Take a photo of a barcode or cover
cheymathews 's review for:
The Burning Sky
by Sherry Thomas
Summer most places means a lot of sun, beaches and heat. But of course, I live in a rainforest, and so I have had to look to other sources for my ‘burning sky’ like Sherry Thomas’ novel by the same title. Burning Sky is about Iolanthe Seabourne and Prince Titus. The two become unlikely allies when Titus discoveries that Iolanthe is the greatest elemental mage of her generation as told by prophesy. Together the two have a destiny to defeat the tyrannical rule of Atlantis and the Bane, and a fate to become more than just unlikely allies.
“This is the story of a girl who fooled a thousand boys, a boy who fooled an entire country, a partnership that would change the fate of realms, and a power to challenge the greatest tyrant the world had ever known. Expect magic.”
Burning Sky is best described as a young adult fantasy with an undercurrent of historical fiction. A lot of the fantasy aspect worked for me but the historical fiction part didn’t seem to mesh well with my concept of the premise. I expected a lot of the cultural stigmas of England in the 1800s to appear here (which did not happen), but instead I only really recognized the period because the characters said the date.
I can break this book down in to three parts, the enjoyable beginning, the forgettable middle, and the cute ending. I enjoyed the beginning because Iolanthe was easily recognizable as a strong female lead. She had the courage and determination to persevere despite the hard times, and she was successful for the most part. Enter Titus. As soon as Titus met Iolanthe the story started to be less, “survive, help my keeper save his job, etc.” and more “she was so beautiful, it made me heady.” That is were the forgettable middle started– with lots off gaga eyes and descriptions of beauty. The ending was cute and well done. I would be tempted to read the next book because that ending almost salvaged the middle. Almost.
“Love will make you weak and indecisive, remember?” she murmured.
What a fool he had been. For a journey like theirs, love was the only thing that would make him strong enough.
“Don’t ever listen to an idiot like me,” he answered.”
Most of the big problems inherent in this novel can be found in the middle. Iolanthe is professed by Titus to be a remarkably beautiful girl, but yet he disguises her as a boy and has her attend an all boys boarding school. Is it just me (and especially as this applies to the 1800s) but how can one be both a beautiful girl and pass as an average schoolboy? The entire plot relied on this girl not being recognized as a boy and to me it just felt like it was too obvious that she was not like the others.
Outside of all the instalove and appearance problems, the plot itself was, for the most part, fast paced and enjoyable. We will see if I decide to read the next one.
“This is the story of a girl who fooled a thousand boys, a boy who fooled an entire country, a partnership that would change the fate of realms, and a power to challenge the greatest tyrant the world had ever known. Expect magic.”
Burning Sky is best described as a young adult fantasy with an undercurrent of historical fiction. A lot of the fantasy aspect worked for me but the historical fiction part didn’t seem to mesh well with my concept of the premise. I expected a lot of the cultural stigmas of England in the 1800s to appear here (which did not happen), but instead I only really recognized the period because the characters said the date.
I can break this book down in to three parts, the enjoyable beginning, the forgettable middle, and the cute ending. I enjoyed the beginning because Iolanthe was easily recognizable as a strong female lead. She had the courage and determination to persevere despite the hard times, and she was successful for the most part. Enter Titus. As soon as Titus met Iolanthe the story started to be less, “survive, help my keeper save his job, etc.” and more “she was so beautiful, it made me heady.” That is were the forgettable middle started– with lots off gaga eyes and descriptions of beauty. The ending was cute and well done. I would be tempted to read the next book because that ending almost salvaged the middle. Almost.
“Love will make you weak and indecisive, remember?” she murmured.
What a fool he had been. For a journey like theirs, love was the only thing that would make him strong enough.
“Don’t ever listen to an idiot like me,” he answered.”
Most of the big problems inherent in this novel can be found in the middle. Iolanthe is professed by Titus to be a remarkably beautiful girl, but yet he disguises her as a boy and has her attend an all boys boarding school. Is it just me (and especially as this applies to the 1800s) but how can one be both a beautiful girl and pass as an average schoolboy? The entire plot relied on this girl not being recognized as a boy and to me it just felt like it was too obvious that she was not like the others.
Outside of all the instalove and appearance problems, the plot itself was, for the most part, fast paced and enjoyable. We will see if I decide to read the next one.