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izzys_internet_bookshelf's review
1.0
1/5
I was excited at first hut then over the book it decreased because of the pacing and I just lost interest in the story
I was excited at first hut then over the book it decreased because of the pacing and I just lost interest in the story
alyssaindira's review
4.0
Hey guys, so I finished Burning Glass By Kathryn Purdie. Yay! I was able to read a book that wasn't a school required reading! I swear, you wouldn't believe how long I've waited to read a book for my own pleasure. But school does come first, sadly. Oh well. Anyways, I finished this novel about an empath(AuraSeer) who has dangerous but remarkable abilities that she had tried to keep hidden. Key word, tried. Needless to say, something major happens and she is forced to lead a life she never contented. One that involves entangling with two most intriguing men in the empire. The emperor, and the prince. Brothers no less! Thus, this book is filled with Sonya attempting to sort through her feelings for both of them, and keep track with the duty she never desired, and a rebellion she never meant to take place in. Gah. And, to make matters worse, each brother stands on either side of the revolution. And you know what that means...*facepalm*. Okay, so the book was pretty easy to read, when my thoughts weren't wandering about. Some of the added details was obviously needed, considering Sonya's character has a lot of internal, not external struggles that cannot be shown through just dialogue. However, I did find myself skipping over some of the excessive words that contributed to what a room in a palace looked like. Like seriously, I don't really care about that. Ha. Now...what I do care about is that prince or emperor standing half dressed in that room. Heh. Okay, so.... Gah! I have to talk about the guys. I have to. Prince Anton. At first he is guarded, aloof, but seemingly compassionate. He is more of a peaceful peace, despite his background. (I won't tell you that, gotta find out for yourselves). He seemed alright, just kind of there in the story for the first half of the book. But then...whew... Now, on the other hand, Emperor Valko. Well, that boy was just a whirlwind from the start! He holds dark passion and dark temper within him, until there comes a good opportunity to let it out with force. He is a tortured man, what emperor isn't, with all that burden? He has a bloody past in similar like to Sonya. Gah, he is just so...all consuming at times. Or maybe I just have a soft spot for dark seemingly misguided misunderstood men. For example, he reminded me of Maven from The Glass Sword. Val wanted what he cannot have basically. He wanted to exert control and dominion over everything and everyone. He wanted Sonya to be his, and only his. Without taking care for the cost. He craved power, above all else. And that, folks, shall be his undoing. So yeah, I enjoyed this storyline. At times, it felt rushed, at times it felt too slow. Also, I do kind of thing some of the romance just randomly was written into the pages. Or maybe I either missed something, or was too busy rooting for the other guy, thus denying any romance the main character had for the opposer. What can I say, I kind of like to root for the underdog, kind of. Gah. My feelings are just as complicated as Sonya's for those two alluring men. Humph. But I think by the end, the author makes it clear whom Sonya should be with....soo.. I feel like I wrote too much about the love triangle then anything else...is there anything else to be said...Well, I'll just say that this novel had some twists and spins that add flavour to the storyline and that I enjoyed getting caught up in this world. That being said, however, I don't know if I will read the second book, The Crystal Sword(I think). It think it had a pretty goodish ending. Not all the loose threads were tied up, but some for the most part. Enough to consider it an end. Okay...bye.
joannp's review
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
books4susie's review
4.0
I enjoyed this book but several parts of it felt familiar; girl seeking redemption for her past actions, love triangle between two brothers, girl finding herself and which boy was her her. A good solid fantasy that I'll continue to read.
solafide's review
3.0
3.75 STARS
So this book was good, really good. I haven't been a fan of Purdie's writing in the past, but this book was so much better than I expected.
The two books this reminds me of are Defy the Night by Brigid Kremmerer and Resistance by Jaye L. Knight.
Language: non-existent
Romance: several kissing moments
Violence: minimal blood, several murders, fire, and sexual assault
So this book was good, really good. I haven't been a fan of Purdie's writing in the past, but this book was so much better than I expected.
The two books this reminds me of are Defy the Night by Brigid Kremmerer and Resistance by Jaye L. Knight.
Language: non-existent
Romance: several kissing moments
Violence: minimal blood, several murders, fire, and sexual assault
pypingpanda's review
2.0
When I started reading I had high hopes for this novel and don't get me wrong it was great. But, I did find I had some issues with the writing and final arc of the story.
The beginning is very startling with the introduction of both the main character and her supporting cast. However, I found that the characters drastically changed throughout the story - where I had liked them in the beginning, I found myself hating their blandness in the end. The main characters pivoting moment seemed more an afterthought then a main part of the story especially because she has multiple, some for the discovery of herself and then again to help the climactic ending chapter. Unfortunately although this story had a great beginning, I found it fell quite flat overall and will not be continuing with the rest of the series.
(This title was my FEMALE AUTHOR for the 2020 SDG Library Next Reads Reading Challenge.)
The beginning is very startling with the introduction of both the main character and her supporting cast. However, I found that the characters drastically changed throughout the story - where I had liked them in the beginning, I found myself hating their blandness in the end. The main characters pivoting moment seemed more an afterthought then a main part of the story especially because she has multiple, some for the discovery of herself and then again to help the climactic ending chapter. Unfortunately although this story had a great beginning, I found it fell quite flat overall and will not be continuing with the rest of the series.
(This title was my FEMALE AUTHOR for the 2020 SDG Library Next Reads Reading Challenge.)
yvkhan's review
2.0
As many people have said, a lot of this was pretty meh. It’s only saving grace (?) was the love triangle, if we’re being honest here.
One of my main problems was that Sonya just can’t control her emotions? She denounces the king in front of everyone. She’s too busy getting seduced to do her job. She acts out constantly at the banquet(?) just because everyone around her was really drunk and made her feel really high.
Another problem is how some things have really little build-up? Like, ok, so the dude whose name starts with ‘T’ exists (Tosya?), but why should we care about him? We only know that 1) he’s kind and that 2) everything about him is long, which seems slightly innuendo-ish. For the last scene where Yuri is revealed to have killed the dowager - why should we care about him? We might care about Pia but Yuri isn’t someone we know at all. The revelation has little strength in that way.
I can’t remember them exactly, but there are quite a few other instances where Sonia seems to have thought of something without us following her train of thought or where some other development in emotion or thought has occured that we are unaware of. It feels as if the writer had many specific beats in her mind which she wanted to get to, but could not link together.
This is most obvious to me when Sonia expresses her political opinions. She’s spent so long dwelling in romance during the meetings that we don’t see how she has been paying attention to the important issues at hand. How does she know anything about Shengli? How did we not know of her opinions during the meetings? Did she never think of them? Isn’t she the POV character?
There are also a few other things that struck me as odd (logically speaking). If the Auraseers are meant to be bodyguards, why don’t they learn any self defence? If Tosya’s book is so well known, why didn’t Sonia ever know about it? If manipulating Valko’s emotions is so important, why doesn’t Sonia ever practice?
I also wished that someone would ask the question of why Sonia is so skilled at Auraseeing.
And yeah, that’s about it.
One of my main problems was that Sonya just can’t control her emotions? She denounces the king in front of everyone. She’s too busy getting seduced to do her job. She acts out constantly at the banquet(?) just because everyone around her was really drunk and made her feel really high.
Another problem is how some things have really little build-up? Like, ok, so the dude whose name starts with ‘T’ exists (Tosya?), but why should we care about him? We only know that 1) he’s kind and that 2) everything about him is long, which seems slightly innuendo-ish. For the last scene where Yuri is revealed to have killed the dowager - why should we care about him? We might care about Pia but Yuri isn’t someone we know at all. The revelation has little strength in that way.
I can’t remember them exactly, but there are quite a few other instances where Sonia seems to have thought of something without us following her train of thought or where some other development in emotion or thought has occured that we are unaware of. It feels as if the writer had many specific beats in her mind which she wanted to get to, but could not link together.
This is most obvious to me when Sonia expresses her political opinions. She’s spent so long dwelling in romance during the meetings that we don’t see how she has been paying attention to the important issues at hand. How does she know anything about Shengli? How did we not know of her opinions during the meetings? Did she never think of them? Isn’t she the POV character?
There are also a few other things that struck me as odd (logically speaking). If the Auraseers are meant to be bodyguards, why don’t they learn any self defence? If Tosya’s book is so well known, why didn’t Sonia ever know about it? If manipulating Valko’s emotions is so important, why doesn’t Sonia ever practice?
I also wished that someone would ask the question of why Sonia is so skilled at Auraseeing.
And yeah, that’s about it.
bookstakenzie's review
1.0
This book was okay at the beginning, and it's kind of hard for me to be attached to a book during the exposition. However, there were only two instances when I could not put this book down. Maybe it's because I'm in a book slump, but this book wasn't enjoyable. I had toyed with the idea of an unlikable character while writing, and my creative writing teacher told me this was a bad idea. I now know why. I never liked the main character, and I felt like this book was mainly romance and nothing else, which is fine, just not my taste. I think this book was okay, and read it if you would like.
P.S. Sorry I'm rambling.
SPOILERS:
Yes, there was a revolution in the book, but it wasn't really important. The character deaths didn't really make me emotional or shocked. I was waiting for Pia to die, because I knew it would happen. You have to give readers something to propel them forward, and nothing made you happy in this book. When I realized I just wanted the book to be over, I was rooting for insane, lustfull Valko.
I did like that the antagonist had a lust for the main character because I've been waiting for a book like that.
All in all, this book was okay. There just wasn't anything in it that pulled me in or wowed me.
P.S. Sorry I'm rambling.
SPOILERS:
Yes, there was a revolution in the book, but it wasn't really important. The character deaths didn't really make me emotional or shocked. I was waiting for Pia to die, because I knew it would happen. You have to give readers something to propel them forward, and nothing made you happy in this book. When I realized I just wanted the book to be over, I was rooting for insane, lustfull Valko.
I did like that the antagonist had a lust for the main character because I've been waiting for a book like that.
All in all, this book was okay. There just wasn't anything in it that pulled me in or wowed me.
escape_to_reality's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Self harm, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide
bailo2's review
1.0
DNF at about 30%. I loathed every second of it. There's not much more I can say than that. I'm a Grinch.