April 30, 2018

Review: Burn by Julianna Baggott

Burn (Pure #3)
Author: Julianna Baggott
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: February 4, 2014
Pages: 422
Format: Kindle Book/Library

With his father now dead, Partridge has assumed leadership of the Dome, one of the last few refuges from the ravaged wastelands of the outside world. At first, Partridge is intent on exposing his father's lies, taking down the rigid order of the Dome, and uniting its citizens with the disfigured Wretches on the outside. But from his new position of power, things are far more complex and potentially dangerous than he could have ever imagined.

On the outside, a band of survivors faces a treacherous journey to Dome. Pressia carries with her the key to salvation. If she can get it to the Dome, the Wretches could one day be healed and everyone might be able to put the horrors of the past behind them. Bradwell, the revolutionary, cannot forgive so easily. Despite Pressia's pleas, he is determined to bring down the Dome and hold its citizens accountable for leaving the rest of the world to burn. El Capitan, the former rebel leader, wants to help Pressia save as many lives as possible--but he's struggling to reconcile his newfound compassion with his vicious past.

As former allies become potential enemies, the fate of the world is more uncertain than ever. Will humanity fall to destruction? Or will a new world rise from the ashes?

*Spoiler Alert*

Review: I'm definitely not happy with how Burn turned out in comparison to Pure and Fuse which were just amazing! I felt like there was too much not wrapped up and characters acting completely different than they were built up to be in both the previous books. This was just not a great ending. 

So the biggest thing that bugged me was Partridge. He was built up to have been such a strong person for leaving the Dome in the first place in Pure and going back to get rid of his father in Fuse. I even said as much in my reviews of both. But he just 180'd in this book. He started out so strong in the first few chapters telling the people of the dome the truth. But then just lost all his nerve and let himself be controlled and blackmailed. He could have fought against it, he even briefly tries to when he decided to use some brief moments of strength but then shuts down and complies at the snap of a finger. The Partridge we were introduced to in Pure and built up in Fuse would not have done any of that. He was also fiercely protective of Lyda in Fuse and was head over heels in love with her, but yet he lets the other leadership keep them apart and doesn't even fight much over it. He just rolls over and excepts it. He mentions how she's carrying his child and wishes he could see her more but doesn't try to change it. HE WAS IN CHARGE OF THE DOME!! He really could do whatever the hell he wanted and they can't really question him. And what's worse is you'd think he'd choose Lyda in the end. But instead he chooses Iralene! He suddenly decided at the wedding he was forced into with Iralene that Iralene was actually the person who supposedly was patient and always beside him all along. He chooses to stay in the Dome with her while it's being destroyed claiming "to go down with the sinking ship" rather than go with the person he supposedly truly loved. I'm just baffled. And then what he does to Bradwell at the end. And he had the nerve to say he didn't think that would happen?!?! He knew EXACTLY what would happen and did it anyways. Again, this is NOT the Partridge we knew and I don't think it's realistic for him to have changed this much, even with the guilt of killing his father and taking over. He talked so desperately about not wanting to be his father yet acted exactly like him in the end. And he didn't go down with "his ship," he went down with his fathers ship that he couldn't let go of. 

I know some people didn't like how Lyda acted in this book, but I actually understand it. Lyda went back into the Dome in Fuse because of Partridge and the baby. People seemed to act like she laid down and gave up. I didn't see her that way at all. She initially was there because she wanted Partridge, the baby and her to be a family. To be together. And initially that was Partridges goal as well. Lyda came to realize though Partridge was drifting away from her and she needed to do everything for herself and the baby. She knew pretty early on she wanted back out to go back to the mothers. The women who actually treated her like their own instead of the people in the dome who looked at her as crazy and needing to be locked up forever once she had her baby. The Willux baby might I add. That's what the Dome cared about. The Willux heir. She knew the only way to keep her baby and be treated like a real human being was getting out. She made armor to protect herself if she had to fight. She was in contact with the few people we see associated with Cygnus. And she didn't just lay back. She acted like she needed to in the Dome to survive long enough to get her chance out. Self preservation. 

Pressia was a mixed in this book. I was kinda annoyed that she seemed to constantly be beating herself up over saving Bradwell in the last book. Bradwell is so upset that Pressia made the choice to use the serum on him and he makes her feel awful. She just wanted to save the life of the person she loved. Not to change him or cure him of anything. Just save him from death. But he makes her feel so bad about it and she repeats that pain constantly. I really felt for her, but it was way over used. However, I was very proud of Pressia for most of the book. She made her own decisions. She had multiple people trying to tell her what she was and was not allowed to do like they owned her and she refused to let people push her around. She got the information she needed when she needed it. She went to the Dome to try and confront Partridge and fix this whole mess despite Bradwell and El Capitan trying to stop her. She even helped to get Lyda out of the Dome. Pressia was definitely more my favorite in this book. I did like that despite the loss Pressia deals with at the end, she also gets something back. Her grandfather. His recognition of her made for such a beautiful moment near the end. :)

Some other things that bothered me. Why did it have to end right as the Dome is coming down? If we hadn't spent so much time in the beginning dealing with Pressia beating herself up about saving Bradwell and being stuck in the place at Newgrange, maybe we could have seen a small bit of after the Dome falls and how things are transitioning. This would have been perfect for the end. Not leaving us to wonder whether a lot of different possibilities happen. 

On top of that, the last two books built on things that should have been resolved in this book. Pressia was remembering things from before the detonations and that was completely ignored in this book. We also kept hearing about her father and how he was supposedly still alive. And that was ignored too! But yet Partridge had access to his fathers system of saved places in the Dome. Not once did he ever think about trying to talk to the other places and find out if Pressia's father was there. There was so much opportunity to incorporate this and it was ignored and lays unresolved. There was just so much potential to end this series on a huge high note and it just fell extremely flat.