In Burn Bright,
Retra, a girl from the Puritan-like Seal community in Grave, followed her
runaway brother to the island of Ixion. On Ixion, where teenagers party throughout
the night (there is no day) she discovered some terrifying truths about what
happened to those teens once they got too old for Ixion. But Retra, now named
Naif, was a lot stronger than she had thought. She has fought for her new
friends, been rescued, with others, from the island by pirate Ruzalia, and
taken to her own haven.
Thing is, not everything on that island is going well
either. People who realise that their Ixion badges will turn off their lives
after a while, blame Ruzalia. Some just want to go back to Ixion. When a group
of them mutiny, Naif persuades Ruzalia to help her return to Grave, where
Ripers, who run Ixion, have been seen talking with the local Elders. This is a little fishy, given that running away to Ixion was a sign of rebellion.
Naif and her friend Markes, the musician, have just two days to find out what’s going
on for Ruzalia…
In this story, we see a little more about life in Grave,
which then-Retra left at the start of Burn Bright. We learn about Markes’s
background in the wealthier community outside the Seal compound – a community
no nicer than her own.
There’s non-stop adventure here – and some things Naif
wishes she hadn’t known.
There are also some revelations which make sense of some of
the things that happened in the earlier book, but which I may not mention here
because there would be spoilers. Just read it.
Those who enjoyed Burn Bright will get plenty out of this one as well, but be warned – it ends on a
cliffhanger.
3 comments:
I read Burn Bright a few months ago and was a bit disappointed that I didn't really enjoy it. The writing was great and the world quite interesting. I just found that I couldn't connect with any of the characters at all. Especially not Retra or either of the love interests. Not sure whether I will pick up Angel Arias.
It's not for everyone. But I have a student who went and bought her own copy and is waiting for this one. She loved the whole idea of an island where you party all night. One of my Literature Circles groups chose it and had some fabulous disuccions, one of which is on film now.
There is a lot of adventure in this one, whereas in Burn Bright the characters were trying to find out what was going on. Now - they only have two days to find out a larger "what is going on" while ducking people who will kill them if they're caught. ;-)
Whoops, that's "discussions" not disuccions.
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