Monday Musings \\ The Burning Sky - Book Review

The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas

Premise: Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she's been told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of The Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the most powerful tyrant and mage the world has ever known. This would be a suicide task for anyone, let alone a reluctant sixteen-year-old girl with no training.
Guided by his mother's visions and committed to avenging his family, Prince Titus has sworn to protect Iolanthe even as he prepares her for their battle with the Bane. But he makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the tyrant closing in, Titus must choose between his mission—and her life.

Language: The occasional mild-to-medium curse words.

Content: Magical powers, torture, murder, insane people, lying, and boy-girl innuendo.

Stars: 3.8 or around there. Just not quite a 4.

I found this book really refreshing because its secret society of wizards was set in 18th-century England.

I was all set to hate this book because I got it off of our eLibrary digital without really looking it up much. The cover hooked me and the reviews on goodreads sounded fine, and I was really bored, so I thought I'd at least give it a try. Safe to say, it was hard to put it down.

Despite the sound of its premise, it's actually only halfway a YA romance. With most YA romances I've read (which isn't a lot) the main girl is usually a washed-up cry baby for most of the book, or she has horrible values, or…well, the list could on for a while.

Iolanthe was none of these. She was smart, sassy, refused to fall for the boy right away, strong, level-headed, and had very believable problems with bravery and selfishness. She was a reluctant hero, but a well done reluctant hero.

Titus, however, was what made this book. He. Was. Awesome. And not just because he was a prince.

There was a lot standing in his way, and he had a lot of problems at the beginning of the book, but Sherry Thomas did a wonderful job of actually giving him character development. Titus was both ruthless and gentle, strong and weak, with wit, self-deception, and good looks thrown in there.

The badguy also was a huge player in making me like this book. The "Inquisitor" as she is called, is not your usual blend of insane, puffed-up, needlessly-killing-stupid-henchmen-when-she's-angry villain.

In conclusion, this book isn't exactly on the "original premises shelf," but the characters themselves were very original, vibrant and enjoyable, and the different plot elements twisted into a story that kept my computer running long into the night. Just for the boy-girl innuendo, though, I would recommend it to 15+. 

~The Scribbler in the Attic