Review: Burning Bright by Melissa McShane

 

Burning Bright was the story I didn't know I needed to get me out of this reading slump. It's like a period drama by Austen mixed with a naval adventure story (ala Horatio Hornblower) mixed with magical powers/superpowers. Very interesting combination and a well-written story. 

Elinor Pembroke's power manifests one night while she's asleep... and she sets her room on fire. She's 21 and unmarried so her parents - mostly her father - decide that this Extraordinary power she has to control fire makes her a more eligible match and they try to find her some rich/powerful husband. This is the interesting thing about the worldbuilding that reminded me a little bit of Temeraire, the author has put these powers into this historical time period and they're being used within the society like in the army, in fire brigades, etc. Elinor is a noblewoman, so her family doesn't expect her to use her power for anything, especially since she manifested late/at an older age, but she decides to carve out a different path for herself and use her power in a way that would be useful serving in the navy's war against pirates. 

What ensues is an adventure story with a healthy dose of Elinor exploring her power and its limitations and a tiny little bit of romance that didn't get in the way for me (I don't usually like Romance in my fantasy - or at all, really, but it wasn't overwhelming here and flowed really well). 

When I say it's an adventure story first and foremost I also mean that it doesn't question the systems in place. 

Yes, Elinor doesn't like being told who to marry, but that the extent of her social rebelliousness. She sees slaves and the narrative draws attention to it in a weird way by repeating the word slaves several times, but Elinor has no feelings or concerns or questions about this. It's also a story that deals with war, but, again, Elinor's thoughts are always on her own place in this, she's just doing her duty, etc, and although there are a few moments where she feels saddened by what she's seen she very quickly gets used to it and stops caring at all about the death she's causing. So, those two little things are what made me dock a star. I don't even really know how to feel about whether it's realistic or not... did the nobility really close themselves off from questioning the fairness of the system they were at the top of so effectively that they didn't even think about these issues? I mean, it's possibly that some did. And we can see that Elinor is self-absorbed, much as I enjoyed her story, so I wouldn't necessarily call this a failing on the author's part. Just go into it knowing that you're not going to get social commentary or an exploration of what happens when the slaves get the same extraordinary powers or anything like that... 

I'm suddenly swamped with real-life things and I don't want this review to drag too long. I also don't know how to say more without spoilers, but I will say that a really well-written friendship develops in this story which I really liked! 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this story and would highly recommend it, especially since it's still on sale today for only $0.99 cents - today is the last day of the sale of beloved SFF, which is where I got the book: Burning Bright was the story I didn't know I needed to get me out of this reading slump. It's like a period drama by Austen mixed with a naval adventure story (ala Horatio Hornblower) mixed with magical powers/superpowers. Very interesting combination and a well-written story. 

Elinor Pembroke's power manifests one night while she's asleep... and she sets her room on fire. She's 21 and unmarried so her parents - mostly her father - decide that this Extraordinary power she has t control fire makes her a more eligible match and they try to find her some rich/powerful husband. This is the interesting thing about the worldbuilding that reminded me a little bit of Temeraire, the author has put these powers into this historical time period and they're being used within the society like in the army, in fire brigades, etc. Elinor is a noblewoman, so her family doesn't expect her to use her power for anything, especially since she manifested late/at an older age, but she decides to carve out a different path for herself and use her power in a way that would be useful serving in the navy's war against pirates. 

What ensues is an adventure story with a healthy dose of Elinor exploring her power and its limitations and a tiny little bit of romance that didn't get in the way for me (I don't usually like Romance in my fantasy - or at all, really, but it wasn't overwhelming here). 

When I say it's an adventure story first and foremost I also mean that it doesn't question the systems in place. 

Yes, Elinor doesn't like being told who to marry, but that the extent of her social rebelliousness. She sees slaves and the narrative draws attention to it in a weird way by repeating the word slaves several times, but Elinor has no feelings or concerns or questions about this. It's also a story that deals with war, but, again, Elinor's thoughts are always on her own place in this, she's just doing her duty, etc, and although there are a few moments where she feels saddened by what she's seen she very quickly gets used to it and stops caring at all about the death she's causing. So, those two little things are what made me dock a star. I don't even really know how to feel about whether it's realistic or not... did the nobility really close themselves off from questioning the fairness of the system they were at the top of so effectively that they didn't even think about these issues? I mean, it's possibly that some did. And we can see that Elinor is self-absorbed, much as I enjoyed her story, so I wouldn't necessarily call this a failing on the author's part. Just go into it knowing that you're not going to get social commentary or an exploration of what happens when the slaves get the same extraordinary powers or anything like that... 

I'm suddenly swamped with real-life things and I don't want this review to drag too long. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this story and would highly recommend it, especially since it's still on sale today for only $0.99 cents - today is the last day of the sale of beloved SFF, which is where I got the book: https://www.talesfromthecircle.com/epicsale2021.html