cinnamonrollbooks 's review for:

Burn by Patrick Ness

4.0

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ARC received from Netgalley

4 Stars

Patrick Ness really never writes the same book twice. I've never read a book quite like this before, and probably never will again, but that's what great about him as an author. Each of his stories is truly unique.

Burn is an historical fantasy set during the Cold War - 1950s America and Canada, to be precise - but with dragons. There's quite a large cast of characters, but I'd say the main two characters are Sarah Dewhurst, a mixed-race girl who lives on a farm, whose father has just hired a dragon, and "Malcolm", a boy assassin from what is essentially a dragon worshipping cult.

This is one of those books that is hard to review without spoiling too much, and I'd definitely say it's best to go in blind - the Goodreads blurb gives away too much! How everything comes together is fascinating, especially in the second half of the book, which I definitely preferred to the first. I was actually worried the book wasn't for me during the first half, as I was lacking the instant connection I usually get with Patrick Ness' works. Looking back I think it's because I'm used to his books having just one or two POVs, so it took longer for me to connect with the characters in the way that I'm used to. When I did, however, I really found myself enjoying the story.

While I don't think Burn hit me as hard as Ness' other books, it's a solid read and - as I said before - not like anything else out there. It's as weird and wonderful as you would expect a Patrick Ness novel to be, and well worth a read!