Burn
Patrick Ness
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On 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.
I picked up Burn by Patrick Ness because I really enjoyed the Chaos Walking series growing up (where’s that movie at? 👀) and I wanted to read more by him. Burn did not disapoint, and I really enjoyed the story set in a 1950s America where dragons are real.
First up I have to talk about the world building. It’s set in the 1950s in mostly rural America where the only stand out difference is dragons are real in this world. After a few years of fighting them, humans and dragons uneasily co-exist in peace. I liked how this world seems exactly the same but with dragons, but they also don’t seem out of place.
I kind of liked how the world events are also fairly similar for humans (although some wars with dragons did happen – so did the human v human ones…). There’s some added religion aspects surrounding dragons, as well as secret histories that have been hidden away. These both gave information on how Dragons have co-existed with humans.
Speaking of dragons, one of our main characters was Kazimir, a Russian blue dragon. He is hired by Sarah’s father to work on their farm, but his own motives are hidden in secrecy. He’s a little bit sassy and doesn’t take any shit from anyone.
Our main character, I would say, is Sarah who’s at the centre of a prophecy that brings all our characters together. Her backstory is well built up, and the dynamic with her family is interesting to read. Whilst she loves her family, there’s a tension which made the the relationships feel more true to life.
Then we have teen assasin, Malcolm, who’s part of a dragon worshipping cult that believes in the prophecy. His storyline felt like a rollercoaster as he starts off being completely devoted to the cult, and then he learns more about the outside world… and learns to love too.
On top of these three, there’s chapters with some FBI characters and some other POV’s throughout too. The FBI plotline feels very confusing at first, like you’re not sure why we’re seeing their POV. But it pays off about halfway through when you finally click at what’s going on. I don’t want to say too much in case it spoils you though!
The introduction of all the POVs in particular were very slow to build up, and the first half as a whole felt slow to read. Once you reach the mid point however, the pace picks up and you’re gripped to find out more about this world and the characters.
Homophobia and racism was shown in the book, in a world where dragons exist these are still human problems which are discussed by characters. Set in the 1950’s, the book mirrors what would be happening back then and is appalling to read but it’s shown as bad in the POVs. Notably, Deputy Sheriff Kelby is an awful human being who distrusts both Sarah and Jason for being not-white where Sarah is bi-racial and Jason in Japanese – and this is a key part of the start of the book.
Overall, Burn was unpredictable! I did not know this is where it was going for most of the book, and the action that picked up at the end was a SHOCK. I’ve tried to be pretty vague in my review to avoid spoilers, but I fully believe you should go into this book without knowing too much.
Positives of Burn
- Dragon history, religion and backstory
- Unpredictable twists and turns
Negatives of Burn
- Sometimes slow in parts
I received Burn by Patrick Ness from the publisher. This is an unbiased and honest review
