Review: The Burning Sky

Book: The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas
Publication Date: September 17, 2013
Series: The Elemental Trilogy (#1)
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Synopsis: It all began with a ruined elixir and an accidental bolt of lightning…

Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she's being told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of The Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the greatest mage tyrant the world has ever known. A suicide task for anyone let alone a sixteen-year-old girl with no training, facing a prophecy that foretells a fiery clash to the death.

Prince Titus of Elberon has sworn to protect Iolanthe at all costs but he's also a powerful mage committed to obliterating the Bane to avenge the death of his family—even if he must sacrifice both Iolanthe and himself to achieve his goal.

But Titus makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the Bane closing in, he must choose between his mission and her life.


Overall Review:
I was so excited to read The Burning Sky it wasn't even funny. I'd heard tons of good things, the plot sounded amazing, and that cover is simply gorgeous--even more so in person! I have no idea what happened. The Burning Sky wasn't at all what I was expecting, and that's not necessarily in a good way. I liked The Burning Sky, I did, but I didn't love it like I wanted to. I adored all the magic and mythical things we see and learn about, they were so unique and interesting, but there were so many references to things that I had no idea what they were and they were never explained. The book apparently assumed I've read up on my magic and wizard logic so I knew everything they were talking about and then some. Well I didn't and I was left very confused at times as to what a word meant or what a certain mythical being actually was or even what someone was doing! Luckily I was able to really fake my way through that stuff and continue on with the story without huge problem. Sometimes I would just make up stuff in my head that I knew so I could picture things better, I doubt I was right but it worked for me! There was a ton of world and plot building that I loved to read about but there wasn't much background knowledge on anything so the book once again assumed I knew what the heck they were talking about. It was a little trickier to fake my way through but I managed! Thomas has a very captivating and almost old fashioned writing style but it lacked emotion and feeling, so everything felt pretty monotone to me. While there were quite a few things I enjoyed, the things I had problems with really outweighed and trumped the good things making it really hard to fall in love with the book.

Iolanthe and Titus were very disappointing. The story is told from both their points of view but you could hardly tell because their voices sounded exactly the same. As much as I liked Thomas' writing style, it was impossible to get any personality from Iolanthe or Titus. They seemed exactly the same in voice, actions, thoughts, and monotone behavior. Iolanthe I assume was supposed to be a lone girl who didn't prefer the company of herself but had accepted it. She underestimated herself constantly and quite honestly didn't view herself very highly. That being said she valued her pride and dignity, for they were some of the few things that were hers and hers alone, so when Titus constantly lied and used her she got mad yet didn't exactly lash out. She did what he said with quiet, sometimes, resentment. She hated whatever he did but never did anything to stop him. She hated to admit it but she needed him as much as he needed her. Another thing is she was the type of heroine that was not interested in saving the world. It was said that her power and her power alone could defeat the Bane and save everyone, but she refused to risk her own life to attempt to defeat the Bane. She didn't believe she could defeat him therefore she didn't find it in herself to even try anything.
Titus was a very proper guy that was set in his ways. He believed in the story his mother told him and that alone, nothing else could sway his opinion or his mission. He was uptight and wasn't afraid to do whatever he had to in order to get what he wanted. He wasn't necessarily a mean guy, he just thought his mission was more important than almost anything else that could go on in the world. He was also pretty lonely. He had no family or friends and was used to being on his own with only his thoughts as company, he had no idea how to act around Iolanthe. Especially since she hated him, or so she liked to claim. Titus was dedicated to his mission and nothing more. That was his life and he had accepted that. 

I know the synopsis says that Titus falls in love with Iolanthe but I honestly didn't see it. I didn't see any romance between the two of them. There was no chemistry, no feeling, nothing. That could have something to do with the fact that there's no emotion behind Thomas' writing but still. I couldn't see any romance between the two of them so when they kissed or hugged or anything like that, I didn't get it. Maybe in the sequel I'll get into it a bit more but as it stands right now, to me Titus and Iolanthe don't truly have a romantic relationship because there was never anything between the two of them.

The pace was pretty slow and things tended to drag on. There was some pretty good action at times and I did adore all the magic that was used or mentioned, even if I didn't quite get what it all meant. The parts I like consisted of the magic aspect of it all, the world building, and the plot building. Not a whole lot there I'll admit but they were done very well and I would've enjoyed The Burning Sky a whole lot better if there weren't so many issues with it. All these references to things that are never explained. I'm just supposed to know exactly what they're talking about all the time. There's no real background knowledge nor do we really learn any background information so a lot of the things they talked about confused me. Sherry Thomas' writing style is beautiful and old-timey but lacks all emotion and passion. Everything felt monotone and blank. Which is why you could hardly tell who was Titus and who was Iolanthe during their points of view. They sounded exactly the same and lacked personality. I couldn't get any feeling from them which was entirely disappointing. All we really get from their characters are things that are stated either by them or somebody else. I also didn't see any romance between Titus and Iolanthe because again there was that lack of emotion, of feeling. You couldn't tell at all that they had feelings for each other except for when they came out and said it but even then you had a hard time believing it because you just can't see it. I'm hoping it'll get better in the sequel. I really enjoyed the title. It sounds so pretty and captivating. And just look at the cover! It's one of the things that really drew me into the book. It's simply stunning.


Overall Rating:
I give The Burning Sky a 3 out of 5 star rating. I didn't dislike The Burning Sky but I didn't love it either. It was a pretty okay book. The main issue that caused all the other problems I had was the lack of feeling behind the writing. Writing can be super pretty and divine but without that emotion driving it, no matter how beautiful it is it will always fall flat. That's what happened here. I'll still continue the series because I'm hoping for improvements and I want to see what happens next, but it's not on my immediate list of books to read. I suppose I would recommend this series to people who are interested in magic, mythical beings, wizards, all that fun stuff. I wouldn't recommend this for people looking for a mystical romance or whatever because you won't find it here. Really disappointed with how things turned out for The Burning Sky but I'm hoping the sequel will be much better. Thanks for reading!

4/5 stars

~Kayla~