No one intends to stay up until 4:30am finishing a book, but Ranka made me do it. I didn’t finish any work the next day and I feel like Aramis would be disappointed in me.

One of the best books I have ever read in my life. I'm not kidding; it made me cry. I miss Ranka and her found family already.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

This was a perfectly enjoyable read and I think the controversy surrounding it was unjust. Mix created a compelling world with interesting characters, and the pacing made for a quick read.

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our list for order this year and will recommend it to students.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing/Margaret K. McElderry Books for this eARC to review.

4/5 stars

So I am clearly way beyond the pub date for this one, but after some very opinionated reviews and loud voices were circulating, I decided to wait a bit before diving in to this one. I actually listened to this on Audible with my subscription.

Overall, this was actually a pretty good debut novel, especially as a standalone. Although I do not belong to any of the groups that felt targeted by themes or topics that were interpreted as harmful, I personally did not see that the plot or characterizations placed the characters into those positions of harm as stated. It was quite clear even before 15% in that the prince and princess were the victims, and that the Witches and The Hands were the villains in this story. There is definitely also nothing close to blood libel in this book either. Other storylines from other publications were WAY closer to that than this ever dreamed of being.

That being said, I feel like there are just a few ways this book could have been cleaned up. For me, I struggled to distinguish between when a flashback started, and what time period in Ranka's life it originated from until almost the complete end of the flashback. I feel like some of the flashbacks weren't really crucial to the story or truly garnering emotion from the reader towards the characters, and that this page time could've been spent in ways that potentially made the differences in the magic system a bit more clear to the reader. For this reason, the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the book is significantly slower than the remainder of the book. At about 60%, things absolutely hit the FAN and I gasped and screamed multiple times, and became much more involved in the story and what the characters were experiencing.

Over all, I'm excited to see what Rebecca publishes in the future and how she grows.

In an imaginary kingdom full of mixed ethnicities, Ranka is desperate to find Yeva. So desperate that she agrees to the betrothal of the Prince so she can search for her. Soon, Ranka’s companions include Prince Galen, Princess Aramis and the noble young ambassador Percy. After the virus winalin is discovered throughout the kingdom, the four companions want to stop it. Winalin is turning witches into diseased monsters that are intent on killing. While trying to get to the bottom of the mystery, their lives are completely overturned. Ranka, Prince Galen, Princess Aramis and Percy each realize that none of them might survive.

Likes/dislikes:
I like that the story creates empathy and approaches the topic of abusive manipulation. Ranka’s character development is interesting. I like that there’s little swearing.
Mature content: PG-13 for drinking.
Language: PG-13 for 11 swears, no f-bombs.
Violence: PG-13 for non-detailed bloody deaths.

I am not Black or Jewish and other necessary disclaimers, I highly recommend you look at reviews (both negative AND positive) from people that actually share those identities before making decisions about this book.

At its core, The Ones We Burn is about deconstructing narratives, and yes, in this case, that includes the idea that the Black royalty is oppressing the witches (who are by no means all white, unlike some reviews have implied). I don't think that makes it reverse racism particularly since the whole point is that Ranka's preconceptions are wildly wrong, but again, I am not Black.

I will say that some of the world-building in this seemed a little all over the place. I really felt like there was a lack of consistency, especially among naming conventions. I did really enjoy the plot itself, and Ranka and Aramis's relationship was really cute, I enjoyed watching it develop. Galen was by far my favourite character and I would absolutely read a spin off that was just him and Percy travelling the world.

I defer to the opinions of POC readers on this book. When I read it, I enjoyed the prose and the short chapter lengths. Twists every few chapters!

I trust that this author is doing everything she can to eliminate systemic bias from her work. I want to see what Rebecca Mix does in the future, but will probably be taking her future works out from the library until things change.

Admittedly, I wanted to read this book because of all of the negative publicity it received earlier this year. I'd seen lots of people review bombing it on Goodreads and slamming it on Twitter for antisemitism and reverse racism. I read the description though and was immediately sold: sapphic YA fantasy? Absolutely, sign me up!

First, I really enjoyed how LQBTQ+ characters were treated throughout. I liked the lack of labels, but the clear context shared through character descriptions and interactions. It felt very natural.

Secondly, I really enjoyed the concept and the plot. I'm always down for a good dark fantasy and this definitely hit the mark. I thought that concept of blood magic was handled well despite the critism surrounding it. Ranka is an interesting character that I think reflects a lot of us who have had to unlearn things we've been taught to believe. For example, how Ranka goes in immediately despising the twins because she's been taught to believe that they are the reason for her's, her coven's, and fellow witches' suffering. It isn't until she arrives at the palace and gets to know them that she realizes they aren't the evil forces working against her. I really liked this dynamic of misunderstanding on both sides and I don't see it as inherently racist, but I can see how that might be uncomfortable for some people.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this! I really liked how the politics were handled and often the writing style was quite lovely. I also enjoyed the pacing. I've purchased my own copy to revisit sometime in the future. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

First and foremost, I respect other readers’ thoughts on this book. I have read several reviews saying that this story is a reverse racism fantasy. No disrespect to anyone who thinks that, but being an BIPOC reader of this book, I didn’t feel that way! In fact, Rebecca might be pointing out the current affairs in the US where majority of the people are blaming the POC for the misfortunes in the country. I might be wrong, I have the tendency to compartmentalise and dissociate with concepts. So no disrespect if you think otherwise and also please respect my thoughts!

The Ones We Burn is a complicated book! Its got a lot of elements going on and it can get bit tedious to keep up. But once you gather everything that is happening, you will see that the plot is about witches, royals, and scapegoats who get blamed for everything in a political game. Its hard to explain more without spoilers, but I for sure can say that this is an interesting story with complex characters and twists that make you keep reading!

Thank you Simon & Schuster via Netgalley for the arc.

I gave this a four out of five stars! I really enjoyed the story and I like the friendships and relationships in this book. I love the lgbtq representation in here as well. It’s really memorable book!

This book is a wonderful, original, fast-paced fantasy. There has been controversy around it, but it seems to have been created by people who have not read the book, because there is really no room for interpretation - the facts of the claims against the book are simply false. The following will be a spoiler, so SPOILER ALERT
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Some claim that it is a "reverse racism story" where the Black royals are set up as oppressors of the white witches. Setting aside the fact that skin color plays no role in the world of this story and does not have the same connotations, the Black royal are NOT oppressors. The main character white witch is brought up believing that, but it does not end up being the truth. In fact, the Black royals are doing the most to try to help the witches.

First, I will say I understand the reviews and calls that have come out against this book that speak to issues they felt with both putting black characters in power in a manner that seemingly oppresses others, especially a white woman, and the use of blood as a vehicle for magic that may draw a comparison to blood libel.

I won't argue with their views and I respect their opinions. I do not claim to be an authority on either area raised, but I can say that for me, this read very differently on those 2 specific issues. First, while the twins in power are indeed described as black characters, we, along with Ranka, very quickly realize that what the northern witches have been made to believe about the ruling twins is false. They rule benevolently, are still quite young and trying to navigate the politics of their country and power systems, and each holds their own secrets that actually demonstrate their loyalty and well intentions for the future of their people. Immediately, Ranka notes that the palace servants actually love the twins, that the twins get to know those around them by name, know their families, and even care for the poor and ailing. I wonder if some of these critiques about the twins are because those reviewers didn't actually bother to read the book or passages about the twins. Literally, within the next page of meeting the twins, we can already see that they aren't the villains here, so I'm perplexed by the negative views over this vilifying black characters or making them oppressors of Ranka, a white witch.

On the second more prominent and often cited controversial theme of blood libel. I didn't see it. As a Jewish reader and reviewer and in discussion with other Jewish readers, I just didn't see it here. The use of blood as a vehicle for or conduit of magic, and the notion that that magic might negatively impact the user, to me, does not read as blood libel. The use of blood as a conduit for power and magic is used in many many other books and their magic systems, without this similar type of concern (see the Darker Shades of Magic series, for example). Also, within this book, Ranka's blood magic is only her own, she is not using the blood of anyone else and this arc specifically ties back to the author's own journey through trauma and physical health issues where it felt as if her own body was her enemy.

Again, I don't claim to be an expert on either issue, and I encourage you to read a variety of reviews to make your own judgment, but after having read this book end to end, and even as soon as 50 pages in, it felt clear to me that some of the outcry of negative reviews and opinions were based on very cursory and limited knowledge of the characters, not by actually reading the book itself or even 75 pages of it. Just because there are two black royals who the MC, who uses blood magic, THINKS are evil, does not mean that that is necessarily the whole story or that that's all Mix has to say on the subject. What a short book that would be.

Now for the actual review of the overall story and characters. I liked this. I like Ranka's grit and I liked how she fumbles often. She is not an idealized MC by any means, but her relentless loneliness and eagerness to please, her lack of conviction to anything outside of immediate acceptance, and her fierce loyalty even to those who don't earn it, are all things I think readers can understand and resonate with on some level. What I also loved was how nuanced the idea of love and loyalty is, how it's challenged, and ultimately how Ranka's story unfolds to show us the tangled web of feelings and dynamics with those we thought we loved, even if they are our own abusers.

The romance arc within this was fine, but not something I felt especially invested in, though I will say I appreciated the queer representation and normalization within Mix's world.

At times, the pacing felt a bit off and the middle point actually felt like the climax that the book was working towards so I felt a bit off-kilter seeing we still had a whole second half to go. At the middle mark is where I think my empathy for Ranka's confusion started to really die out, at this point it's been 200+ pages of indecision and warring emotions, so it just felt a bit too much, too dragged out. I needed homegirl to just MAKE A DECISION. That said, I get it, that's part of her arc, but ugh, my patience was wearing thin. And while the action was a little slower in the second half as everything starts to click together in place, the second half gets undoubtedly darker. There are some scenes that were hard to read through so check the TWs, but needless to say, the experimentation on people...those passages were tough. Not that they were portrayed poorly, but just kind of hard subject matter to see on the page.

I feel like this would have been better as 2 books, where the middle point becomes the ending to the first book, giving us a good cliffhanger, and then book 2 comes in to neatly tie up the conflict and betrayals. But as one book altogether, I think it all started to bleed through a bit and did not land with the impact it was meant to. I got almost impatient for it all to end. Still, this was quick to get through, engaging, and I think pretty refreshing to the genre. It could have used a bit more smoothing out in parts, especially for pacing, and I do think it got a little unwieldy with different threads a bit, but I still enjoyed this. I think the magic system was interesting if a little vague, and more importantly I think the characters were strong and made an impression.

Rating: 3.5/4, rounding up to 4.

The Ones We Burn is a complex tale of parental abuse, loss, and the lengths survivors must go to in order to bring themselves back from the brink.

Unfortunately, I did not finish this book. I may try and give it a chance later on. Just wasn’t a fan of the writing.

Such amazing twists and turns, and the magic system was so so so good! Also a love main character that’s not quite a heroine! Highly recommend to all the magic lovers out there!

I have had big expectations for this book since first learning of its existence early this year, and I genuinely believe it exceeded all of the expectations I had.

This book is incredibly well-written. The plot is unique, the characters are ones you can't help but to root for. I think there were some places that had issues with pacing, which took me out of the story a bit, which is why I knocked off a star rating.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It wasn't without problems that I think could have been addressed by the author but overall, I thought it was a great adult fantasy debut and I enjoyed the chaos. I see how things may have been construed as racist but I don't think that was the intent. The author could have made some better choices in her descriptions but the writing is solid, the story flowed well and I look forward to seeing more from her in the future.

The first three chapters felt like a giant world building infodump and I didn’t care about the characters enough to continue reading. YA is a tough sell for our libraries just because of the ages of our usual visitors, and I’m seeing this one flop.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC.