A review by lesserjoke
Notes from the Burning Age by Claire North

3.0

Author Claire North has written some of my very favorite novels, but this is one of her efforts that doesn't quite hit the mark for me. The premise of the setting is sound: a post-apocalyptic future where holy priests try to recover digital records of the past, both to unlock the secrets of our lost technology and to learn more about who we were as a people before climate disasters wiped out our civilization. That has major [b:A Canticle for Leibowitz|164154|A Canticle for Leibowitz (St. Leibowitz, #1)|Walter M. Miller Jr.|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1450516880l/164154._SY75_.jpg|250975] vibes, which I love. Yet the slow-moving plot of a recruit for a criminal organization looking to foment revolution and the subsequent cat-and-mouse spy game / war story leaves me cold, in part because I never really feel like I understand what either the protagonist or any of the other characters are specifically aiming to achieve. He gets captured and released several times as the conflict lumbers along, but his motivation beyond his immediate survival is rather unclear, which makes it hard for me to remain invested as a reader. I appreciate the nonbinary representation, though!

[Content warning for torture and gore.]

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