Reviews

Notes from the Burning Age, by Claire North

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thisbeereads's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense slow-paced

4.0

m_lof's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

rara2018's review

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3.0

This is a difficult book to rate and review. On one hand, I absolutely adored Claire North’s writing and was transfixed within the first chapter. On the other hand, this type of climate fiction is always a little bit of a miss for me with how they create both sides to the story. The two sides felt very black and white with their being next to nothing redeeming about the brotherhood and with the council and temple feeling underdeveloped despite their inherent correctness. The whole concept of the kakuy as well was very interesting but also felt entirely lackluster throughout the story. Pontus and the twist with that plot line was tremendously obvious (though I did appreciate the inkstone call back to the first chapter during the revelation toward the end). All in all I thought this was a beautifully written book with some really interesting relationship dynamics between Ven and the rest of the characters, but the story itself and the world it’s set in fell flat much of the time.

talesoftheraven's review

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3.0

This started as the sad tale of a young person who seems down on their luck, traumatized by the death of a close childhood friend, and living in a world where humanity has finally awoken the spirits of nature (although no one can really agree if they came to save or destroy). What it becomes is a locked door mystery, with our lead character going slightly mad, but remaining driven, intelligent, and witty in their faith. I think I had a harder time with the repetitive nature of some of the writing, but it was a very enjoyable story