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Burn
Burn was once human. He also had a family and friends, until a metallic angel of death took everything from him. This mechanical monster, Shoftiel, was one of many living machines made to help humanity that revolted and declared war on their creators. It tore through Burn's home and wreaked havoc on his city until the buildings collapsed, crashing down upon them.
Emerging from the rubble, Burn and Shoftiel discover their once separate bodies have become one--neither human nor machine, but a freakish union of both. Internally their minds are caught in a raging battle for control. Just as mankind must struggle against the sentients for survival, Burn must find the strength to overcome Shoftiel's genocidal programming to retain whatever's left of his humanity.
Emerging from the rubble, Burn and Shoftiel discover their once separate bodies have become one--neither human nor machine, but a freakish union of both. Internally their minds are caught in a raging battle for control. Just as mankind must struggle against the sentients for survival, Burn must find the strength to overcome Shoftiel's genocidal programming to retain whatever's left of his humanity.
160 pages, Paperback
First published October 27, 2009
1 person is currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Camilla d'Errico
52 books100 followersCamilla d’Errico is a product of her split heritage, Italian and Canadian rolled into one: Italian fiestiness, Canadian politeness, and an early addiction to Saturday morning cartoons, comics and manga. Growing up she was more often doodling sexy damsels and dragons on her textbooks than reading them. In 1998 when Camilla first attended her first San Diego Comic Con she realised that a 9–5 day job would kill her and this was what she wanted to do. Thanks to her relentless energy, dedication, and just enough sleep deprivation, she has followed her dream of working creatively for a living.
Camilla’s unique style continues to be in demand and her client list includes Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics, Random House, Tokyopop, Hasbro, Disney, Sanrio, Neil Gaiman and she also works with video game and movie companies on character development. Her own characters and properties, Tanpopo and Helmetgirls, are loved by fans and followers and now inspire Cosplay costumes. She has successfully merchandised and licensed her beautiful artwork across a variety of categories: clothing, stationery and gift, accessories, art prints, etc. and continues to expand her licensing program. Her emotive and eloquent paintings have propelled her to the top of the ranks of the New Contemporary art movement, and she is represented by Opera Gallery of New York.
Camilla can’t live without Holbein’s “DUO” water-soluble oils, green tea lattes, Hello Kitty merchandise, and her daily fix of manga and anime.
“Its about expressing what they feel and feeling what they express”
= http://www.camilladerrico.com/blog/bio/
Camilla’s unique style continues to be in demand and her client list includes Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics, Random House, Tokyopop, Hasbro, Disney, Sanrio, Neil Gaiman and she also works with video game and movie companies on character development. Her own characters and properties, Tanpopo and Helmetgirls, are loved by fans and followers and now inspire Cosplay costumes. She has successfully merchandised and licensed her beautiful artwork across a variety of categories: clothing, stationery and gift, accessories, art prints, etc. and continues to expand her licensing program. Her emotive and eloquent paintings have propelled her to the top of the ranks of the New Contemporary art movement, and she is represented by Opera Gallery of New York.
Camilla can’t live without Holbein’s “DUO” water-soluble oils, green tea lattes, Hello Kitty merchandise, and her daily fix of manga and anime.
“Its about expressing what they feel and feeling what they express”
= http://www.camilladerrico.com/blog/bio/
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 19, 2015
I got tricked by the beautiful art that D'Errico usually creates and wasted my precious reading time on this.
The art in this graphic novel is nothing like her usual art. It more closely resembles the quick sketches one might create on scrap paper while trying to figure out if an idea is good enough to dedicate time to it. It's so dirty and half formed that one would be hard pressed to even see it as a full sketch. This was phone in thru a bad connection.
The plot is a mishmash of situations that barely (if at all) bothered to have some cohesion with each other.
Characters are introduced left and right and never really fleshed out. Even Burn, the main character, only gets minimal development.
I usually try to at least find one positive point in the books I read, but there’s nothing that could possibly redeem this mess.
The art in this graphic novel is nothing like her usual art. It more closely resembles the quick sketches one might create on scrap paper while trying to figure out if an idea is good enough to dedicate time to it. It's so dirty and half formed that one would be hard pressed to even see it as a full sketch. This was phone in thru a bad connection.
The plot is a mishmash of situations that barely (if at all) bothered to have some cohesion with each other.
Characters are introduced left and right and never really fleshed out. Even Burn, the main character, only gets minimal development.
I usually try to at least find one positive point in the books I read, but there’s nothing that could possibly redeem this mess.
May 6, 2016
This book was very easy to read and very easy to get through. That being said, I felt the writing was very minimalist. It seemed more like placeholders for a story board that was waiting on a writer to elaborate on. The story follows a boy in a world attacked by robots and it attempts to give a lot of backstory in 2 page intervals. The entire story and explanations seem very rushed and unnaturally spoken by the characters. It also jumps from place to place very frequently, which really breaks up the flow of the story. I was also annoyed by the fact that Burn never tells his name to the group he joins because he was dealing with his internal struggle yet somehow they know what to call him. The young girl felt like she was going to have a much bigger role and more significance but fell really flat and the main character's internal struggle was solved in a page. The entire thing felt to easily fixed even though you know a bigger threat is coming, all of the other fights were ended so easily you know there really isn't a chance of Burn loosing.
March 29, 2019
I really enjoyed this graphic novel. It was a quick read, but had a big impact. The sketchy black and white style suits the frenetic pace of the narrative, which moves very quickly. Some reviewers dislike the style of the illustrations and the text but I think they work perfectly for this narrative.
Burn is a young boy playing ball with his friends, when his life is turned upside down. His body is merged with the body of a murderous robot that attacked his community. Burn must fight against the violent robot’s programming to maintain his identity. Both the boy and the machine struggle to free themselves from the other and control the cyborg shell they share.
The illustrations beautifully describe the blurred boundaries of the two characters, and the chaos of the situation. In this story, both the mecha (robots) and the humans see each other as a threat and, as a cyborg state, Burn realizes that neither can be trusted. He’s forced to embrace his new identity and work with his AI counterpart if he’s going to save what’s left of himself.
Burn is a young boy playing ball with his friends, when his life is turned upside down. His body is merged with the body of a murderous robot that attacked his community. Burn must fight against the violent robot’s programming to maintain his identity. Both the boy and the machine struggle to free themselves from the other and control the cyborg shell they share.
The illustrations beautifully describe the blurred boundaries of the two characters, and the chaos of the situation. In this story, both the mecha (robots) and the humans see each other as a threat and, as a cyborg state, Burn realizes that neither can be trusted. He’s forced to embrace his new identity and work with his AI counterpart if he’s going to save what’s left of himself.
June 19, 2018
So I picked up this book because I adore Camilla d'Errico's art...and I loved the story. I saw that some people did not like it and thought it was unoriginal - I respectfully disagree. I would totally read a follow-up! If you like graphic novels, I can recommend this one.
March 28, 2011
Probably one of my least favorite graphic novels unfortunately. This one was a graphic novel meets manga layout. The characters were drawn more similar to manga characters. The plot itself didn't really do much for me. It takes place in a world where robots are built and one is sent on a mission. On this mission, the robot ends up killing this boy's family and almost him. The robot itself is also injured and combines itself with the boy. Throughout the story, there are glimpses into the boy's thoughts as he struggles with the robot. A little girl comes into play who wants to protect the boy as a group of teen bikers consider destroying him. Even my own summary is hard to follow, and the rest of the book is in this same format.
The graphics were good for the most part; although again not a big fan. It does contain some profanity, but only a couple times, and there is one instance of the female teen biker giving alcohol to a minor who accepts. I'd recommend this for manga fans in middle school and on up.
The graphics were good for the most part; although again not a big fan. It does contain some profanity, but only a couple times, and there is one instance of the female teen biker giving alcohol to a minor who accepts. I'd recommend this for manga fans in middle school and on up.
June 18, 2015
The book burn is about this boy that was play outside like every day then pone day a soldier come running ans said run then he got kill by a robot people in the city gat scared and run away burn went looking for his parents but he didn't fond them burn gat attack by this robot he arm gat put off then rock fled in top and then they but combing together then he when looking for this man.burn is talking care of this girl he looking for his family and friends and the person he used to be.this is just the begging of the book in the way the meet new people. I give this book 5 stare because it gat alout of action and drama .
October 28, 2024
Language - PG13 (22 swears, 0 "f"), Sexual Content - G; Violence - PG
Burn, a normal boy, finds himself in a battle between a robot trying to kill humanity and the defending army. Burn gets badly wounded and passes out. When he wakes up he discovers that the robot has attached to him. The robot is programmed to kill everyone in its path and Burn is doing everything possible to regain control of his body.
I really enjoyed this short read. I love the inward struggle between the robot and the boy and I was satisfied with how it all turns out.
Reviewed for https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/
Burn, a normal boy, finds himself in a battle between a robot trying to kill humanity and the defending army. Burn gets badly wounded and passes out. When he wakes up he discovers that the robot has attached to him. The robot is programmed to kill everyone in its path and Burn is doing everything possible to regain control of his body.
I really enjoyed this short read. I love the inward struggle between the robot and the boy and I was satisfied with how it all turns out.
Reviewed for https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/
February 19, 2011
A boy, a machine, forever physically linked but can the mental bond be forever silenced for either of them? The boy fights against his robotic addition by remembering who he was and what he believes in. Meanwhile the machine must silence the boy by completing his directive of killing all humans so that the world can start fresh without the blight of human woes. Who will win the battle between good and evil, between man and machine, between love and hate?
June 25, 2015
Robots are coming to destroy the human race. One robot is badly injured, and so grafts itself into the only nearby material: a boy who was also injured in the robot war. The robot wants to continue destroying humanity. The boy disagrees. But they're stuck together! Who controls the body?
Disjointed plot that moves too quickly to keep any sense of it, along with scratchy artwork that's similarly hard to make sense of. Did not enjoy this one.
Disjointed plot that moves too quickly to keep any sense of it, along with scratchy artwork that's similarly hard to make sense of. Did not enjoy this one.
February 16, 2011
D'Errico's art is really what shines in this graphic novel since the story and characterization feel thin and not entirely original. I'm assuming the book under the Simon Pulse imprint is for teens but some of the violence and gore in the book - characters being sliced into pieces - is just a bit too over the top for me. Also, the whole man vs. machine metaphor is just quite heavy handed here.
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April 9, 2011i *love* Camilla d'Errico's style. there was some criticism of the art in this book, that it looked like unfinished sketches: but i LOVED that, i LOVED that she did not polish it to a slick digital shine.
the story line was mildly interesting, what caught me most was d'Errico's interpretation of it.
the story line was mildly interesting, what caught me most was d'Errico's interpretation of it.
July 4, 2015
while many other reviews have hated on this book, I think it was a great read. though the story and dialog are fast and I bit jumbled, I had no problem reading if and understanding what was going on. the art is sketchy but hay, this was one of her first books and I think she did a ok job. I wish that there was a second book so I could see how it ends and watch the characters develop even further.
February 23, 2010
I enjoyed this book plot-wise, but the art, while interesting, left me wanting more. The art seemed like unfinished sketches, which could be taken as part of the story's post robot apocalypse future... or as just plain laziness.
June 8, 2011
A classic story of one man's creations (robots with artificial intelligence) destroying the human race. The extent of the destruction seems to lie in a hybrid robot/boy, with each side fighting to win over this single character. Will the compassion of the boy overcome the directives of the robot?
December 6, 2012
Neat story idea and unique drawings, but I found the jumping around events (too many 'meanwhiles') to be a bit jarring. I'll be interested to see where it goes from here and if the next volumes can smooth out the storytelling a bit. Good first volume, but I feel it will get better with time.
November 10, 2010
Not my super favoritest graphic novel in the world, but I plan to recommend it to those who like post-apocalypic stories and those who like a little blood and guts to go along with.
August 18, 2011
As always, I love d'Errico's art, but, unfortunately, the story and pacing left a lot to be desired.
September 12, 2020
I reviewed this book for No Flying No Tights - it's up here.
November 28, 2011
Good art, dull plot
April 8, 2020
This was great! I love Camilla d'Errico's art and style. The story was fantastic--I'm always down for some AI gone awry.
July 7, 2010
This artwork looks half-finished, like published sketches.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews