A review by tamarant4
Brightly Burning by Alexa Donne

emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

'... the Rochester certainly has a lot of mysteries.' Three cats, one inhuman laugh and a possible saboteur, to name just a few. And now the captain. Young and odd and unpredictable. [22%]

A young-adult science fiction romance, based on Jane Eyre. Here, Stella Ainsley is seventeen, impoverished, and working as a teacher and engineer on the Stalwart, a ship orbiting Earth. It's one of a fleet: Earth is shrouded in ice after a super-volcano eruption, and only a lucky few have escaped. Stella has relatives on another ship, but after she was orphaned by an epidemic she was transferred off to the Stalwart -- a ship she is pretty sure is going to fall apart soon. When she is accepted for the role of governess on the Rochester, she leaps at the chance to escape.

In this version of the story, Hugo Fairfax, the captain of the Rochester, is only a couple of years older than Stella: the child she is to teach is his sister, not his daughter. Hugo (who loves books, and also loves to drink) is a typical brooding YA romantic hero, and personally I felt Stella would have done better with her friend Job back on the Stalwart. But Hugo's arrogance isn't unchecked: members of his crew become as important to Stella as her feelings for Hugo, and the secrets they keep are vital to the plot.

This was an enjoyable read, and it was interesting to see how Donne remixed the original to produce a solid adventure-romance with an unexpected finale. I did feel the pacing was uneven -- especially the last couple of chapters, which were hectic -- but the subplots were fun, most of the characters (especially the artificial intelligence RORI) were interesting, and the SFnal setting felt fresh.

Fulfils the ‘A plot similar to another book’ rubric of the 52 books in 2024 challenge. For this pair of prompts I picked transformative works based on Jane Eyre: the 'other book with similar plot', Salt and Broom, will be reviewed soon.