Reviews

The Burning by Kathryn Lasky, Richard Cowdrey

daisybee's review against another edition

5.0

This series has been fantastic for me and my son to read together. We both love the series. 

samwisereadz's review against another edition

5.0

I am more impressed with the series with each book. The owls who were so young and helpless when we first met them in Book 1 have become very experienced and good owls, and their adventures only get more complicated and challenging. I loved this one because finally our main characters seem to be grown, finally experiencing higher level issues that make this world wider and deeper. It's a fantastic installment in the series!

kamifrancis's review against another edition

3.0

Gylfie is a hero!!

snugshelf's review against another edition

3.0

Pretty basic middle grade fantasy fare, but with owls! I started this series when I was in the target range for it, but it's still fun now.

madlysoph's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

anispaperbacks's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I picked this up and put it back down so many times 😭😭 it seriously must have been almost half a year. But I picked it back up yesterday and finished the whole rest of it just now. I really liked the second half, and the first half wasn't forgettable at all so it was easy to pick back up. I was just in a bit of a slump I think. 

I'm so interested to see where this goes now with

Kludd dead and Nyrok (is that how its spelt? Im listening to the audiobook) now hatched. I'm also very interested to see how Soren's character develops post Kludd's death and post war.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to wait a bit to read the next one, because I have a physical copy and want to read that. But I'm excited!

mikeyt123's review against another edition

5.0

I remembered this one, because of how good it was, and that still holds true. This is one of the best ones in the series!

wisconsinite_bibliophile's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death

rabbitjaguar's review against another edition

3.0

This book feels like a transitional period between the last book and the next one. Like, yes, things happened, but... I took three days between when I finished this and when I sat down to write my review, and aside from the climax itself, I have to reach to recall anything that went on in this one.

Speaking of the climax,

Spoiler

why would you build up so much to Soren killing his own brother, only to chicken out at the last moment and have someone else do it for him? It would have been such a better character moment if Soren had delivered the final blow. And what is he so hung up about afterwards? Did he seriously think there could be a way of winning that didn't involve killing Kludd? He didn't even do the actual killing.

kaurra's review against another edition

5.0

The Burning is the climax of all the books that preceded it. Every plot arc- St. Aggies, the Pure Ones, the Northern Kingdoms- ties together in this thrilling and high stakes story. We see our protagonists go from children to fully-fledged Guardians, using their skills and learnings to face the conflict that has been looming over them for years. Given the sheer number of plot points in this story, I’m impressed that Kathryn managed to keep this book as short as it was. For that reason it may have felt a little fast-paced at times, though I think that aided the atmosphere. Definitely one of the strongest books in the series with some awesome new worldbuilding!