Can he save what she will destroy... Bright We Burn by Kiersten White (Review & #Giveaway)

Thursday, July 12, 2018 - Leave a Comment

I read the first book in this book and fell in love with the Dracul siblings (review here) and
have been wondering how this series would end. Read my review and enter a giveaway below...

Bright We Burn

(The Conqueror's Saga #3)
By Kiersten White
YA Urban Fantasy, Historical, LGBT
Hardcover, Audiobook & ebook, 416 Pages
July 10th 2018 by Delacorte Press

Summary

Haunted by the sacrifices he made in Constantinople, Radu is called back to the new capital. Mehmed is building an empire, becoming the sultan his people need. But Mehmed has a secret: as emperor, he is more powerful than ever . . . and desperately lonely. Does this mean Radu can finally have more with Mehmed . . . and would he even want it?

Lada's rule of absolute justice has created a Wallachia free of crime. But Lada won't rest until everyone knows that her country's borders are inviolable. Determined to send a message of defiance, she has the bodies of Mehmed's peace envoy delivered to him, leaving Radu and Mehmed with no choice. If Lada is allowed to continue, only death will prosper. They must go to war against the girl prince.

But Mehmed knows that he loves her. He understands her. She must lose to him so he can keep her safe. Radu alone fears that they are underestimating his sister's indomitable will. Only by destroying everything that came before--including her relationships--can Lada truly build the country she wants.

Claim the throne. Demand the crown. Rule the world.

(Affiliate links included - I receive a small kickback if you make a purchase using my links.)

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My Review

BRIGHT WE BURN was the perfect ending to this series fraught with war, violence, and fierce love. The characters have changed as their world and circumstances changed them, but are still recognizable to when readers fell in love with them in the first book. It is a bittersweet ending, but a satisfying one.

I appreciated that this story wasn't as starkly depressing as the second book (that second book was just tough to read!). It has more peace, hope, and friendship to balance out all the terrible things and misery. I also didn't always want to shake the characters, as I did so want to do in the first book and even at times during the second. The characters are so much wiser. Well, at least some of the time. I really felt for Lada. She wants her country so badly, her people to thrive, and no one wants to give it to her or let her keep it. Radu just wants to find happiness and love and keeps getting pulled into the two halves of his heart who are determined to conquer. Mehmed was himself and I've also struggled with Lada and Radu letting him affect them so much when I saw how much he just used them. I have felt that this series is really Lada's and Radu's story and this third book really comes full circle. Their relationship is so complex and full of so much history, but there are some very sweet and even humorous moments towards the end between them that I loved.

This series is quite a bit more brutally violent and sensually intrusive than most I read and most books in the Young Adult genre. A lot of it is very blunt as well, a style and edginess I hadn't affiliated with this author before this series. I would personally have preferred for things to have been a lot cleaner. This also read to me like an adult novel and not YA and I would recommend it for older teens, or adults.

In the end, was it what I wished for? This was a bittersweet story, one that fit the characters and ended in a satisfying way.

Content: Suggestive scenes, a lot of violence (most quite bloody and gory), LGBT relationships.
Source: I received a complimentary copy from through Rockstar Book Tours, which did not require a positive review nor affect it in any way.

Other Books in the Series

About the Author

Kiersten White is the NYT bestselling author of the Paranormalcy trilogy, the Mind Games series, Illusions of Fate, The Chaos of Stars, In the Shadows with artist Jim Di Bartolo, and the upcoming historical reimagining, And I Darken. She has one tall husband and three small children and lives near the ocean, where her life is perfectly normal. Visit her at www.kierstenwhite.com.

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Tour Schedule

Week One:

6/25/2018- Here's to Happy Endings- Review- Books 1 & 2

6/26/2018- Pandora's Books- Excerpt

6/27/2018- Two Chicks on Books- Interview

6/28/2018- Jena Brown Writes- Review

6/29/2018- The Hermit Librarian- Interview

Week Two:

7/2/2018- The Desert Bibliophile- Review

7/3/2018- PaperTrailYA- Review

7/4/2018- Wonder Struck- Review