“Sarah felt that any world that needed this many lessons must have something deeply wrong with it.” Here is EXACTLY what is wrong with this world… there are not enough dragon books that have been published. I need to stress this a little more… This book was magical and engrossing from start to finish. Eek! Lets get on with the review!! What is it about? Sarah Dewhurst lives with her father on their failing farm and are in need of a dragons’ services in order to help them with their work. This is something that catches the attention of the towns folk as hiring a dragon for work is something that only the poor do. However, the Dragon (known as Kazimir) has arrived with a little more knowledge of Sarah than he’s letting on. He also starts showing elements of wanting to keep her safe. This is paired with a potential prophecy, which involves Sarah herself as well as a number of other people including an FBI agent and a deadly assassin, makes Burn a gripping book that I think everyone should add to their quarantine TBR. What I Loved… Ahh! So many elements I love about this story! I absolutely LOVED the characters of Kazimir and Deputy Kelby. Kazimir portrays an air of mightiness that only a dragon character could do but on the other hand has a sliver of gentleness that shows when he interacts with Sarah. Deputy Kelby is the archetypal character who I just love to hate – he is racist, sexist and everything that is wrong with this world and the world within the novel. I love the fact that Patrick Ness has added a strong dis-likeable character. It makes you fear for those interacting with him and just shows that in some instances how people act and react is not fair, but it takes courage to stand up to them. Things I want more of… If anything I would have loved to have had more of a background into the draconic world building and past of the dragons. I usually love hearing about mythical origins – especially mythical animals, and this book would have been a great had there been more of this. I am just being super picky here however!

I loved this! There are multiple intersecting plots, and twists that I never saw coming. Although it did start as slightly slow, I quickly become engrossed in this, and it was an absolutely brilliant read! Ness is obviously an incredible writer, and this is perfect for his long-term fans and people who may never have read any of his books before. I received a free copy of this (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review, and I can honestly recommend this!

Wow. For me, it feels like the release of every Patrick Ness book should be an EVENT. The way he plays with magical realism, blending a recognisable world with all-too familiar problems with fantasy, makes the emotional potency almost unrivalled. That's more than true of 'Burn' - which is also one of the first books in a long while that I've wanted to reread straight after finishing. That's because I felt bereft it was all over and the fact that having finished it I could see all the brilliance that had been plotted out and interwoven along the way. 'Burn' is set in 1950s America during the Cold War. Sarah Dewhurst lives in smalltown Washington, and it's a familiar landscape, with race issues, money issues and small-town mindset. But there's also dragons. And end-of-world prophecy, beyond the current day crisis, that goes back millennia - about a young girl, a dragon and a moment that could end everything. This might just be my new favourite Ness - it's just so brilliant. The characters are fantastically constructed, we immediately care for them and worry about how things are going to pay out. The story is so compelling, I really could not put this book down. I really could shout out about this one from the rooftops. A true gem.

When I read books I want to escape to another world, another reality, and Patrick Ness’ ‘Burn’ did exactly that. Full of plot twists and mystical events, the story starts off as it means to go on and I simply couldn’t put it down. This book was phenomenal, it had a terrific storyline, characters you could really connect with and feel emotion for and hateful, vengeful villains in the forms of Woolf and Kelby. Burn was full of twists and has one burning question, will there be a sequel? Make it true Mr Ness!

A new book from Patrick Ness is always much anticipated and Burn will not disappoint. Set on an Earth in 1957, very much like our own, but where dragons exist. Dragons live in peace with humans, they have withdrawn to various wastes around the world and occasionally interact when employed by humans. This is how Sarah meets Kazimir, a Russian Blue, employed to clear some farmland, by her father. What Sarah doesn't know is that she is integral to a dragon prophecy where she will save the world and there are people who do not want this to happen. Set in a time where prejudice is prevalent and unease and suspicion about the intention of the Russians is deeply ingrained, the actions of some of the characters makes for uncomfortable reading. Yet there is hope here too and redemption. The power of the storytelling will pull you in, a brisk pace is set yet time is given to build a real empathy for the characters, with a dash of science to go with the magic.