This was when the plot really developed on from all the information at the start of it and the world building was original, which I always love.

I would say read it and form your own views, especially for the last 25% which was just lush!

I requested this book mainly on the basis of the cover which I thought was brilliant. The plot sounded interesting and I’m really glad to say that I wasn’t disappointed.
I had no idea of the controversy regarding this book when I requested it but have to say that having read the book, I don’t think that the negative views regarding the supposed racism are upheld by what is actually in the book.
I loved the character of Vanya, the Blood Witch. As the only one of her generation she is forced by a treaty signed years ago to marry the king. This will maintain peace between the witches and the human kingdom and safeguard the witches homelands. We see her as she resists her fate but eventually gives in and then has to really examine all of what she believes as she gradually comes to realise that so much of what she has been brought up to believe isn’t true.
The plot is quite complex with several different strands but the book is easy to read and the short chapters kept me turning the pages. I enjoyed the way the story played out and the part near the end where Vanka confronts her darkest memories definitely brought a lump to my throat.
This book is YA but has some very dark aspects including some very gory descriptions of a plague-like illness. I loved the royal twins and Percy although I would have liked a lot more information about him and his magic.
The world building was a bit lacking in parts and it would have been helpful to know a bit more about why the humans hated and feared the witches so much especially as apart from Vanka, their magic doesn’t appear to be particularly threatening. A map would have helped too but then I always think that fantasy books need maps.
I thought that this was a great debut and I would certainly be interested in reading more by this author.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder for this advanced copy

The Ones We Burn promises us with such a brutal and epic fight. But, no, I can't find any of "Epic" fight in this book. Our main character is Ranka and she definitely not a smart character. She just head to the castle without any plans, just revenge in her heart. The worldbuilding also lack of explanations.

The book is slow and it takes a long time to get started. Overall the writing style is ok and really something special. Neither is the story I feel like I have read many book like this. Multiple times I was not sure if I would ever finish this book. Personally I would rather stay up a night than read something so boring that I have to put it away.

Also the names and terms are not easy to remember

Before we begin, I want to address the controversy that surrounds this book. As always, please be sure to check out own voices reviews, because as a white reader, my opinion on the matter is not truly relevant, and I will just be reporting what I read online. The book has been accused both of antisemitic takes and racism.
Let’s start by the antisemitism, but be aware that it’s a bit unclear to me: Jewish reader have pointed out that the use of blood magic is antisemitic, however I have also seen Jewish reviewers saying that a witch using blood magic is not antisemitic. If you know more about this topic, feel free to explain it to me in the comments, because I am interested in learning, but I am afraid that the Internet won’t be helpful and will give me wrong info.
As far as the racism is concerned, the reviews by Black people are also divided. I will report both sides, and you can then decide what to think. In the book, the royal family is portrayed as POC, and the main character is white. According to some reviews, there the reverse racism trope, because the royalty and government is oppressing witches. However, other reviews point out that not all witches are white and they are not oppressed because they are white, but because they are witches, so it’s not really reverse racism.
I believe that the problem with this particular thing is how badly the book is written. Personally, I think the author shouldn’t have written this oppressor-oppressed thing with the oppressor being Black, since she is white, but I also think that there are contrasting opinions on the matter because the book was truly awful as far as world building is concerned.
Aside from its issues, I found this to be a below average YA fantasy, which was trying to do too many things and accomplished none of them: the characters were extremely stereotypical, even the one character I enjoyed (Percy) was clearly written to be the fan favourite, stringing together a bunch of clichés; the world building, as I said, is lacking and left me with a bad taste in my mouth, because it could have been great; the plot was so basic and boring I found myself dozing off in the middle of chapters. The writing wasn’t good either and it contributed, at least in my opinion, to make the issues above more prominent.
In general, this reminded me a bit of Sweet & Bitter Magic, another instance where a witchy sapphic book disappointed me. At least Sweet & Bitter Magic wasn’t controversial.
Anyways, I would not recommend this book, because despite the fact that there are contrasting takes on the antisemitism and racism, I believe that if so many Jewish and Black people have pointed out its problems, even if there are some that were not offended by this, the issue is still there and I would much rather recommend an uplifting book for marginalised groups. Moreover, it’s really not a good book and you won’t missing out on anything.

I was really looking forward to reading this from the synopsis it seemed right up my street but unfortunately I couldn't get into it and dnf after about 90 pages it was just a slog getting through and I was not enjoying it.

I am aware of all the controversy surrounding the book at the moment and was willing to give it a chance but sorry just not for me.

while my thoughts aren't authoritative against reviews from black and jewish reviews, i do want to share some brief thoughts on this. many have pointed out the reversed racism trope in this book as an upholding of white supremacy, but personally i find that the conflict between the witch covens (who are mostly white) and the human royals (who are mostly black) is not concentrated on the race/skin color of different factions, but rather the clash between witches and humans (so a matter of ideologies). that being said, i will educate myself further on the topic, particularly the references to antisemitism (of which i didn't notice), with reviews from jewish and black reviews.

on the content itself, i really love the poetic and lyrical writing as well as the way rebecca mix constructed her story. there is no plot hole, no undesired surprise (i figured out the plot twist pretty early on and i find it logical) and overall a very graceful representation of supressed trauma. it could have been more original, but i am satisfied with the execution of rebecca mix.

This book has been filled with controversy, with a lot of seemingly coming from one review only.
I don't think this book is perfect, neither in the race aspect or in writing itself. I found the relationships to be a lot more tell instead of show and wasn't feeling the budding relationships, the black twins are in a position of power, but they're neither the villains nor the oppressors of the book. Actually for a book filled with monsters and morally grey characters, the twins are the most good with neither of them never committing an action that could plausibly be seen as evil. I am not black though, so I would like to say that I do not have a final say in whether there's racism in the book, but from what I've seen of black people who've read and reviewed the book, I mostly get that it's not portraying reverse racism, but it's also not good representation. Being black is not important for the character. Neither is the race of any of the other characters.

What the book did really great and put it up from 3 star to 3.5 stars for me, was the portrayal of abuse and chronic illness. There's especially a section towards the end that felt beautifully written and immersed me more than any of the rest of the book had.

Thanks to netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this arc!

Thank you Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the arc of The Ones We Burn by Rebecca Mix in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

I requested this book before all the controversy on social media and Goodreads started to circulate. I looked at a variety reviews from those that clearly hadn’t read the book to the more constructive and appropriately sourced reviews. Personally, I’m the last person with any entitlement to express an opinion, but what I can and have done is read the book and this is my review. Nothing more, no opinions from me other than when I read the story I couldn’t find any of the racist and antisemitic elements that the pot had been stirred about.

The Ones We Burn focuses on the story of Ranka, a blood witch and member of the Skra coven. Ranka, her coven and the other witch covens living in the kingdom of Isodal are the minority. Living gradually reduced lives, lands and freedoms as humans control the power dynamic in the kingdom.


As the only blood witch of her generation, Ranka is named the Bloodwinn and under the human /witch treaty must marry the heir to the throne. Ranka despite all her efforts is forced to go to the capital where the plot truly thickens, to meet her betrothed and his twin, and take up her role as his wife and queen.

The plot moves on from this to a series of plans and subterfuges, attempted revolution and more, with Ranka at its centre. However, the tone and plot also addresses the endemic abuse that Ranka suffered when she was a child from those who ‘loved’ her and foes not shy away from abuse.

As a YA, I think the tone is well placed, the characters are well defined and empathetic, but at times there was a sense of deja vu. The world building itself is quite sparse and there are a number of references to very modern terms, but none of this detracts too strongly from the story.

Overall, an engaging read that pulls you in, with a satisfying end and some newly used tropes and sapphic storyline. Great for Halloween, delivering dark witch powers, things that go bump in the night and loads of magic powers!

Normally I’d go about 3.5 for this one, but in light of past events I’m lifting to a solid 4.

Allegations aside, I decided to read this book because I wanted to know whether I would purchase it as a book box subscription or not. Conclusion: I will not.

I do not want to get into an argument with anyone about the complaints this book has had. Therefore, I will side step that and discuss my thoughts on other aspects of the book.

This book started off well. I was intrigued by Ranka and wanted to learn more about her struggles and backstory. The idea of her infiltrating and trying the kill the prince is a trope well used but I adore. However, it barely features in the book. Almost instantly, Ranka goes into the castle and there is no aggression or no plans to do anything about the prince. She does nothing but walk around or follow the princess into a tunnel.

As a blood witch trained and groomed to hate the crown, the lack of action is boring. She befriends them almost immediately and the "animosity" between her and the princess is a gentle breeze if anything. Not convincing. Nor was the romance. They barely talk to each other (though there is a lot of intense staring) and suddenly its attraction and love. I feel like it could have been sooo much better. I would hardly call it enemies to lovers because a) they were hardly enemies to begin with because there was NO FIGHTING and b) I didn't believe in the romance enough for it to be love.

The world building was also so confusing. The explanations of different clans couldn't have been fleshed out a lot more and I found I was very confused at who were the bad guys and who were the good guys. There was a lot of side plots that distracted from the main one (IDEK what the main one was because it certainly was not killing the prince or finding Veyna...if that was her name). The bad guys kept switching and by that point I was so disconnected from the plot that I just skim read the rest of the book. I felt barely attached to the characters.

All in all, I hate it when the blurb does not actually match the story.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of the book sounded very interesting and promising however I felt it just didn't deliver - the writing style and worldbuilding were lacking for me.

I’d like to start out by thanking Netgalley and the publisher, Hodder & Stoughton, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for this honest review.

I’d also like to start out by mentioning the controversy surrounding this book, but as I’m neither black nor Jewish, I will not comment on it, as it is not my place to do so. Instead I suggest reading reviews by readers from both these demographics, which has people on both sides.

The book has quite an interesting concept: witch is sent to marry and kill the prince, but she ends up falling in love with his sister, as well as some very well written stories about abuse and mental illness. Unfortunately I struggled to connect to the characters, both because the pacing was fast and because the story felt more plot than character driven. Though I really enjoyed the part of the story that focused on manipulation and abuse, coming to realize someone you dearly love is abusing you / abused you and then healing from that. I think if I’d been younger I’d definitely have enjoyed the story more, so I think its more a case of me being in the wrong demographic. Had I perhaps been a few years younger I might have really loved this.

I’m not sure if I’ll review this book other places due to the controversy, but if I do, it’ll be at some point closer to the book’s release.

Ranka must marry a Prince in order to keep her people safe. But she finds herself drawn instead to the Prince's sister, who helps her work with her magic and investigate the deaths of fellow witches.

The writing style of this book is pretty good, but the world building is a little lacking and I was confused to start with. However, it does pick up! I just wasn't a big fan of Ranka by then - she wasn't a character that I really felt anything for.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review