[review] The Burning Sky

Title: The Burning Sky
Author: Sherry Thomas
Series: The Elemental Trilogy, #1

Balzer + Bray
464 pages

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.


I am really not altogether sure of how to start this review - I have very mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it has sweeping romance, great characters and a great potential for the series - but my biggest problem was the worldbuilding.
Not that it wasn't good - I mean, Sherry Thomas has built a world around the Domain, with magic and strange elements and so many great things, but her problem was actually the writing. So many of this very cool stuff that she put we have to figure out on our own - especially the dynamics. We have the mage world - ruled by Atlantis and the terrible Bane, a great and powerful wizard, but we also have the mage world, which is just plain England. I thought that this was going a bit too far for my own taste - to be honest, I don't think high fantasy and victorian England go together that much, but that's just my opinion. But excepting the fact that Thomas just throws elements around and expects the reader to make something of it, the other parts were pretty cool.
I have to hand it to her - up until half of the book I wasn't liking it that much, but Iolanthe and Titus have conquered my heart in the end and made a new otp. They have great dynamics together, and although some stuff did not convince me altogether, I'm sure that it'll get better, and what they already have going now is great. Iolanthe is very sweet and not the bravado kind of girl, which surprised me in a YA heroine. Titus, of course, is the prince, which made me automatically swoon - but he also has a lot of depth and cunning, which makes his character even more real.
The plot is good - although we have some slight troubles with it, and this book has a very slow start - and I think it's setting something great for the next books in the trilogy to come. At first I wasn't entirely sure I would be continuing the series, but in the end the book convinced me. I will not be buying it immediately after they come out, but will definetly be reading them later.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Quote: “As long as I live and breathe, I will be with you.”