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Blood and Fire #1
Burnt
Fate rips Kaie from the life he planned and thrust him into a world of slavery and casual brutality. Faced with the destruction of everything he knew and hiding from a society that turns those born with magic into mindless creatures called Hollows, he'll have to discover the difference between being a good man and surviving a bad situation. The gods themselves have turned their cruel attention to teaching him the true meaning of sacrifice, in all its horrible forms. He will be forged in fire and death, and everything he loves is up for grabs. For he is the Catalyst...
"You will see everything you care about ripped away five times. You will lead men into battle five times, three will leave you broken. You will murder five who deserve it and five who do not. You will die five times. You are the phoenix who will father dragons."
"You will see everything you care about ripped away five times. You will lead men into battle five times, three will leave you broken. You will murder five who deserve it and five who do not. You will die five times. You are the phoenix who will father dragons."
- GenresFantasy
297 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2012
8 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
Lyn Lowe
32 books14 followersI'm a dork. Who gets, on occassionaly, embarrassingly obsessed with very dork things. Especially ones that are Batman related.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 20, 2012
Burnt is the first book in the series Blood and Fire, and also the first book to debut this new author, presenting us with a complexed dark fantasy world where we follow three childhood friends, Kaie, Sojun and Amorette, members of the Zetowan tribe which is situated in an endangered village soon to be ravaged by the Finders who come in search of children to a life of slavery. It was difficult for me to get into the rhythm of the story at first, because it starts a little slow, but once it picked up pace, it gained my interest and kept me engaged until the end.
The story mainly builds around Kaie, because he is the catalyst of the story, but it also includes his best friends and their tribulations as seen through Kaie's visions of the future. This ability is both fascinating and horrific, because no matter how much we desire to get a look at our future we will never be able to change it, and Kaie is faced with that frightening prospect of having to witness everything without being able to prevent it from happening. His struggle is very well described throughout the book, and you can feel his emotions. I have to mention the parts that left me awed by their beautiful scenery and haunting feeling. I think the one that stood out and impressed me the most was the scene when Kaie meets Amorette by the stream, and we witness the future unraveling before his incredulous eyes, in a world covered in white snow. The initial fire destroying the village, the neighborhoods, the snow falling, they were all incredible scenery's.
I don't quite understand the true nature of Luna, I mean, it's clear she's pure evil, but there's got to be more behind that cruelness that we don't know about. She acted like a child who's caught her eye on a shiny new toy and just has to have it, whatever the cost. I didn't like her, at all. It would be interesting to see her in confrontation with Kaie. Even though he thinks of himself as weak, I think he can be much stronger than a futile little princess. I hope she gets what she deserves.
Kaie and Peren, it was good to see these two together, and how their relationship grew into something close to love. Their last moments are romantic, sweet, and liberating, setting the tone for a possible reunion in the second book. I would like to know what will happen to Kaie and Peren, but also Sojun who's still under Luna's evil influence.
This book has a little bit of everything, intrigue, manipulation, companionship, romanticism, action, drama, and the fight to save humanity from a world of slavery. I enjoyed it, and I'm curious to see how Kaie will win freedom. The sneak peak at the end of the book is one of those teasers that leave a reader like me dying to know what will happen next and where the author will take the series.
The story mainly builds around Kaie, because he is the catalyst of the story, but it also includes his best friends and their tribulations as seen through Kaie's visions of the future. This ability is both fascinating and horrific, because no matter how much we desire to get a look at our future we will never be able to change it, and Kaie is faced with that frightening prospect of having to witness everything without being able to prevent it from happening. His struggle is very well described throughout the book, and you can feel his emotions. I have to mention the parts that left me awed by their beautiful scenery and haunting feeling. I think the one that stood out and impressed me the most was the scene when Kaie meets Amorette by the stream, and we witness the future unraveling before his incredulous eyes, in a world covered in white snow. The initial fire destroying the village, the neighborhoods, the snow falling, they were all incredible scenery's.
I don't quite understand the true nature of Luna, I mean, it's clear she's pure evil, but there's got to be more behind that cruelness that we don't know about. She acted like a child who's caught her eye on a shiny new toy and just has to have it, whatever the cost. I didn't like her, at all. It would be interesting to see her in confrontation with Kaie. Even though he thinks of himself as weak, I think he can be much stronger than a futile little princess. I hope she gets what she deserves.
Kaie and Peren, it was good to see these two together, and how their relationship grew into something close to love. Their last moments are romantic, sweet, and liberating, setting the tone for a possible reunion in the second book. I would like to know what will happen to Kaie and Peren, but also Sojun who's still under Luna's evil influence.
This book has a little bit of everything, intrigue, manipulation, companionship, romanticism, action, drama, and the fight to save humanity from a world of slavery. I enjoyed it, and I'm curious to see how Kaie will win freedom. The sneak peak at the end of the book is one of those teasers that leave a reader like me dying to know what will happen next and where the author will take the series.
July 10, 2012
3.5
I won this book some times ago and should probably start off by apologising for taking so very long to read it. Having finished it I can honestly say that it deserves some reader attention. There's a really good story developing in this book. I imagine as an epic series it will be quite something, but as a stand alone book it seems to be lacking a little something.
It starts out well. The reader meets the main character and his two best friends, there's a pretty potent prophesy or destiny handed down to him and then almost immediately slavers come to the village and....and everything essentially comes to a screeching halt. Didn't see that coming? Me either. Right where you think the action is going to really pick up it drops down and dragggggs. I'm not saying that nothing happens, quite a bit happens. If this book was 600+ pages long and written just as it is I would have no complaints. Then this whole slow, adjusting to slavery section would be the middle third instead of the last two thirds of the book. But it's not, which means that after being tempted with the promise of action and heroics we are then given emotional turmoil and the daily tasks of a slave. Even the introduction of the Hollows mentioned in the description is literally introduced in the last 5 or so pages.
The whole thing also feels very Greek. There is a lot of people sacrificing themselves to save their loved ones only to subsequently destroy them with the same well-intended actions. It was all very heart breaking and tragic. There isn't a lot of happy time to counter all of the dark moments either.
I found myself wondering at the intended audience. It reads very much like a YA book with one major exception, sex. As a YA book you wouldn't really expect there to be any and there isn't any actual sex depicted. The reader just knows that it has occurred. Its use is one of the most interesting aspects of the book. It's not very often that an author is able to successfully present subtly different uses of sex, sex as a weapon, sex as conciliation, sex as a good-bye. But Lowe manages that here without even seeming to try. I would almost call this a sub-theme of the book. I enjoyed it, but couldn't really reconcile it with the tone of the rest of the book.
All in all, I found the premise of the book really interesting. I'd like to know what happens as the series progresses, especially with poor Sojun. But once I realised the pace of this one was never going to pick up I had a little trouble maintaining my enthusiasm. The sneak peak of book two did look as if the action was finally on the horizon though.
I won this book some times ago and should probably start off by apologising for taking so very long to read it. Having finished it I can honestly say that it deserves some reader attention. There's a really good story developing in this book. I imagine as an epic series it will be quite something, but as a stand alone book it seems to be lacking a little something.
It starts out well. The reader meets the main character and his two best friends, there's a pretty potent prophesy or destiny handed down to him and then almost immediately slavers come to the village and....and everything essentially comes to a screeching halt. Didn't see that coming? Me either. Right where you think the action is going to really pick up it drops down and dragggggs. I'm not saying that nothing happens, quite a bit happens. If this book was 600+ pages long and written just as it is I would have no complaints. Then this whole slow, adjusting to slavery section would be the middle third instead of the last two thirds of the book. But it's not, which means that after being tempted with the promise of action and heroics we are then given emotional turmoil and the daily tasks of a slave. Even the introduction of the Hollows mentioned in the description is literally introduced in the last 5 or so pages.
The whole thing also feels very Greek. There is a lot of people sacrificing themselves to save their loved ones only to subsequently destroy them with the same well-intended actions. It was all very heart breaking and tragic. There isn't a lot of happy time to counter all of the dark moments either.
I found myself wondering at the intended audience. It reads very much like a YA book with one major exception, sex. As a YA book you wouldn't really expect there to be any and there isn't any actual sex depicted. The reader just knows that it has occurred. Its use is one of the most interesting aspects of the book. It's not very often that an author is able to successfully present subtly different uses of sex, sex as a weapon, sex as conciliation, sex as a good-bye. But Lowe manages that here without even seeming to try. I would almost call this a sub-theme of the book. I enjoyed it, but couldn't really reconcile it with the tone of the rest of the book.
All in all, I found the premise of the book really interesting. I'd like to know what happens as the series progresses, especially with poor Sojun. But once I realised the pace of this one was never going to pick up I had a little trouble maintaining my enthusiasm. The sneak peak of book two did look as if the action was finally on the horizon though.
April 9, 2015
A Sharman story
Story is slow,but flowing,from start to finish. the mined wonders so it slows you down,and you have to go back read it again. It does not tell the whole story in this story.
Story is slow,but flowing,from start to finish. the mined wonders so it slows you down,and you have to go back read it again. It does not tell the whole story in this story.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews