Kathryn Purdie

Red Queen meets Shadow and Bone in a debut fantasy about a girl forced to use her gift for sensing—and absorbing—other people’s feelings to protect the empire from assassins. Steeped in intrigue and betrayal, Burning Glass captivates with heartrending romance, dangerous magic, and one girl’s quest for redemption. In Riaznin, it’s considered an honor for Auraseers like Sonya—girls with a rare form of synesthesia—to serve as the emperor’s personal protector, constantly scanning for feelings of malice and bloodlust in the court. But Sonya would rather be free. After the queen’s murder and a tragic accident, Sonya is hauled off to the palace to guard a charming yet volatile new ruler. But Sonya’s power is reckless and hard to control. She’s often carried away by the intense passion of others. And when a growing rebellion forces Sonya to side with either the emperor who trusts her or his mysterious brother, the crown prince, Sonya realizes she may be the key to saving the empire—or its greatest threat.

Burning Glass

Jessica Lynn

Shereen Evans

For me this book was just meh. It wasnt to the point that I wanted to DNF the book but it was very close. Towards the end did it catch my attach but then shortly there after did I struggle. I like the concept of the book but it fell flat for me.

Sheila Goicea

See this full review on my blog along with others at: shesgoingbookcrazy.com

  
    The mighty isn’t one, but many.
  

I've been reading this book for over the course of more than a month. After reading the synopsis, I knew this had the potential to be either rather meaningful, or downright horrific--depending on which avenue it decided to take. Sadly, this book completely lost my interest the further I got into it, and annihilated any hope by the time I finally completed it. 

My thoughts are a bit jumbled on this, so I apologize if this review isn't as fluent as others. Although, are my thoughts ever really that fluid? Probably not. 


  Let me start out with a few positive things that I liked about this book:


#1 The concept. Initially, the concept of a person with the ability to feel others' emotions was really cool. I kept thinking what a spectacular idea it was. We often speak about characters having empathy, but this is a whole new level. 

#2 The portrayal of friendship, and the importance of it. 

#3 The setting--at least in the first 10 or so chapters. Immediately, the reader is ushered into a world of snow and ice. Not only is the weather cold, but the frigidity of the entire atmosphere is palpable. When Anton shows up to collect the next Auraseer in line, he shows up in a troika and I felt like I was sold. (For those of you who don't know what a troika is, it is a traditional three horse drawn sleigh in Russian regions.)



The fantasy world made up of the three empires, Riaznin, Shengli, and Estengarde, are clearly Russian-inspired, with the appearances of the troika, the candy-like domed buildings, amber rooms, along with a few others. 


  Now, we move on to the things that I didn't like.


#1 I'd like to discuss what about the setting that I didn't like, and where I became "unsold". First of all, the map provided is ridiculously simplistic, and gives an out for not including more world building. These three nations are located on a singular island...and that's it. No mention of an outside world is ever referenced, which makes me think that Valko's dreams to expand his empire "across the nation," isn't that big of, or detrimental feat. Secondly, once the reader passes out of the first ten-ish chapters, the world building and imagery comes to almost a complete stand-still. I had a very difficult time imagining where I was and what the surroundings looked like. I do like a little bit of creative freedom for my mind to fill in the gaps in the explanations of the setting, but this was far too much. I think that this book didn't do its inspiration justice. Have you ever seen the Amber room in Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo?

 

...did you drool a little, too? If so, wipe it from your mouth and yell in agreement that this room DEMANDS MORE ATTENTION! If someone is going to use something as grand as the Amber room as a cultural reference, please, OH PLEASE, give it at least a page for description!

*sigh*

Moving on.

#2 The characters, in all of their splendid singularity, never truly crossed paths. What I mean by this is, they seemed to dance within each others' vicinity, but never really occupied the same space, because they couldn't understand one another's motives.

 

I can't tell you how much this infuriated me, because the entirety of Sonya's gift was to discern others' feelings, intentions, motivations... YET, she couldn't stinking figure out what Anton was about?

The more they interacted with one another, the less clear the point of the story became. It felt like the author was trying to make a point, and make the reader believe that the characters had conflicting views, when they actually didn't, and were working towards the same end goal the entire time. Then the characters have the gall to act SURPRISED when they discover others are working towards the same goal. STOP. PLEASE.

#3 The inconsistencies with Sonya's talent was ridiculous. This in itself created several plot holes, and really could have used a LOT more clarification as to how aura-seeing worked. As a side note: how in the world was Pia qualified to teach/help Sonya with her skills as an Auraseer? This isn't that big of a deal, but I thought it was odd, seeing how flippant of a character Pia is.

#4 I'm still not certain what the characters even look like. Besides everyone being attractive (cliche)...the description of features and mannerisms were underdone. 

When Purdie did reference physical features, they were in terms of length. For example, she kept referring to the fact that Valko had a "smooshed" face, but didn't really explain much else about his appearance. Naturally, I envisioned him to look something more or less like this: 



Not like President Trump. But the face, certainly. So I'm like, Sonya, why are you even interested in this smooshy faced dude!? In another example, all of the references to Tosya's physical features were long. It was just...odd.


  Then we come to the things that I more-or-less hated.


#1 YET, ANOTHER LOVE TRIANGLE. And a creepy one, at that. Sonya is stuck between insta-love for the "mysterious" Anton, and falsely fights against her insta-lust for the "dark and seductive" (oh, and abusive) Emperor Valko. How is she even stuck on these two!? This is a bad way to try and give young readers a "thrill" of desire, temptation, and seduction...and it's not healthy, folks. Oh, and Anton and Valko are brothers.

#2 The book doesn't really have a purpose, or at least one that isn't entirely predictable before even getting to the end. This point will be discussed more as we move on.

#3 The main reason why I didn't like this book is that it is dangerous for YA readers to read! Self-harm is prevalent among the Auraseers in  Burning Glass in order to deal with their excess of emotions. 

  
    I needed emotional release. Every Auraseer had a form. Yuliya’s blood. Kira’s tears. Dasha’s hair. Nadia had the bite from staining her skin. Izolda, no doubt, welcomed the sting of splinters beneath her nails. Every release had one thing in common: pain.
  

I'm so disappointed because this book had so much potential of being great. This specifically, is a very important talking point for young readers, and realizing just how dangerous and damaging self-harm is. But this issue is highlighted, then left open-ended. There was no further discussion about effected characters realizing how detrimental self-harm is. So...this was not good at all, and served no purpose. There was nothing to be learned or taken away from this read!

#4 There is a strong element of dark, possessive, and abusive "romance" between Valko and Sonya. This type of "romance" has ABSOLUTELY NO PLACE in a YA novel. Our world is messed up enough. Why, oh why, must we include this in books for our YA readers to read, and think that it is O.K., or worse, normal? Again, this topic isn't discussed. It is simply brought up, and closed without a clear and concise discussion about the danger with abusive relationships.

So, you want to be a book that talks about very real, and very difficult topics? Fine. Do so. But BE A VOICE AGAINST THESE THINGS! Furthermore, Sonya actually never actually overcomes anything. As I stated, these experiences she had with self-harm, abuse, etc., were left so open-ended, that as a reader, I never felt a sense of resolution with the matter. Putting someone in their place doesn't accomplish that either. I think there were too many ideas that were brought up, and never completed in the plot-line.

Needless to say, I will not be continuing on with this series, and really do not recommend it to any reader. I understand, and appreciate the effort that goes behind a novel, but when these very important topics are not portrayed well, and discussed entirely so that the reader has something to take away from the book, then the book is pointless. 

Vulgarity: I don't recall any.
Sexual content: Nothing explicit, but as stated above, there is that element of "dark" romance that has no place in this book.
Violence: Yes, including self-harm (resulting in death for some), and abuse. 

1 star.

Katerina Thorson

One of the biggest things I enjoyed about this book what the character build. Many books with new world builds and history tend to focus on just that. However, you definitely noticed this young girl who hated herself most of her life and carries around a large amount of guilt come to accept not only herself but the "curse" she has been given. 

With that in mind, I would have liked a little bit more world build. I sort of new about the "country" I was in but I felt a lot was left out about the rivalries, the people, etc. I definitely would have liked to see more of that world build. However, the history of the monarchy and of the princes was fleshed out very well. 

I do want to read the next book to see where the author will take the characters!

Burning Glass

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