"Burn" Is A Read Destined To Set Imaginations Ablaze

50175239. sx318 sy475On a cold Sunday evening in early 1957, Sarah Dewhurst waited with her father in the parking lot of the Chevron gas station for the dragon he’d hired to help on the farm…

Sarah Dewhurst and her father, outcasts in their little town of Frome, Washington, are forced to hire a dragon to work their farm, something only the poorest of the poor ever have to resort to.

The dragon, Kazimir, has more to him than meets the eye, though. Sarah can’t help but be curious about him, an animal who supposedly doesn’t have a soul, but who is seemingly intent on keeping her safe.

Because the dragon knows something she doesn’t. He has arrived at the farm with a prophecy on his mind. A prophecy that involves a deadly assassin, a cult of dragon worshippers, two FBI agents in hot pursuit—and somehow, Sarah Dewhurst herself.







Burn, an all-consuming story of revenge, redemption and dragons, is available now!
Wonderful and mind-blowing and exhilarating and heart-stoppingWhat a storyteller! I loved it!” Russell T Davies
“A summer blockbuster of a novel: exciting, clever and moving. Somehow, Ness just keeps getting better.” Juno Dawson
“With two Carnegie medals to his name, Patrick Ness is a literary giant in young adult fiction, and his books remain gloriously original and unpredictable… Mind-bending in the best possible way.”  The Observer
“Ness is on tip-top form here, deftly propelling a complex plot.”  The Guardian
“Ness always writes well, but he is particularly sharp and astute in this latest tale, and his depiction of teenagers caught up in an ancient battle they don’t or can’t entirely understand is gripping until the end.” The Irish Times



My Thoughts

What can I say about Burn by Patrick Ness.
Well...let's see.
How about...hmmmm.
This is an awesome sleeper of a read that definitely should grace the TBR's of those who love thoughtful and strangely philosophical tomes.  That both inform and entertain.  Titillate and incite.  Managing to both inspire one to believe in the stuff of dreams.  With its tales of dragons, prophecies, and alternate realities.
And provoke one to rage against the evils of institutionalized bigotry.  As experienced by leading lady and biracial teen, Sarah Dewhurst.
And her best friend/ maybe something more, leading man, Jason Inagawa.
Who, as you can probably guess, is also experiencing quite a lot of the same bigoted prejudice as Sarah.
Given his Japanese heritage. And the relative newness of Pearl Harbor.

But let's get back to the more pressing matters of the story, shall we?
You see...
This all started because Sarah's father, one Garret Dewhurst, hired a Russian Blue dragon to raze his fields.  In the hopes that he would be able to plant the crops that just may bring in the money that is needed to save his farm. 
All of which would have been fine, if not for the Cold War, a Russian satellite set to launch, and a prophecy meant to change the world. 

Oh yeah...
About that whole prophecy thing.  It's a whole lot bigger than just some words written on a dusty scroll somewhere.
And by bigger, I mean the FBI out investigating in the wilds of Canada, bigger.
Two agents trying to track down a person, who they believe may have had something to do with the death of one of their fellow agents.  In those very same Canadian wilds.
With a big assist from a dragon, of course.

And then there is Malcolm.
At least that's his name for this mission.  Trained to serve the dragon goddess, Mitrea Thea..
By any mean necessary.  Even if it means that he has to kill.
Never dreaming that he might fall in love along the way.
A love that most consider to be an abomination.  A love that  calls him out of the shadows that his mission and his goddess says that he must make his home.
A love with the power to change more lives than just that of young Malcolm.

In the interest of  not getting all spoilery and not writing a review that one would need a few days to read.  We will get on with the more technical part of the review.
Burn is that book that is so much more than it appears at the outset.
Just ripe to become the latest episode of the X-Files.
Complete with dragons, alternate realities, institutionalized racism, religious cults and prophecies, and a good old dose of world saving.
The intellectual and emotional depth of this read will captivate readers of all ages.
A true storytellers' story. 





About Patrick
Patrick Ness, an award-winning novelist, has written for England’s Radio 4 and Sunday Telegraph and is a literary critic for The Guardian. He has written many books, including the Chaos Walking Trilogy, The Crash of Hennington, Topics About Which I Know Nothing, and A Monster Calls.

He has won numerous awards, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Booktrust Teenage Prize, and the Costa Children’s Book Award. Born in Virginia, he currently lives in London.
See Him Socially:  Web / GR / Twitter



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