Review: Burn

Burn
By Patrick Ness

Published By: Walker Books
Publication Date: June 2, 2020
Date Read: April 30, 2023
Genre: YA – Historical Fantasy
Source: Bought
Format: Audiobook
Pages: 383

From Goodreads:
In 1956 Sarah Dewhurst’s father shocks her by hiring a dragon to work the farm. The dragon is a smaller blue rather than the traditional larger reds, though even the reds are now scarce. When the blue dragon, Kazimir, unexpectedly saves Sarah and her friend Jason Inagawa from the attentions of the racist police deputy, Kelby, everything changes. Sarah is part of a prophecy and she must escape the clutches of Malcolm, an assassin from a Believer Cell, the dragon-worshiping cult. When Sarah, Malcolm, and Kazimir eventually converge, they are thrown into another universe, where dragons seem never to have existed. Can they save this world and the one they left?

“He was the thing the world had suffered from most in her four billion years of existence: a stupid man with power.”

When I first went into this book, I went in completely blind. Typically, I don’t read blurbs. I decide whether to read books by word of mouth, covers or author names. I am obsessed with dragons so seeing the dragon on the cover, was all I needed. So, I went in not knowing anything and that was definitely a detriment for me. I had to stop a few chapters in and go read the blurb to find out what the premise of the book was. It was confusing going in blind. But once I went to read what it was about that definitely made it easier.

I listened to the audio edition of Burn and I do recommend it if you’re interested in this book. The narrator did a fantastic job bringing these characters to life, and I really feel like my enjoyment of this book was definitely improved due to the narrator. I personally find Patrick Ness’ books hit or miss. I know he has a huge fanbase and I do love him as a person but I have adored his books (A Monster Calls) and I’ve also DNF’d them in the past (Chaos Walking). I found Burn… okay. It wasn’t bad but it also didn’t blow me away.

Burn was just so different to what I was expecting. It’s hard to classify this one as a genre. It’s a historical fantasy, but it feels a little dystopia as well. It was definitely strange to say the least. It’s set in a 1950s war filled land where there is racism. I think Patrick Ness did a great job of tackling these issues and that’s one of the things I liked most about the book. It tackled some really important real life issues that are still happening, but were definitely more prevalent in the 50s and he did it in a fantasy setting so it didn’t feel quite as real. I feel like this was really well done.

For me, there was just so much going on, that I felt like the book lost its impact and power a little bit. There was dragons and war and racism and then time travel and parallel worlds. I don’t know if it was because I was listening to the audio edition that it felt a little bit too much, but I just started loosing interest a little bit, because a part of me was wondering what the heck was happening. It just felt a bit too much happening in such a short period of time.

Burn was a good read and I am definitely glad that I gave it a go. It’s not one that I will re-read, but I am glad that I read it. If you’re a fan of historical fantasy and dragons then I think this one will definitely be for you.

“Prophecy is slippery, dangerous, open to fatal misinterpretation.”

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