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Burn (2014)

Book Review: Burn by Julianna Baggott

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
burn-j-baggott-book-cover Burn is the third and final book in The Pure Trilogy. You might also like to read Book Review: Fuse by Julianna Baggott (Book 2) and Book Review: Pure by Julianna Baggott (Book 1) to get a complete overview of the whole series.

Burn by Julianna Baggott is the spectacular, sensational and fast-paced final book in the trilogy. Inside The Dome, Partridge is in charge, or is he? He’s forced into marrying Iralene, as he begins to uncover more of his fathers secrets. Pregnant Lyda realises that she feels trapped and would rather be in the ash-covered outside world.

Meanwhile outside The Dome, Pressia, Bradwell & El Captain travel back from Ireland with a bacterium that could take down The Dome. With The Dome being potentially able to be brought down, what will this mean for the Pures inside and the Wretches outside?

The intricate plot thickens and continues to reveal secrets of the past, even towards the end of the book. The bacterium evens the playing field between Pures and Wretches, which is indicated by this note from the Wretches to the Pures:

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Burn by Julianna Baggott, 11th January 2014.)

Throughout the book the characters continue to develop; giving them a sense of realism. Only the character Foresteed felt under-developed and one of convenience. He seemed to serve only one purpose: to push Partridge into making difficult decisions. His actions, thoughts and reactions in the final scene are not mentioned which was peculiar. Baggott told the reader characters thoughts often and could have shown more.

Generally the editing was good, but could have been better. The were a few noticeable typos and other mistakes in the advanced copy received; but these did not interfere with the flow of the story.

The epic finale is right at the end of the book, on the last few pages. Pressia is inside The Dome, while outside Wretches surround it in a circle and The Dome’s guns are firmly pointed at them. Will Partridge become his father? Will the Wretches be successful in taking down The Dome? And what will happen to the Pures, if they do succeed? To find you, you’ll have to buy Burn.

I was worried that Baggott might not be able to get to the end of the story. But the ending did come, and with some unexpected twists. Baggot used her poetic talent which was welcome and added depth to the ending. Don’t be mistaken in to thinking that this is a happy-ending-for-all type of book; there are gains and losses on both sides. The reader finished the book feeling satisfied and with a hope of new beginnings in a new world for both Pures and Wretches alike.

Burn is an addictive read because of the captivating plot and its fast-paced telling, which the reader will be unable to put down. Burn is written so that if you’ve not read Pure and/or Fuse you’ll still know the backstory and be able to enjoy the book.

Pure, Fuse and Burn make up a superb post-apocalyptic series that is a must read for anyone who loves these type of stories. Without doubt this series deserves an award for its originality, engagement of the reader, brilliant structure & style and expert storytelling.

Burn, along with Fuse & Pure are available to buy on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony



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Book Review: Pure by Julianna Baggott

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
Pure by Julianna Baggott Book Cover While shopping at my local supermarket I saw Pure by Julianna Baggott and decided to pick it up. I have to say, I’m glad I did. It’s a brilliant read with some really original ideas.

The storyline is epic with every event adding to the story’s development. It is an exceptional storyline, it just makes it complex to summarise the plot in this blog post. So instead of discussing the plot in detail, I’ll give you an introduction to the world and the three main characters:

Pure is set in a post-apocalyptic world; after the Detonations have caused destruction, ash filled air and fusing of people to animals, other people and inanimate objects. We are introduced to two distinct groups of people; the Pures who were safely inside the Dome when the detonations hit and the wretches who were outside of the Dome.

In the Prologue set a week or so after the detonations, a plane from the Dome drops little slips of paper saying:

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Pure by Julianna Baggott, 17th September 2012.)

Then the story starts set years after the Prologue. We meet Pressia, a nearly 16 year old who lives in the remains of a barber’s shop with her granddad and has a fist fused with a doll head. Pressia and her granddad know that soon the OSR will come for her, as they do when everyone reaches the age of sixteen. OSR are Operation Sacred Revolution – a roughly banded military type group whose mission is to take down the Dome. But we later find out that OSR was originally stood for Operation Search and Rescue set up to save people following the Detonations.

Next inside the Dome we meet Partridge, he’s the son of the powerful Ellery Willux. Partridge doesn’t really like spending time with his father and his father is usually in the lab doing important work. But then one day Ellery asks to see him. Partridges mother was outside of the Dome when the Detonations struck and has been assumed dead. But when Partridge speaks to his father he gets the distinct impression she’s alive. Partridge is taken on a school trip to were the Dome keeps metal boxes of memorabilia from the dead. Partridge see’s a box with his mothers name and dates on, he opens it and finds things she left for him. Partridge makes plans to escape from the Dome and then escapes. Partridge is later called ‘Pure’ because he has no scares, burns or fusings like everyone else.

Bradwell is introduced to the reader through Pressia. He’s a man with two live birds fused to his back, the birds flutter their wings whenever Bradwell has adrenaline going through his body or is emotional, which throughout the course of the book is often. Bradwell is obsessed with conspiracy theories about the detonations, claiming that those in the Dome deliberately caused the Detonations.

Pure is excellently structured with each chapter having a character’s name and a title to indicate who and what the chapters about. Baggott’s use of description enables the reader to imagine the characters, world and events as clearly as watching a film. The book did have a few sentences that to me didn’t read right, but these didn’t interfere with my enjoyment of the book.

Pure is a fantastic read and is a trilogy with Fuse (2013) the second book and Burn (2014) being the final in the series. Pure is available to buy on Amazon.

Blog soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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