A wonderful witchy powerful story! Magical beyond words. I devoured this book and it stayed with me for days, I highly recommend it!

The Ones We Burn is a book that completely blew me away. It’s raw, cruel and heartbreaking, it deals with abuse, grief, and a pain that scars deeply… but it’s also full of a hope, and of a love that is uncorrupted and real.

In the world Rebecca Mix perfectly crafted, the frail alliance between humans and witches is secured by a treaty: the strongest blood witch, charged with the title of Blodwinn, is chosen to marry the Sunra’s heir and become queen. The Ones We Burn tells the story of Ranka, a young witch and latest Bloodwinn, from the moment she is forced to leave her coven in the North and journey to Seasweapt, capital of the human kingdom, to marry Galen Sunra… and to kill him, as part of a coup planned by her coven’s leader.
But Ranka gets surprised when she discovers that Galen is not a cruel leader, like his father, but a gentle prince, and his twin, Aramis, is brilliant and extremely attractive. Walking on the fine line that separates villains and heroes, Ranka will be forced to examine all her beliefs in a journey that could change everything, or doom the whole world.

Even though the main plot is always gripping and left you curious to solve the mystery of the witch-killing plague, with brilliant plot twists that are always surprising but also perfectly fits with the rest of the narrative, The Ones We Burn is, at its core, a character-driven story: told from Ranka’s point of view, it’s sustained by all the four main characters equally (Percy is definitely my favorite, and I’m sure many will adore him as well), and as a matter of fact the plot itself is something deeply connected with the characters, not just a series of events they live through. And there is something extraordinary in the way, with a perfect balance of adorable (and quieter) scenes between Ranka, Aramis, Galen and Percy, and more active ones that move the story forward, this book is ultimately the story of how these four grown-up kids found a safe place in each other among the madness of their lives. It’s found family dynamic at its best, truly.

The characters’ development is executed remarkably well, considering the limited space of a stand-alone, with complex and stunning evolution arcs, especially Ranka’s (if you loved Zuko’s arc in ATLA, be assured you are going to adore hers as well), that is extremely realistic in not being completely straightforward, and instead interrupted by many wrong decisions and mistakes. But there is something moving in seeing how Ranka literally blossoms from the moment she starts to hang out with Percy and the twins, even when they are still her enemies (at least in name), because for the first time she got to be with people who didn’t fear her because of her blood magic or saw her only as a weapon to be used, but whom at least were able to “friendly” tolerate her.

However, the thing in which Rebecca has completely outdone herself is the relationship between Ranka and Aramis, and how it slowly evolved from hate and diffidence, to mutual respect, to something that clearly reminds of love. But nothing is too easy in this book, and the connection that bonds them is way more complicated and fascinating than this.

The Ones We Burn is able to be fun and cute at times, but also deep and heartbreaking in portraying how abuse often comes from the people one loves the most, and the immense strength it takes to shape ourselves into something different, something better than what others raised one to become. And at the center of it all, is the concept that healing is not an easy process, and definitely one that should be undertaken only for oneself, not for anyone else.

There is a part of Rebecca intertwined between every line, and that’s one of the reasons why this book is so special. She is truly a talented writer, with a prose full of highlighting-worthy quotes, and you should definitely keep her on your radar.

I recommend The Ones We Burn to readers looking for a unique fantasy with charming characters, and who don’t mind crying at least a couple of times… and I’m going to sob over that beautiful epilogue and make peace with the fact that I will have to say goodbye to my favorite dorks 😭

THIS MAGIC SYSTEM IS INSANE!! Magic that craves death is a really interesting idea and I adore it. Ranka is called a blood witch, but her magic is not blood related and is in fact solely based on her magic craving death.

If you’re into ya fantasy this is definitely a great read, the plot was incredibly interesting and very well written. There were plot twists I didn’t predict while reading, but once they happened I remembered the subtle hints in the previous chapters. The characters had amazing arcs, we had huge growth from our main character, Ranka, in particular. She learnt to trust herself and be who she wants to be, not the weapon she was forced to become. We had the twins who were such polar opposites that I loved their characters as individuals, and as a dynamic duo. We have Galen who is more shy and reserved, and Aramis who is a smart, funny, all-round badass. And Percy who I think is literally my favourite because he is hilarious, but also has a heart of gold.

I adored the slow burn romance in this, and the theme of trauma, suppressing trauma and eventually facing your trauma was something that really stuck with me. As someone who has experienced trauma, I really related to the characters struggles and the difficulty overcoming her trauma, it was slow, it took time, and it was written perfectly. It hit hard, and was very accurately represented in this book.

Another theme of this novel that was tackled superbly is abuse. What do you do when the people who are supposed to love you, care for you, and protect you, are the ones who hurt you just to further their own ambitions? What do you do when everything you’ve ever been taught was a lie to weaponise you and the person you were taught to hate, is in fact, innocent? My heart hurts.

Rebecca Mix’s debut is absolutely everything I love in a ya fantasy read and I cannot wait to read more from her.

I don't normally read fantasy, but the reason I requested this ARC is so I could review a book that I had actually read - unlike most of the reviews that have been logged so far on Goodreads.

I think it comes as no surprise that the book does not contain any of the racist/antisemitic elements that someone successfully started a smear campaign about. It is actually staggering how many people mindlessly followed that first accusation without checking for themselves. And in doing so, drove an excited young author away from the internet.

I hope this doesn't come across as rude, but Rebecca Mix isn't exactly an established name in writing (yet). She's had a couple of threads go viral, and they have been very funny, and I would wager that this is how most people became aware of her. Someone quite clearly took umbrage and decided that they would try and ruin her writing career before it starts, and the Goodreads rating very quickly dropped from 4.65 to 3.15 with no sign of recovering, from all the people who made a Goodreads account only so they could one-star this book and perpetuate the accusations.

The situation that the accuser has made up is so blatantly NOT present in the book, all it would take for people to verify these claims would be reading the first ten pages. Instead, we've had users withdraw their previous praise, all because someone made up a racist undertone to the book and they have just taken that as a fact instead of reflecting on their own reading experience. I read a couple of other books fairly recently which mentioned blood magic. Neither was targeted to this extent, or at all, which really drives the point home that this is a personal attack on this particular author. Shockingly, if people have to go back and edit their reviews because they "hadn't realised" that something was racist, chances are it wasn't racist in the first place.

Yes there is an oppressor and an oppressed group in this book - but neither is entirely white or entirely Black. Race isn't what divides the characters in this book and the main conflict and power dynamic is between humans and witches, both of which span several races and genders. Which is made clear from, like, chapter 1.

It is a good story - if a little long - told from the point of view of Ranka, who is the only living blood witch of her generation and therefore must be married to the human prince as established by a peace treaty. There are 4 central characters, all teenagers, with fairly distinct voices which is often easier to achieve in 3rd person narration, and the prose flows really well in spite of being repetitive at times (which I think is by choice for once, as opposed to sloppy editing).

This book is one big allegory for being brought up by a narcissistic parent (or several authority figures in the case of Ranka), yes it's a little heavy handed at times and feels like it's regurgitating instagram infographics about childhood trauma *but* I also appreciate that writing this must have been cathartic for the author as she was processing her own abuse through her characters.

I would have rated this 4 stars if I was rating it in a vacuum, but I am rating it 5 to counteract all of the fake reviews from people who haven't read a single word of it.

With thanks to Hodder&Stoughton and Netgalley UK for the e-ARC of this book.

Honestly, to say this was overwhelmingly good would be an understatement. My high hopes were lifted with each banter-filled, action-packed page.
First of all, I LOVED Ranka. That girl needs a hug and a touch of therapy, but I love her.
Aramis and Galen were the icing on an already amazing, queer cake, and Percy was the pinecone on top.
Rebecca's writing is simply divine, the dialogue is natural, funny and sharp, and while this is a dark novel at times, with themes of abuse, death (and the plague!) it never feels too dark. Ultimately, this is a book about survival, love, found family, and learning to love yourself. It's romantic, and sweet, and brutal and hopeful.

recieved this book as both pdf and audio as part of an advanced reader group in return for a honest review.

I was at frist drawn into the cover art. It was soo eye catching the powerful Great axe and around it the furry of fire.

The words just above the title
" I am the Weapon. Use me "

Together it was like a sirens call. I needed to know who or what they burned .Who was this weapon that was spoken of?

It turned out the ones they burned were witches. Children born with magic in their veins.
.

One such child was Ranka . Her magic was different from that of others it demanded sacrifice , it demanded a life. Ranka was a blood witch.

After her magic destroyed her life with her sister , she was found by the leader of Skra.

The old witch took her, claimed her for the coven and told her she would be strong and she would be powerful.
Her adoptive family the Skra coven took her and taught her to use her magic for the good of the coven.

Then she was named Bloodwinn. The plan was simple she would go to the Prince as part of the treaty between the Witches and non magic peoples and when her blood magic built within her she would kill the prince and her adoptive people as well as others would cease power and reclaim their lands . No more burning.

It seemed simple.

As a debut novel this is breath taking and utterly sensational. It was slightly slow to start but once it did...I couldn't put it down I had to know what was going to happen next. I had to know if Ranka survived.

Pure epic story telling. I expect we will be seeing great things from this talented wordsmith.

The One We Burn is a sensational debut book about young blood witch name Ranka who tried to ended treaty with pretending to doing her duties to married human prince. The premise is interesting expecially when our FMC finally learned the real truth from peoples she thought as her mortal enemies. I like how author trying to provide diversity in characters expecially at the court. The pace is slower than my usually but still enjoyable and suitable with Ranka's narration. Ranka suffered since young age and badly traumatized. I feel sympathy, understand her angsty, and appreciate saw her character growing in whole story.

The writing style is smooth and easy to understand. Author can fleshed out her characters and delivered her story. I think need extra work on world building development because right now the book only scratches the surface all the potential. I enjoyed the banter between character, and wishes extra chemistry on the romance side.

Overall this isnt perfect but a solid enjoyable read from debut book. Halloween is near and I am glad got my hand on this book full of dark magic and bloody badass witches.

Thank you Hodder & Stoughton (Audio) and Netgalley for provided my copy. Really appreciate and my thoughts are my own

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.

The Ones We Burn is an incredible debut. Rebecca Mix has a writing style that completely drew me in. The plot was exciting, unique and the characters were good, although not as fleshed out as I would have liked.  Overall, if you are looking for a fast paced fantasy, I highly recommend this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5 stars
The Ones We Burn is a story about Ranka, a blood-witch, sent as a bride to the human prince to honor the treaty.

“The family you choose are the ones who leave the deepest mark.”

I love a good story about witches, and loved every minute of reading this one! I dove into this story and had such a hard time putting it down!

The writing and plot were basic, but so good! It has the typical fantasy tropes and characters, but so much lore and worldbuilding was put into this world! The different types of covens, witches, powers and the humans made the world feel wholesome and big. I loved getting to know the world.

The plot was very good as well. Ranka going under the guise of marrying Galen and killing him to save the problem of suppression of the witches. It is something I’ve seen before, but the execution was done so well. The political unrest, the plague killing witches and the tensions were written so well. I just wanted to keep on reading to find out what would happen next.

The characters were really well developed and I loved them. They are noticeably teenagers and often act without thinking, but I loved the development and growth they went through. Ranka especially grew so much. I loved how she went from blindly following to really standing up for herself and becoming confident in who she is (she really reminded me of Zuko so much). I also really liked how kind-hearted and gentle Galen was. Percy was just so funny and Aramis really stole my heart.

I loved the found family aspect of this book so much! While Galen, Aramis and Percy were a bit established already, Ranka fitted in perfectly. They found a safe place in each other while trying to solve the problems kids shouldn’t have to deal with. I also really loved the little bits of romance that lifted the book to a higher level for me. it developed from “hate” to mutual respect and them needing each other to love.

Overall, The Ones We Burn is a great story with a full plot and story, fun, humor, heartbreak and mind-blowing moment.