Book Review: Burn

Burn by J.M. Hackman, book three of The Firebrand Chronicles

Summary

Life: 1. Brenna James: 0.
An AWOL talent, an enemy-occupied hometown, and a Life Shade boyfriend– Brenna James just wants something to go right. Although her family has been given sanctuary in Syeira, Brenna will never be safe as long as Rune is hunting down and killing Firebrands.
Can someone please wake her up already?
When a prophecy sends Brenna and Baldwin on a confusing quest, they aren’t sure where to begin. They must find the Caelestis Staff, a powerful object that both cuts and mends space itself. Rune wants it too, and he’ll use any lethal tactics necessary to obtain it.
Yeah, nightmare material right there.
A traveling oasis, plenty of man-eating mermaids, and one Skeleton King later, Brenna seriously doubts she has the edge she needs to confront Rune. When Brenna’s faced with the biggest test of her life, will she burn like the Firebrand she is? Or will she burn out?

Review

(Spoilers ahead)

1.Plot

The opening chapter is a month after the events of Flare. It does a good job at explaining Brenna’s current mindset and giving brief reminders of what happened in the last book.

Foreshadowing that was planted in other books finally pays off, like the Caelestis Staff and Abira’s hidden connection to Rune. The Firebrand Chronicles are pretty good at being a cohesive whole. I’ve read trilogies and series that feel barely connected to each other in terms of plot, so this is refreshing.

In my Flare review, I praised how the stakes were raised, particularly the cliffhanger ending. Brenna is at her lowest point. But her missing talent and possessed boyfriend get fixed within the first four chapters. Other characters swoop in, solve the problem, and then disappear again.

2.Character

Rune is finally given some motivation and backstory, but it doesn’t really explain his actions. If he wants to rule all the Jasper Territories, why does he want to destroy Linneah with the Caelestis Staff? Why does he specifically target Firebrands? In the climax, why doesn’t he just kill Brenna and take the Caelestis key from her dead body?

Throughout Burn, Brenna develops a habit of drinking alcohol even though she’s underage. This is handled sensitively and shows her family and friends being concerned for her while also acknowledging the emotional turmoil that fuels her choices.

3.Worldbuilding

When Brenna loses her talent, it’s given an explanation, but Baldwin’s talent vanishes as mysteriously as it reappears. I do understand the decision to get rid of it; Baldwin’s talent of time manipulation would make defeating Rune far too easy. However, there still should be a reason for the talent’s disappearance that fits the world’s rules. Casually ignoring the magic system shatters suspension of disbelief.

Another instance of breaking the rules happens at the climax. One of Brenna’s new Firebrand skills is Incendior, when her body burns without actually hurting her, but it’s established as incredibly dangerous: “If I don’t regulate this, I can burn up from the inside out.” In the climactic battle, Brenna uses Incendior but loses control of it. Flames engulf her entire body. But somehow she’s fine a few days later, without so much as a single burn.

I do like this world. It has a lot of interesting concepts at play, like the traveling oasis. When I saw the summary include “man-eating mermaids,” I was intrigued. But the merpeople don’t feel like a legitimate threat. They’re just shallow and pretty, and I got the impression that they were only there to make Brenna make jealous of the mermaids flirting with Baldwin: I scowled, thoughts of our fight and breakup dancing through my head. Maybe Baldwin had a deeper problem. Could he be happy with just one girl — namely, me?

Recommendation

After the events of the second book, Burn felt a little anticlimactic to me. I enjoyed the subplot of Brenna’s drinking, which felt bold for a YA book, and the trilogy is cohesive. But ultimately the plot suffers a lot from its unmotivated villain and conflicts resolving too easily or too quickly.