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A review by llmacrae
Burn Red Skies by Kerstin Espinosa Rosero
5.0
My 2022 reads are off to a fabulous start! Not only is this the first book I’ve finished this year, and not only is it also an SPFBO Finalist, but it’s brilliant!
When I realised this book had airships and dragons, it had my full attention. For anyone who knows me (and what I write - looking at you, Linaria), you can see exactly why this book appealed.
I know a lot of people love characters or plot in books. Usually one of those two things are most important for them.
But for me, writing style is by far the most important element when I’m reading a book. It’s what hooks me into the story. It could be the greatest story ever, but if the writing style is bland or mediocre, my attention will wane.
Rosero has a SENSATIONAL writing style. It’s immediately clear from the opening lines that the author’s voice is strong, and brings something unique. And it spills into her characters wonderfully - it just so happens to have a stellar cast, too.
Rarely do I understand who a character is and what they’re about from a handful of sentences, but Rosero masterfully does this. We’re thrown into the middle of a world (which is amazing, I’ll get to that in a moment) through the eyes of an eclectic cast. Each one is different and clearly defined.
The chapters alternate between character POVs, and it’s always abundantly clear if we’re with smugglers/sky pirates Decker, Marc, Wolff and the crew, with the voiceless Dove, with Gryff out of his depth and struggling to hold his head above water, with Bard and Dancer, with Valerya herself.
Epic fantasy, and by extension large casts of characters, can be intimidating. There can be so many names and relations that they all sort of blur together. Not so here. Rosero has a firm grip on her characters, which means the reader does, too. At no point was I unsure who Valk or Dancer or Toma or half a dozen of the side characters were. Even when someone’s appearance on page is brief, they shine.
World building is also hugely important to me. I read for escapism, which is why 99% of my books are fantasy. The world building in Burn Red Skies keeps on giving. I’ve never read elemental magic like this before. It’s so much more than Person A born in country A can do magic A. There are four elements - fire, water, ice, and storm. But this elemental affinity affects more than the magic that people can cast. Those of the water element can’t get drunk, their wounds heal almost instantly - closing up like water poured across their skin. Those of Ice burn in daylight, and so their cities are built deep into mountains, boring underground where they’re shielded. Even speech is different - some cultures don’t waste words, simply walking away at the end of a conversation. The Thunderborne live in a floating city. This is the kind of world building I adore. (Also can I be a Thunderborne please? I mean, I already have the blue hair...)
There are mages. Skin changers. A twisted King (ugh I hated him so much), Swordsuits (Spades, Diamonds etc.), mercenaries, a system of sending messages with peregrine falcons. Languages. Different religions/spiritualities. The depth here is staggering, and you’d expect it all to be shoved into a 1000 page tome. However, at just over 400 pages, the pacing is brilliant. There aren’t wasted words, let alone wasted chapters, and while things move along quickly, it’s never blistering.
This year, I’m trying to start jotting down quotes that I particularly like, and here are a few I enjoyed in Burn Red Skies:
“His body felt stitched together, every movement a blade to his ribs. Soon, he would come apart at the seams.”
“Colours of the ascendant stars swirled about her, so delicately constructed that it seemed a light rain might wash it all away.”
“Nothing ever good came from the words of ghosts.”
“The dragon had torn a hole in the sky, red and fierce like the dawn.”
“A voiceless girl roars in the skies.”
And one of my favourite lines from the Bard/Dancer chapters (where a good chunk of the humour is): “Why is there a dead man on my floor?”
My main gripe is a personal one - I’d like MORE DRAGONS, please. Valerya is the General Summoner, known as the She-Jackal. She summoned the red dragon and all fear her for it. You can always sense the dragon’s presence in her chapters, realise she has her own personal struggles with it. She's a complex character and every chapter spent with her (either in her eyes or the POV of someone with her), I found my opinion changing. Her dragon is a big part of her character and the overall plot, and I would like to have seen more of it - even if in flashbacks.
There are a couple of confusing moments in the plot, perhaps a few conveniences of character locations, or things not fully explained, but it didn’t really deter my enjoyment.
This is a hidden gem of a book, judging by how few ratings there are on Goodreads. If you love epic fantasy, things that are (overall) more light-hearted, and have a great cast of characters (including our main one, Dove, who is voiceless), in a world you can't wait to explore, I highly recommend this!
When I realised this book had airships and dragons, it had my full attention. For anyone who knows me (and what I write - looking at you, Linaria), you can see exactly why this book appealed.
I know a lot of people love characters or plot in books. Usually one of those two things are most important for them.
But for me, writing style is by far the most important element when I’m reading a book. It’s what hooks me into the story. It could be the greatest story ever, but if the writing style is bland or mediocre, my attention will wane.
Rosero has a SENSATIONAL writing style. It’s immediately clear from the opening lines that the author’s voice is strong, and brings something unique. And it spills into her characters wonderfully - it just so happens to have a stellar cast, too.
Rarely do I understand who a character is and what they’re about from a handful of sentences, but Rosero masterfully does this. We’re thrown into the middle of a world (which is amazing, I’ll get to that in a moment) through the eyes of an eclectic cast. Each one is different and clearly defined.
The chapters alternate between character POVs, and it’s always abundantly clear if we’re with smugglers/sky pirates Decker, Marc, Wolff and the crew, with the voiceless Dove, with Gryff out of his depth and struggling to hold his head above water, with Bard and Dancer, with Valerya herself.
Epic fantasy, and by extension large casts of characters, can be intimidating. There can be so many names and relations that they all sort of blur together. Not so here. Rosero has a firm grip on her characters, which means the reader does, too. At no point was I unsure who Valk or Dancer or Toma or half a dozen of the side characters were. Even when someone’s appearance on page is brief, they shine.
World building is also hugely important to me. I read for escapism, which is why 99% of my books are fantasy. The world building in Burn Red Skies keeps on giving. I’ve never read elemental magic like this before. It’s so much more than Person A born in country A can do magic A. There are four elements - fire, water, ice, and storm. But this elemental affinity affects more than the magic that people can cast. Those of the water element can’t get drunk, their wounds heal almost instantly - closing up like water poured across their skin. Those of Ice burn in daylight, and so their cities are built deep into mountains, boring underground where they’re shielded. Even speech is different - some cultures don’t waste words, simply walking away at the end of a conversation. The Thunderborne live in a floating city. This is the kind of world building I adore. (Also can I be a Thunderborne please? I mean, I already have the blue hair...)
There are mages. Skin changers. A twisted King (ugh I hated him so much), Swordsuits (Spades, Diamonds etc.), mercenaries, a system of sending messages with peregrine falcons. Languages. Different religions/spiritualities. The depth here is staggering, and you’d expect it all to be shoved into a 1000 page tome. However, at just over 400 pages, the pacing is brilliant. There aren’t wasted words, let alone wasted chapters, and while things move along quickly, it’s never blistering.
This year, I’m trying to start jotting down quotes that I particularly like, and here are a few I enjoyed in Burn Red Skies:
“His body felt stitched together, every movement a blade to his ribs. Soon, he would come apart at the seams.”
“Colours of the ascendant stars swirled about her, so delicately constructed that it seemed a light rain might wash it all away.”
“Nothing ever good came from the words of ghosts.”
“The dragon had torn a hole in the sky, red and fierce like the dawn.”
“A voiceless girl roars in the skies.”
And one of my favourite lines from the Bard/Dancer chapters (where a good chunk of the humour is): “Why is there a dead man on my floor?”
My main gripe is a personal one - I’d like MORE DRAGONS, please. Valerya is the General Summoner, known as the She-Jackal. She summoned the red dragon and all fear her for it. You can always sense the dragon’s presence in her chapters, realise she has her own personal struggles with it. She's a complex character and every chapter spent with her (either in her eyes or the POV of someone with her), I found my opinion changing. Her dragon is a big part of her character and the overall plot, and I would like to have seen more of it - even if in flashbacks.
There are a couple of confusing moments in the plot, perhaps a few conveniences of character locations, or things not fully explained, but it didn’t really deter my enjoyment.
This is a hidden gem of a book, judging by how few ratings there are on Goodreads. If you love epic fantasy, things that are (overall) more light-hearted, and have a great cast of characters (including our main one, Dove, who is voiceless), in a world you can't wait to explore, I highly recommend this!