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fairybadattitude 's review for:
Burn
by Patrick Ness
3.5
This isn't my favorite of Ness's books, despite having a great hook (dragons) and an interesting time period (the late '50s). It was good, and I appreciate the twists that came up that I did not see coming. (I mean, it helps if you don't give away all the pertinent information beforehand.) Even so, I didn't feel much of a sense of urgency. There wasn't much sense of danger, either. Despite the threat of dragons, nuclear annihilation, and a fatally stupid sheriff. I should have been concerned about at least one of those scenarios, right?
I will say, the sheriff felt threatening in the beginning, but sort of fell by the wayside. This is unfortunate, because, truly, the worst monsters are humans.
There were also other issues that I feel didn't get enough attention: racism, interracial relationships, the recent history of Japanese internment camps, and the lingering emotions over Japan's involvement in WWII. Clearly, these weren't the story's main focus, but given the potential volatility in that particular era, one expects that might have more impact.
This isn't my favorite of Ness's books, despite having a great hook (dragons) and an interesting time period (the late '50s). It was good, and I appreciate the twists that came up that I did not see coming. (I mean, it helps if you don't give away all the pertinent information beforehand.) Even so, I didn't feel much of a sense of urgency. There wasn't much sense of danger, either. Despite the threat of dragons, nuclear annihilation, and a fatally stupid sheriff. I should have been concerned about at least one of those scenarios, right?
I will say, the sheriff felt threatening in the beginning, but sort of fell by the wayside. This is unfortunate, because, truly, the worst monsters are humans.
There were also other issues that I feel didn't get enough attention: racism, interracial relationships, the recent history of Japanese internment camps, and the lingering emotions over Japan's involvement in WWII. Clearly, these weren't the story's main focus, but given the potential volatility in that particular era, one expects that might have more impact.