Hatch Day Review | The Burning World

By Birdie

Burning World

About the Book: Being alive is hard. Being human is harder. But since his recent recovery from death, R is making progress. He’s learning how to read, how to speak, maybe even how to love, and the city’s undead population is showing signs of life. R can almost imagine a future with Julie, this girl who restarted his heart—building a new world from the ashes of the old one.

And then helicopters appear on the horizon. Someone is coming to restore order. To silence all this noise. To return things to the way they were, the good old days of stability and control and the strong eating the weak. The plague is ancient and ambitious, and the Dead were never its only weapon.

How do you fight an enemy that’s in everyone? Can the world ever really change? With their home overrun by madmen, R, Julie, and their ragged group of refugees plunge into the otherworldly wastelands of America in search of answers. But there are some answers R doesn’t want to find. A past life, an old shadow, crawling up from the basement.

Warm Bodies #2
Zombie Horror
Atria Books | February 7, 2017
amazon2 bn2

I feel like I waited sooooo long for this book, when it was probably less time then I wait for Diana Gabaldon to come out with a book.  It just felt like forever because I seriously loved Warm Bodies.  I loved the book, and I loved the movie.  I also loved The New Hunger as a novella.  The glimpse we got of Nora’s history, and the tie in with M and R.  It was the perfect follow up/middle book.  Have I said it enough?  I loved everything about this series.

While there were aspects of Burning World that I really liked, I have to admit that I’m not quite as in love with it as I was the others.  I think my main problem was that the story felt completely disassociated with the previous stories.  This wasn’t a problem with the writing, or the tangible connections.  Isaac Marion did an amazing job of tying together what we already knew of R and everything we’re now discovering.  I never felt loose ends, and I didn’t have a problem believing it.  It was just a feeling, like this was an all new story with the same characters.  Julie was the worst culprit.  I struggled with what was motivating her.  Maybe I just don’t have that ice in me that the end of the world caused in her, if I’m being fair.  She may be very believable, having gone through everything she has (since the world collapsed).  I just personally felt disconnected.

I also thought there was just too much happening.  I felt like so much was crammed into this one book.  The flow was completely off, which isn’t something I felt with Warm Bodies or The New Hunger.   So much happened, that I ended up feeling like nothing really happened… I’m betting that when I read the conclusion I’ll be saying that books 2 & 3 could have been combined into one epic conclusion.  We shall see.

Despite my complaints, you’ll notice down at the bottom of this review that I gave Burning World 4 feathers.  Part of that is simply nostalgia.  (Hey! I’m allowed to rate however I want!)  And part of it was that there was a lot that I did like.  I actually highlighted the crap out of this book, because the writing was off the charts.  Isaac Marion has a wonderful way of expressing thoughts.  I also loved the tie in to what’s happening in our world today, like including Trumps wall, because it shows a connection from our reality to where R is in Warm Bodies.  That is my definition of stunning world building.

I also loved that everything is coming full circle.  It’s not just R & Julie, who’s stories are being fleshed out.  (Pun not intended.)  It’s also reading where Nora’s is heading.  She’s on a collision course and she doesn’t even know it.  THAT was my favorite part of The Burning World.

I also loved Sprout, and I’m looking forward to finding out her big secret.  There’s something there, I just know it.

Finally, the star of the show, R… We know most everything now, and it’s not pretty.  Yet, I still love him.  R & Marcus are the characters that stick with me even after I put the book away.  They both deserve their happy endings.  R with Julie, and M with Nora.  Because I think they’re endgame and I love it.

Thank you to Atria Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4-feathers

About Birdie

Don’t look for her in any bar, club, crazy raging party, or anywhere there may be a large gathering of strangers. She’s more likely to be found tucked into the corner of the couch watching one of her favorite shows, or preferably under a comforter with her current novel.

15 Responses

    1. Birdie

      I actually think they do too, and yay! I’m so glad you’re going to try it. If you haven’t read it already, make sure you start with Warm Bodies. 🙂

      (And thank you! This was a harder review to write.)

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  6. elnadesbookchat

    I really liked Warm Bodies too, and have been thinking about reading this one. Thanks for the review. I think I will read it eventually, but now don’t feel like I need to place it at the top of the TBR pile.

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