What do you think?
Rate this book
Burned: Companion Novel to Starved
When a devastating plant-eating virus sparks global famine, sixteen-year-old Cal is thrust into a military safe zone while his chemist father races to halt the pathogen's spread to humans.
Stripped of friends and home, surrounded by eerie mutations, Cal grapples with an unthinkable reality. Just as despair threatens to consume him, a ray of hope a captivating new girl in their community. Her good looks and carefree attitude offer a tantalizing distraction from the threats lurking just outside their border.
But when a virus-induced mutation wanders into the confines of their community, the harrowing truth crashes down upon him. With his loved ones in danger, Cal faces a fateful can he summon the courage to defy fate, or will he succumb to the merciless tide of change?
Stripped of friends and home, surrounded by eerie mutations, Cal grapples with an unthinkable reality. Just as despair threatens to consume him, a ray of hope a captivating new girl in their community. Her good looks and carefree attitude offer a tantalizing distraction from the threats lurking just outside their border.
But when a virus-induced mutation wanders into the confines of their community, the harrowing truth crashes down upon him. With his loved ones in danger, Cal faces a fateful can he summon the courage to defy fate, or will he succumb to the merciless tide of change?
208 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 29, 2024
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 21, 2024
I strongly recommend reading the 'Companion Novel' directly after 'Starved', as 'Burned' (re)tells the story of 'Starved' from the perspective of Cal, Lily's (the quirky MC with T1D) brother.
First of all: I love the idea of this, and it actually works pretty well in this case, as there have been so many 'narration gaps' in 'Starved', where Cal just took off and left the reader wondering, what the heck he was up to. Well, once you read this, you will know...
Cal's story is as intriguing as Lily's has been, although I must admit, I don't like him as a character as much as I liked Lily. But he's not unlikeable, for from it. He just doesn't click with me the way Lily did (maybe because as an ND I can relate much better to ND coded characters like Lily (and Anne, he friend; Cal's a bit 'too normal' for my personal taste)).
I enjoyed reading the story again from his perspective and would recommend reading this one in addition to 'Starved' to everybody who liked the debut.
Unfortunately, just like 'Starved' the current Kindle UL version of 'Burned' also suffers from editorial/proofreading mishaps. And this time it's actually bad enough to trip the reader seriously up. A paragraph fragment that repeats itself, a sentence fragment that appears all of a sudden out of nowhere in the middle of another sentence, an unfinished sentence, plus a few minor typos and cases of missing punctuation. The latter are no big deal, the former should never have got past proofing, and they annoyed me quite a bit.
I am seriously torn between giving it 3 and 4 stars this time, out of courtesy to a newly published author I decide to give it a 3.5 stars rating, which will show up as 4 stars.
And to not end on grim note: the story was enjoyable, I really had a good time reading about Cal's side of the story and his experiences. I absolutely recommend it to those who enjoyed reading about Lily's story. I am pretty certain you will like this one too.
First of all: I love the idea of this, and it actually works pretty well in this case, as there have been so many 'narration gaps' in 'Starved', where Cal just took off and left the reader wondering, what the heck he was up to. Well, once you read this, you will know...
Cal's story is as intriguing as Lily's has been, although I must admit, I don't like him as a character as much as I liked Lily. But he's not unlikeable, for from it. He just doesn't click with me the way Lily did (maybe because as an ND I can relate much better to ND coded characters like Lily (and Anne, he friend; Cal's a bit 'too normal' for my personal taste)).
I enjoyed reading the story again from his perspective and would recommend reading this one in addition to 'Starved' to everybody who liked the debut.
Unfortunately, just like 'Starved' the current Kindle UL version of 'Burned' also suffers from editorial/proofreading mishaps. And this time it's actually bad enough to trip the reader seriously up. A paragraph fragment that repeats itself, a sentence fragment that appears all of a sudden out of nowhere in the middle of another sentence, an unfinished sentence, plus a few minor typos and cases of missing punctuation. The latter are no big deal, the former should never have got past proofing, and they annoyed me quite a bit.
I am seriously torn between giving it 3 and 4 stars this time, out of courtesy to a newly published author I decide to give it a 3.5 stars rating, which will show up as 4 stars.
And to not end on grim note: the story was enjoyable, I really had a good time reading about Cal's side of the story and his experiences. I absolutely recommend it to those who enjoyed reading about Lily's story. I am pretty certain you will like this one too.
May 4, 2024
This is an excellent short addition to this well written & interesting series! I really found it a great read! More of the same, good plot, nice levels of energy & adventure, good, well developed characters, a really great read! Which I do recommend!
May 6, 2024
Burned and Starved (the first release in this series) both tell one story- how two twins, one with T2D, navigate a world on the brink of collapse. Maybe it's already collapsed! What would have been one book from shifting perspectives was wisely expanded into two books, each focusing on the perspective of one of the twins.
If you read Starved, you will likely have some questions about what was happening in Cal's world while Lily was navigating her own trials of illness, scientific breakthroughs and relationships. For many books, those questions would have to go permanently unanswered. But with the release of Burned, we get those answers.
It was a really fun read! It gave just enough parallel information from the last book to keep the reader grounded, but never crossed into just explaining the same thing twice. It also gave us yet another cliffhanger to sit on until the next installment comes out.
Vivid writing, well developed characters and a load of compelling trials and adventures makes this a story worth checking out!
If you read Starved, you will likely have some questions about what was happening in Cal's world while Lily was navigating her own trials of illness, scientific breakthroughs and relationships. For many books, those questions would have to go permanently unanswered. But with the release of Burned, we get those answers.
It was a really fun read! It gave just enough parallel information from the last book to keep the reader grounded, but never crossed into just explaining the same thing twice. It also gave us yet another cliffhanger to sit on until the next installment comes out.
Vivid writing, well developed characters and a load of compelling trials and adventures makes this a story worth checking out!
December 3, 2024
I did really enjoy this addition. Thank you to the author and I plan on reading book 1 too! Now, I never read the first book, but after reading the second one, this one filled in a few gaps for me and made the brother even more interesting.
I love this series and have already recommended it to people, most especially to a kid who also has diabetes and will greatly relate to this. I hope he enjoys it because I sure did. These books are really interesting and have a different spin on zombie-like creatures.
I love this series and have already recommended it to people, most especially to a kid who also has diabetes and will greatly relate to this. I hope he enjoys it because I sure did. These books are really interesting and have a different spin on zombie-like creatures.
June 2, 2024
My Review
I gave this book 4 stars. I had trouble putting this ebook down. The plot kept my attention. The characters were believable. I can't wait to start the next book in this series.
I gave this book 4 stars. I had trouble putting this ebook down. The plot kept my attention. The characters were believable. I can't wait to start the next book in this series.
April 30, 2024
An adrenaline-fueled ride I read in one sitting. The story left me on the edge of my seat, while the characters plucked my heartstrings. Anne McCoy is an author everyone needs to one-click.
May 2, 2024
I loved this book. I really liked seeing Cal's perspective and how he evolves through the story. And I loved the ending. It makes me really excited for the next book.
September 21, 2024
I was surprised by how much I liked this book. It started off fairly slow, so I wasn’t sure I could get into it. However, it captured my attention and had me needing to know what would happen next. I definitely plan to read the next book to see how the story plays out. The MMC is a teenage boy experiencing life as the world gets overtaken by a mutation to humans that turns them into vile creatures than infect others. The continent is being overrun in this book. The MMC is living in a safe zone, but seeing safe zones become infected. This is definitely YA writing, but is catchy and enticing.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews