Given the name of this blog it seems only fitting that my first review would be a book about Dragons.
Burn is the first Patrick Ness book I have ever read and I'm not sure why as I am familiar with his work having seen and been impressed by the film Adaptation of A Monster Calls and being a Whovian (Fan of Doctor Who) Im also very aware that Patrick Ness wrote Class which was an amazing Doctor Who spinoff that got prematurely and very unfairly cancelled after only one season. It was essentially a Firefly situation in my opinion. I'm still not over it. There was so much left unexplored and Katherine Kelly's carachter Andrea Quill was so intriguing not to mention an absolute badass.
Burn much like Doctor Who deals with "Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Stuff " in that the story deals with the theory or in this case reality of quantum realms or at least the "many world's" theorum anyhow. I found this aspect of the book fascinating and was delighted to find out that that famous cat guy, Nobel Prize Winning Physicist Erwin Scrödinger lived in Ireland for 17 years. He is very briefly mentioned. I love it when a book leads me to another useless but interesting fact that I overexcitedly relay to my family only to realise yet again that I'm the only one who cares about it, although to be fair my husband did find it interesting but I suspect only because of the WWII connection.
It turns out the Austrian-Irish Physicist, His then 5 year old daughter Ruth, Wife Anny and his Mistress fled to Ireland with the help of our Taoiseach (the guy who runs the country a bit like a president or prime minister) Eamonn de Valera who also happened to be a Mathematician. Dev it seems was a bit like Horace Slugghorn in that he liked to collect people of note in his quest to build his new Republic. The Scrödingers lived in Contarf and Erwin described his years in Ireland as the "happiest years of his life". He helped set up and was head of Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies or DIAS. He presented his historic paper "What is Life?" at Trinity College Dublin almost 78 years ago and it is still regarded as one of Ireland's greatest contributions to Science.
Getting back on topic..... again....also spoilers
Burn is set in the town of Frome, Washington where a teenager by the name of Sarah Dewhurst is prophecised to be in the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time depending on your perspective and ultimately what she does or doesn't do could prevent a war to end all wars. In Sarah's reality dragons aren't just mythological creatures they co-exist with humans, albeit a very uneasy co-existance. It's the 50s and the Russians are about to launch a satellite to spy on the world of men and inadvertently, in this reality, dragons.
Sarah's father Gareth who happens to be a farmer has to hire a dragon to help clear some land. This is something only the poor and desperate in society would resort to. Humans and Dragons don't trust each other and many humans in this reality believe dragons don't have souls but it's hire the claw or lose the farm type situation. The dragon turns out to be a Russian Blue which in this world is very rare and it causes a bit of stir in the local community attracting unwanted attention from local Deputy Kelby who is an absolute dick and that's being generous.
Against her father's wishes Sarah forms a bond with this dragon after a run in with said Deputy who likes to terrorise Sarah and her boyfriend Jason because she is mixed race and Jason is Japanese. Serious events transpire and she sneaks out of the house at night and tells Kazamir (the Dragon) her name. Something her father has expressly forbidden her to do. To her surprise Kazamir already knows who she is because of an ancient prophecy told in the language of his particular species of dragon "The Blues".
Her entire life goes from bad to worse and to be honest The Dewhurst family hadn't had much luck at all up until that point anyway having lost her mother two years previously to Cancer and also being mixed race in 1950s America, Life hasn't been without its challenges for Sarah. Turns out on top of everything else Sarah now has to deal with the fact that an assassin from a Dragon Worshipping cult called "The Believers " is on his way to kill her.
The book deals with many important issues that are sadly still prevalent today like racism, religious fanaticism and homophobia and to its credit it deals with them very well.
I also got the impression from the way the book ended that there may be a follow up to Burn. I could be wrong but it felt like the start of a possible series or trilogy at the very least. Time will tell and I'd be more than happy to indulge in a follow up.
Ness really is a great story teller and I will try not to leave it too long before I pick up another of his books.
I gave this book a well deserved 4 stars on Goodreads.
Patrick Ness is a British-American author, journalist, lecturer and screenwriter. Born in the United States, Ness moved to London and holds dual citizenship. He is best known for his books for young adults, including the Chaos Walking trilogy and A Monster Calls
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