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A review by antigonus
Burn Red Skies by Kerstin Espinosa Rosero
4.0
I had an absolute blast reading Burn Red Skies! It features an inter-dimensional dragon, a crew of closely-knit airship smugglers, an expertly-handled mute protagonist, a murderous General resentful of her past choices, a sadistic King with grand delusions of turning back the clock, and a pair of devilishly charming rogues bursting with electrifying chemistry. How can one not fall for such an eclectic cast?
Furthermore, nearly every major character is supplemented with distinct characteristics and motivations, and a unique voice to go along with them. Every glimpse inside the head of a sadistic man, who leverages his power in cruel ways for his own amusement at times, and to keep people within his control in other instances, felt truly repulsive — and yet fascinating. Despite the fact that page count came at a premium, the camaraderie of the smuggling crew, and the jovial banter that forms an essential part of it, left me aching for more. Merc’s gentle ribbing and outlandish ideas, coupled with Decker and Wolff’s terse admonishments, reduced me to a cackling mess in the middle of the night.
But those aren’t even the highlights. I’ve never experienced a story through a mute protagonist, so as soon as I realised Dove was one, I paid extra attention to how the author handled interactions involving her. The end result is one of exceptional quality. Flashbacks, observations, suggestive looks, and questioning glances were so expertly balanced that there were occasions where didn't notice her lack of speech. Conversations involving Dove felt just as rich — or maybe even richer — as any other, which is a credit to the author’s skill.
And just when I thought Burn Red Skies couldn’t possibly get any better, along came the chapters dedicated to Bard and Dancer, my favourite element of the story. From the very first page of Bard’s POV, the high jinks of the two rogues felt disparate from the rest of the plot. Their shared chemistry, numerous flirtations, secretive pasts, and obvious talent for sticking their blades into flesh served as the perfect recipe to feverishly turn the pages long into the night. There is also an outstanding fight scene involving them that I’ll cherish for a long time to come, and which clearly marks the author as an automatic read for me in the future.
There are, however, a few quibbles that stopped this book from being a five-star read for me, which is unsurprising for a debut work. While characters are easily its strongest aspect, as most of this review suggests, the world-building is uneven at best. There were more than a few instances where I was reduced to questioning my own memory, or if the author had provided the required information about a term or a characteristic or some critical aspect of the world. Repetition or elaboration of certain key elements, up to a certain degree, would have certainly helped. Secondly, pacing is a particular strong point overall — until the final 15% of the story comes into view. Events down the home stretch seemingly progressed at 2-3x speed, with all sense of location, character placement, setting descriptions either lost or reduced to a hazy mess. Sure, the author stuck the landing, but the execution underwhelmed.
But don’t let that hold you back from giving Burn Red Skies a try. It is, without a doubt, one of the best works that I’ve come across to feature the ‘found family’ trope, and definitely worth giving a try if you’re a fan of epic fantasy that wears love and friendship on the sleeve, while keeping darkness at bay, on the edge of the page.
Furthermore, nearly every major character is supplemented with distinct characteristics and motivations, and a unique voice to go along with them. Every glimpse inside the head of a sadistic man, who leverages his power in cruel ways for his own amusement at times, and to keep people within his control in other instances, felt truly repulsive — and yet fascinating. Despite the fact that page count came at a premium, the camaraderie of the smuggling crew, and the jovial banter that forms an essential part of it, left me aching for more. Merc’s gentle ribbing and outlandish ideas, coupled with Decker and Wolff’s terse admonishments, reduced me to a cackling mess in the middle of the night.
But those aren’t even the highlights. I’ve never experienced a story through a mute protagonist, so as soon as I realised Dove was one, I paid extra attention to how the author handled interactions involving her. The end result is one of exceptional quality. Flashbacks, observations, suggestive looks, and questioning glances were so expertly balanced that there were occasions where didn't notice her lack of speech. Conversations involving Dove felt just as rich — or maybe even richer — as any other, which is a credit to the author’s skill.
And just when I thought Burn Red Skies couldn’t possibly get any better, along came the chapters dedicated to Bard and Dancer, my favourite element of the story. From the very first page of Bard’s POV, the high jinks of the two rogues felt disparate from the rest of the plot. Their shared chemistry, numerous flirtations, secretive pasts, and obvious talent for sticking their blades into flesh served as the perfect recipe to feverishly turn the pages long into the night. There is also an outstanding fight scene involving them that I’ll cherish for a long time to come, and which clearly marks the author as an automatic read for me in the future.
There are, however, a few quibbles that stopped this book from being a five-star read for me, which is unsurprising for a debut work. While characters are easily its strongest aspect, as most of this review suggests, the world-building is uneven at best. There were more than a few instances where I was reduced to questioning my own memory, or if the author had provided the required information about a term or a characteristic or some critical aspect of the world. Repetition or elaboration of certain key elements, up to a certain degree, would have certainly helped. Secondly, pacing is a particular strong point overall — until the final 15% of the story comes into view. Events down the home stretch seemingly progressed at 2-3x speed, with all sense of location, character placement, setting descriptions either lost or reduced to a hazy mess. Sure, the author stuck the landing, but the execution underwhelmed.
But don’t let that hold you back from giving Burn Red Skies a try. It is, without a doubt, one of the best works that I’ve come across to feature the ‘found family’ trope, and definitely worth giving a try if you’re a fan of epic fantasy that wears love and friendship on the sleeve, while keeping darkness at bay, on the edge of the page.