Angie
Proceed With Caution:
The book contains death, blood, gore, mentions of rape, murder, and torture.
The Basics:
While this is supposed to be the second book of Dani's trilogy, but the seventh book of the Fever series as a whole, we get seven POVs: Dani, Mac, Jada, Lor, Christian, Kat, and the Unseelie King. However, Mac is our main narrator once again and I quite enjoyed having her back in the driver's seat. Everyone else is just randomly sprinkled throughout, except for Dani, who is only at the beginning...
My Thoughts:
Burned is not what I was expecting at all. Not that you ever know what to expect from this series. But being part of what was originally promoted as the Dani O'Malley trilogy, there is very little Dani in it. It picks up right where we left off in Iced, with Dani finally facing Mac. However, once that initial face-off is over, Dani is POOF. Gone. And Mac is back to being our leading lady. I was slightly annoyed by this, but I love Mac and this felt more like a continuation of the series than the previous book did.
I had no idea what the plot could possibly be if it wasn't Dani and Mac reuniting, but soon some things become apparent. The Hoar Frost King has a left a lasting impression on Dublin, and probably the world. Just because he's gone, doesn't mean his effects are. The Crimson Hag also hasn't been seen in a good while and she still has Christian, but where? Plus there's a new group of militant sidhe-seers in town and they don't play nice. Mac is no longer the big hero whom everyone wants on their team. In fact, she's public enemy number one despite having the same goals as everyone else: rescue Christian and put Dublin back to rights. Oh, and figure out how to get rid of the book in her head and her new Unseelie entourage.
For some reason, Burned feels super long. It's 500ish pages, which isn't bad, but I felt like I was reading it forever. Maybe because of all of the POVs? The jumpy, random plot points? I don't know, but it was weird. Maybe time doesn't flow properly while reading this book much like how time passes in the Silvers. Or because every chapter introduced some new twist or problem or character or something. There's just so much. Nothing is what you thought. No one is who you thought. Things that were figured out are no longer true.
My favorite part of Burned was probably all of Mac's introspection and some vulnerable moments that we get from Barrons, Ryodan, and Lor. We already know that Mac feels quite deeply, even this new killing-machine Mac. But Barrons and his Nine are suppose to be these impenetrable fortresses. They're not. I really enjoyed seeing new sides to them. Especially Lor! I loved his chapters, actually.
I do think Burned was a missed opportunity. As nice as it was to get Mac back, it would have been far more interesting to have followed Dani when she disappeared. I know that girl had to have gone through hell, and we missed all of it. This could have alternated between her and Mac and been epic. It also would have helped cement Dani as a key player and main character. Instead, she was pushed back to a support.
Burned was interesting, but it was work to get through. There's just so many plot twists and plots twisting around each other. It's like the author is trying to one-up the original five books, which I don't think is possible without making the rest of these books a total mess. As it is, this one ends on a cliffhanger, technically, but it wasn't something that I actually cared about. No one stays dead in this series, so what was the surprise?
