Burning Glass by Kathryn Purdie

Burning Glass (Burning Glass, #1)

by Kathryn Purdie

Red Queen meets Shadow and Bone in a debut fantasy about a girl forced to use her gift for sensing-and absorbing-other people's feelings to protect the empire from assassins. Steeped in intrigue and betrayal, Burning Glass captivates with heartrending romance, dangerous magic, and one girl's quest for redemption. In Riaznin, it's considered an honor for Auraseers like Sonya-girls with a rare form of synesthesia-to serve as the emperor's personal protector, constantly scanning for feelings of malice and bloodlust in the court. But Sonya would rather be free. After the queen's murder and a tragic accident, Sonya is hauled off to the palace to guard a charming yet volatile new ruler. But Sonya's power is reckless and hard to control. She's often carried away by the intense passion of others. And when a growing rebellion forces Sonya to side with either the emperor who trusts her or his mysterious brother, the crown prince, Sonya realizes she may be the key to saving the empire-or its greatest threat.

Reviewed by Amber on

2 of 5 stars

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This review was originally posted on Books of Amber

I've been let down by yet another debut fantasy book. This is the third or fourth one this year and I'm seriously regretting requesting all of these books from the publishers. YA fantasy is the next big fad right now, and it makes sense that there are some duds hiding amongst the awesome, but right now I feel like it's the other way around. I need to find something that kickstarts my reading again in terms of fantasy, because I'm feeling more than a little drained at the moment.

Firstly, the romance in this was awful. There was a hint of a love triangle and also some instalove. The two love interests are introduced in the second chapter, and it's pretty obvious where it's all going. The main character is secretly and subconsciously attracted to the dark and broody prince, which is a trope that I'm quickly getting sick of. I didn't need romance in this book.

There is really nothing original about Burning Glass, I'm sorry to say. All of these tropes have been done over and over, and I think if you're going to use certain ones then you had better have a good writing style and you had certainly better come up with a good story.

I pretty much fell asleep while reading this book past the 30% mark because it was just a repeat of itself and of other books in the genre. I'm incredibly disappointed. I imagine fantasy is a hard genre to debut in, when you take the amount of world-building and plot you need to keep the story going into consideration. Even Sarah J. Maas didn't get it right first time. I didn't think Throne of Glass was great. But still, I can't help but consider this another below average series starter.

I won't be continuing this series when the author releases more books, but I'd appreciate it if someone kept me updated on whether or not it's decent. If it continues to improve, I might just read the summaries on Wikipedia. Or Recaptains, if someone writes them up.

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  • Started reading
  • 1 February, 2016: Finished reading
  • 1 February, 2016: Reviewed