to address the elephant in the room: no, i do not think that this book is racist or promotes white supremacy. the Black royals who are "oppressing" the witches are very clearly framed as the main characters and heroes of the story, even when ranka, the main character, is biased against them at the beginning due to the abuse and conditioning she's suffered since she was a child. without getting into spoilers, the villains in the series are white, and it's made very clear early on that the Black royals are just kids who have been manipulated by the adults around them. additionally, witchik, ranka's kingdom, and isodal, the human kingdom, are multiracial, so i think viewing their conflict through a racial lens would be unnuanced. however, i am not Black, so i encourage you to seek out reviews from Black people who have read this book.

i also want to say that this book does not contain any blood libel or antisemitic tropes (i've consulted with my jewish friends on the matter). ranka's magic is called blood-magic, but there is no ritual bloodletting involved. it's called that because it compels her to take lives, and it makes her stronger and more impervious to pain. moreover, ranka is not jew-coded. she doesn't have curly hair, a hooked nose, or olive skin, and the culture she comes from isn't jew-coded in the slightest.

now, onto my actual review: this book has heartwarming themes of friendship, breaking free of abuse, and realizing what love truly is. however, i have a bit of a gripe with how this book is marketed by the author. becca mix is super funny and nice, but i dislike how she marketed aramis and ranka as intense enemies to lovers, because ranka and aramis BARELY dislike each other. they argue about two times and even then the current of attraction between them is very obvious. as a fan of the enemies to lovers trope who has been catfished way too many times, i am TIRED.

this book is supposed to be set in the pre industrial era (and i'm saying this with a lot of confusion because i could not get an accurate grasp of the time period this book takes place in, but whatever, it's a second world fantasy), but the characters constantly used modern lingo that took me out of the story. I KNOW, this is a second world fantasy with witches and magic, but modern lingo in a pre industrial setting is super weird. why did a character describe another character as "unhinged" in the context that we would use it in the 21st century? at one point, someone gives ranka the finger. percy calls ranka a "useless lesbian." why does the word "lesbian" exist in this world?? did this world also have an island called lesbos wherein a poet called sappho waxed poetic about her attraction to women? i am confusion. also, i found percy annoying. i mean, the characters find him annoying, but it's clear mix wrote him with the intention of him becoming a fan favorite. his quips felt so out of place and forced. 😭 when percy randomly blurted out "i'm too pretty to die" after being beaten and betrayed, i cringed so hard.

also, i might just be stupid, but i had a hard time grasping the logistics of the villains' plans and one of the villains' motivations.

as you can tell, my gripes with TOWB can be boiled down to my own personal preferences. after reading adult fantasy and encountering complex, immersive worlds and interesting morally gray characters, ya fantasy just doesn't cut it for me anymore. i only picked my netgalley arc up because i wanted to see if the accusations of this book being a reverse racism fantasy were true or not. i'm not the right audience for this book, and that's okay because i think it'll resonate with a lot of teens.

Hmm, I was really looking forward to this book and although it was enjoyable I was left a little disappointed. I love magical books and there wasn’t enough of that to me, the main character was a little bland and morally grey but I still enjoyed some of the storylines and plot developments, just the execution fell a tad short for me!

So my views on this book, I enjoyed the story but it felt a little slow at points, it wasn’t pulling me to read it all the time, so took me a little while to finish it.

I really enjoy the main characters and the relationships between them. I really enjoyed chapters with the Aramis and Ranka interactions.

The magic was quite a weak aspect of this story in my eyes so if you are reading this for magic, you will probably be disappointed.

Enjoyable but a little stretched out.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the egalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Ones We Burn by Rebecca Mix was one of my most anticipated releases for 2022, I was excited by the idea of an assassination plot waylaid by sapphic love and the purported high stakes of a community pushed to the brink by a mysterious plague.

I literally checked for it on edelweiss everyday for months!

Alas, the twitter controversy surrounding this book sparked then raged into an inferno all while the author remained silent about the claims of ‘reverse racism’ in her debut.

As a black reader this saddened me greatly, I’m always cautiously excited by books featuring diverse characters when they’re written by white authors, hoping that for once we would get a portrayal that isn’t deeply offensive and harmful.

YA’s audience is teenagers, and I think that we, as adult (early) reviewers need to be more diligent and more analytical in our reading and reviewing of these books, especially when they try to tackle themes such as the ones here.

Enough soapboxing, and onto the actual review.

TOWB is a pleasantly complex story. It attempts at themes of abuse, manipulation, overcoming childhood trauma, self acceptance, forgiveness and love; TOWB felt like such a thoughtfully written story in some parts, whilst failing and being so misguided at others.

Seems like a case of doing too much with too little space (just one book) but also there were parts in which the pacing was off, and months where nothing happened passed by in the span of a page?

Ranka is the beating heart and driver of this story. She’s a Witchik blood-witch, the last known one in the North, a position and power that isolates her from those who should care for her — as more than a weapon to be used — the most. As she is the only one the witches can use to continue the Bloodwinn treaty which links the humans and witches in blood and marriage and is supposed to serve as a beacon of cooperation and peace between the two groups.

But the treaty is not worth the paper it’s signed on.

Witchik witches are starved and hunted, the Skra troupe forced to the northernmost cold and barren tundra, their sovereign lands beset with pillagers and thieves after their copper and elk.

So we’re all on Ranka’s side when her best friend, confidant and only tie to community, is stolen and she decides to fully embrace the title of BloodWinn, travel to the capital to save her friend and volunteer to carry out assassination.

Ranka is painted as this person who’s committed many wrongs and fought in violent skirmishes with humans (we’re told, but never see), she’s tired of it all, and longs only for life with her sisters and peace, so her fury-filled stomp back into the fray is a very bittersweet decision, and I certainly felt for her.

We find out very quickly that the image of Seaswept, Ongrum depicted, especially about the prince standing to inherit it all and his sister, was just a cruel mirage of the real thing.

It’s here, in Seaswept, that Ranka finds true friends, a home and understanding, which is a source of conflict and heartache for her. The decision of who she stands with and the comprehension who stands with her, regardless of her past, of her witchery, is one that is fraught and this allegory for victims of abuse was very visceral and one of the better developments of the book. I think that real care was taken with this aspect of TOWB.

Recognizing the importance of self worth, and that to save the world, maybe start by wanting to and saving yourself by breaking the chains of abuse are at the heart of this story, and probably would have stood very strongly on its own.

Where the cracks in this came, was from the very foundations. When writing about oppression, a lot of writers take “inspiration” from the real life past and continuing oppression of marginalized communities, and usually rip the methods of oppression out but strip it out all context and meaning and white-wash it.

This is world in which magic exists, and is celebrated, where humans can be born of witches and vice-versa, where the only difference between ‘humans’ and ‘witches’ is that for witches their magic is innate, in their bodies, that are stronger, tougher and live longer and for humans their magic effects and mimics the elements.

I know that humans look for petite differences and sameness to form their little cliques, but we weren’t given enough history of this world to understand why a conflict between these two factions even exists! Much less a treaty to solve the problem involving the marriage of much hated and reviled witches into the royal ruling family???

Another issue I had, and do have when writers write outside of their experience, is that they create characters, like Galen and Aramis, their diversity is just skin deep— or shallow as it was. There is a lack of any cultural signifiers, any distinction from a generic white protagonist in the same position, that would make them even the tiniest relatable to me as a black reader.

And in a story like this where they are the rulers of a kingdom violently oppressing another— whether they themselves have charming personalities, want to save the sick and infirm, are ‘soft bois’ with eyes easily filled with tears, what is the point being made by making their skin colour different from Ranka’s?

Is it any wonder that this is being called a ‘reverse racism fantasy’. On the surface, the face of the oppressors are black twins and the face of the oppressed is a white, blonde female scared of her own power and fragile in so many ways.

But is it actually? Better minds that I have broken this down on goodreads and twitter.

Spoiler

What actually offended me, was being lead around by the author on what to think and who to root for— and having to root for an oppressive force? Having the villains of the story end up being the very witches being oppressed ????

With the way the story was written, it ended up being commentary on how both sides of an issue, no matter who’s right or wrong, can do horrible things. Which ties in to the vilification marginalized communities get when they merely stand up for themselves.

Galen and Aramis being the scions of a powerful country, trained up from birth to rule, but somehow unable to call upon enough power to even know about, much less tackle the inequality present off the beaten path of their own society didn’t gel well with me.

I was clearly supposed to have great sympathy for Galen, and view him as some sort of victim of circumstance, a boy who doesn’t want the mantle of leadership because of the tough decisions involved, and feels free to ignore and turn a blind eye to whatever is going on in his country rather than try to help regardless.

End of Spoiler

All in all, this was a pretty frustrating read. I liked the prose, and the writing itself I found to be very readable, with the themes of self-love and difficulties of prolonged abuse and what you do to survive in the moment and how to deal with the emotional fallout of your own harmful actions and the non-linearity of healing being handled beautifully, I hope that this book will resonate with those it’s dedicated to. However, I was let down by the world building which was lackluster and unclear, I didn’t have a well formed feel of how this world and it’s magic worked, the much anticipated enemies to reluctant allies to lovers and back dynamic fell flat, even a knife to a throat scene being super cringe, missing that vital and tumultuous chemistry that carries such scenes and the shaky conversation about morality in the response of the marginalized to oppressive violence.

I really appreciate Hodder and Stoughton for sending me a copy of The Ones We Hunt.

Since receiving/reading it I have been informed of the dangerous tropes packed within, so I shan't be writing a full review.

It is not my space to take up, please listen to Black & Jewish reviewers/authors/creators

Worst piece of GenZ pseudo woke rubbish I had the missfortune to come across in a long time. Sh** with a capitle S. Not even some rather far fetched racism claims are going to make this triffle relevant. In fact I have read teenage fanfiction better written then this. Don't bother.

I didn't love the concept of this one unfortunately. the cover is beautiful but I think the execution for this book could have been done a little better. The representation of oppression just wasn't it.

Rebecca Mix has built up a book with a very interesting premise, alongside an in-depth original world with rich political magic systems and complex characters and relationships.

generally i felt that mix delivered upon this. our main character ranka, i thought was a perfect morally grey character to centre the story around. she was emotive, complicated and well explored. i felt we as readers were allowed to get to know her and what makes her tick, and the decision to centre it on her POV was well thought out, adding suspense and uncertainty due to her bias and lack of trust. her relationships as well with aramis was clearly incredibly well thought out and an extremely captivating part of the book, it was fun watching their relationship develop and pan out throughout, it was never simple or two dimensional. perhaps most importantly, aramis and ranka were unpredictable and they kept me on my toes not knowing what was going to happen.
the world building equally was a strong component of the book. the ideas and creativity put in were prevalent and i thought that it allowed for a developed plot and adventure because of the richness of the magic and political intrigue. having said this, some aspects of the worlds history needed to be explained and expanded upon more in order to have a more thorough understanding.

i am aware of the criticisms surrounding this book, mainly surrounding reverse racism and antisemitism and i have to say that i am going to listen to the people harmed, saying this was harmful. this was a shame because lgbtq+ diversity was clearly a focal point of the book, especially because of the main relationship, but positive racial representation was sadly not given that sort of importance. this did impact the enjoyment of the book and think it should be considered more carefully. representation needs to be carefully thought out, it needs to be done well and given time and effort or else you are just hurting a community. sadly this negative element definitely hindered the ones we burn and meant it was not as enjoyable as it could have been, it's disappointing to see something so harmful so prevalent.

i think moving away from these criticisms rebecca mix clearly writes very well, it was a captivating read that did not turn out, or develop, as i originally had thought and this allowed for a really strong book. it was enjoyable to read, which allowed me to read it in 2 settings. the book mainly delivered upon what was promised and it was done to a high standard to their credit.
overall, the ones we burn was a good book which i enjoyed, it would have been 4 stars if not for the racial and anti-semitic criticisms.
mix writes in a captivating and intriguing way, providing us with a fantasy boom with tropes that can hook a reader in.

While it started a little slow this was a great read. I really enjoyed the characters and the world Mix created. The story has magic, action and adventure. While it’s a YA book it doesn’t feel like a teenage read. It’s a great story.

Hoooh boy. Okay. Rebecca Mix can be happy that I read some truly abysmal books this year, because otherwise this would be my worst book of 2022.

Let's start off with the proverbial elephant in the room: Yes, the racism is there. Yes, the antisemitism is there. No, I don't think it was intentional. Is it disappointing? Is it infuriating? Is this book deserving of the "hate" it gets? Yes, yes, and yes. (Side note: Calling something out for racism and antisemitism is not, and will never be, "hate" or "cancel culture"). I am not the right person to talk about this. I am a white atheist. My sexuality doesn't matter, it doesn't change the fact that I am not the right person to talk about racism as it pertains to this particular book. There are other people who have done so, far better than I ever could, and I have read their reviews on this book before I ever considered picking it up. I read their reviews during my reading, and I read their reviews after I finished reading, always comparing. If you are interested in reading this book, please read these reviews. They are there. I will link some below, too.

The Ones We Burn (TOWB) is a book that gives off the message that it was a book written to have a book written. A book for a movie deal. A book that serves the sole purpose of the author having a book out. It has about as much soul as the Divergent Trilogy. The plot is reminiscent of the fanfiction I wrote when I was twelve. The characters are cardboard cutouts walking around a world that is comparable only to Disneyland: Pretty on the outside, but there's nothing behind. No substance. No importance.

Where's the passion? Where's the story this tells? Where's the necessity, the moral of the story? This book is a collection of tropes and hashtags that Mix taped together with ducttape to make pretty Tiktok videos. Oh, your book is 1. sapphic, 2. enemies to lovers, 3. knife to throat (but make it sapphic)? Okay, what else? Nothing? I figured. (I didn't make that up. I took that directly from the author's twitter page).
An example: Our main character is a witch. The witches are being oppressed and persecuted by the humans. Yet for some reason it is custom that each ruler marries a witch, and has done so for generations. Why? Oh, just because! There's no reason given. If the humans hate the witches so much, why are they fine with their ruler marrying one? Why do they demand it? Why is it necessary? So the author can get the plot point of the witch being engaged to the prince, that's why. So there's a "reason" for the main character to go to the capital and live in the palace, no matter how flimsy that reason may be. And the entire book is like that. (And the land the witches live in is called ... Witchik. I am losing my mind.)

TOWB is a collection of empty little rabbit holes, conncected together by the hollowest of plotlines. And nothing even comes of these plotlines! This book has an astounding number of chapters; eighty, to be exact. 80. Eight-zero. At exactly 460 pages, that's an average of 5.75 pages per chapter. Personally, I don't understand short chapters at all, but it seems to be a trend on booktok, so I guess the short chapters were another checkmark off the list of things to throw together to make the perfect marketable book. The actions of these characters barely get any depth, because the chapter is over after three pages and the plotline is abandoned. Nothing gets the attention it deserves, because every time we get smoewhere, there's a cut - and the next chapter begins. It's ridiculous.

Normally, in a book like this, the characters are its saving grace, but they aren't. The only ones that are worth to even pay attention to are Galen and Percy, and even they fall flat. Ranka, our main heroine, is probably meant to be some kind of anti-hero, but she isn't. She's just ... empty. Lifeless. Her supposed "blood magic" feels useless. She is constantly hyped up to be some kind of super-killer, when in reality she's just pathetic. She is defined by the people around her, the people who imbue her with the barest hint of personality until the chapter ends and she's alone again. A vessel for the reader, meant to be relatable because she's oppressed. Her two personality traits are 1. being oppressed and poor, and 2. being a "ruthless killer".

Where's the worldbuilding? Oh, the (white) witches are oppressed and persecuted. People want them dead for being witches. Okay? What's the background? What's the history? "Oh, it was always like that. They just always hated each other."
I don't understand it. Is this meant to be a metaphor to real life, or is it just a plotline from other fantasy books borrowed to make this book seem more "gritty" and "relevant"? There's entire countries we don't know the relations of. Why? What's the base, the groundwork, the infrastructure of the worldbuilding? Once again, it comes back to TOWB reading like a book written for the sake of having written a book.

Furthermore, how can any author living in the USA of twenty-fucking-twenty-two look at a story they are writing and conciously make these choices? I went on twitter to see if Mix had posted something about it, and she did, denying that racism and antisemitism are present in the text, and that their one black sensitivity reader would've caught it.
Excuse me? One singular black sensitivity reader? On a book with two black main characters, with this kind of plotline, in this political climate, in the year of our lord 2022? I don't understand very well how publishing works. But if this is how it is ... Man. Don't really have the words. Guess I expected more. Guess I shouldn't have.
And even though the main character eventually changes her mind, the things remain. The words are still on the page. The insults are there, black-on-white. In general, I think I understand what Mix wanted to do here: To have a character that is proven wrong, and ends up changing her mind once she receives more information. However, I am of the opinion that this backfired, and it backfired spectacularly, especially when it comes to the heavy promotion this book receives.

Once again, this proves that just because I want a book to be good (especially a wlw book) it won't necessarily be. And just because the author is part of the lgbt community doesn't mean that their books won't be

So ... yeah. I have many more thoughts. I have no more words to express these thoughts. Maybe I'll add on to this once my brain has cooled down a bit. But for now, I am just extremely disappointed and ... pretty angry, actually. In conclusion: No one should support a racist book, but even disregarding the racism (which one should never do) this book is really, really bad.

Please refer to these reviews for more thoughts that are not mine:
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4812626829
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4814072828
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4810285214
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4760062162

Here's the author's explanation on twitter:
- https://twitter.com/mixbecca/status/1546496302430683137?cxt=HHwWgoCwjbCMofYqAAAA

I will update the review with a link to our blog closer to publication date.
I'd like to thank the publisher Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for providing me with an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review

Thank you so much, NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

TW: violence, abuse, blood, murder

In the world created by Rebecca Mix the tenuous alliance between humans and witches is built upon an ancient treaty: a blood witch has to marry the heir of the Sunra's throne. When Ranka is chosen and named Bloodwinn, she doesn't want that. She tired of death, scared of her power, missing her lost sister and she only wants spent her days in the wild north of Witchnik. But the coven needs her and they sent her south with a mission: kill the king responsible for the witches' sufferings. Ranka doesn't want do it, but if there's a small chance to find her lost friend Yeva, she will do anything.
Expect nothing is like they told her. The Sunra family isn't cruel and power-hungry, the young prince Galen, with the ability to control air and water, doesn't want to marry her or the throne itself and his twin is the princess Aramis, with a brilliant mind and determined not to like her. So their friend, Percy, an ambassador from a lost kingdom. When chaos starts invading the city, with witches turning up death, a plague threatens everyone, Ranka, Galen, Aramis and Percy have to work together in order to stop it and save everyone. While they work on a cure, starting to trust each other, even though slowly, Aramis decides to teach Ranka how to control and contain her deadly blood magic. But as the coup comes nearer, Ranka is forced to decide what side is she on and what's the real truth.

The ones we burn is a good fantasy, with intriguing characters, captivating magic system and it's full of twists, surprises and betrayals. The main character is Ranka, a young blood witch unable to control her dangerous magic, burdened by past traumas, abuses and losses, trying to bury her own past and to move on, trying to escape. Involved into a coup she didn't want to be part of, she slowly realized how much her coven lied about the Sunra heirs and their world. In a world filled with violence between humans and witches, power hungry royals, starving witches and brutal homicides, Ranka, Galen, Aramis and Percy try to do their best. The royals are teenagers, fighting to control their own country with a young prince who doesn't want to be king and a princess without magic excluded from the throne she was groomed for. Ranka finds herself in something she didn't expect, above all when she starts to work with Aramis and Percy for a cure against the plague, trying to understand how to control her own deadly magic. But controlling it, means remembering her traumas and that's the hard part.

Talking about the plot, I liked reading this book, filled with twists, lies and half-truths, betrayals, misconceptions and interesting realities.
Characterization wise, the main character is Ranka and it was interesting and moving following her journey towards self-worth and love, after years of abuse masked by love, finally understanding her own worth and who truly love her., while facing traumas and violence. The relationship with Aramis is sweet, an enemies to reluctant allies to lovers to allies to lovers... It was cute, even though a bit predictable.
Aramis is a brilliant character, balancing her wonderful and genius mind, her science against her twin's magic and kindness, her stubborness to his sweetness. Galen isn't what Ranka expected. He's kind, shy, powerfully outshined by his twin and even by his friend Percy. I loved the bond between Aramis and Percy, two brilliant geniuses and how much they love Galen.
I would have preferred, though, a better characterization for Galen, the prince Ranka was sent to kill, because we don't know so much about him, exept his kindness.

I'm not sure how to rate this book. I liked the story, filled with intrigues and twists, lies and misconceptions, the magical system, but I wasn't so impressed by the characters because, Ranka besides, some fell flat and I can't figure others' motivations in their actions and I would have loved to know more about Galen himself. Some seems a bit too stereotyped. The pacing is a bit odd too. Sometimes rushed, other too slow. Six months rushed sometimes and I would have loved to have a better developed ending.

Overall, though, it's a good book and a nice debut, with a interesting journey of self-love and self-worth, queer love and intriguing political tensions.

The Ones We Burn is a book that completely blew me away. It’s raw, cruel and heartbreaking, it deals with abuse, grief, and a pain that scars deeply… but it’s also full of a hope, and of a love that is uncorrupted and real.

In the world Rebecca Mix perfectly crafted, the frail alliance between humans and witches is secured by a treaty: the strongest blood witch, charged with the title of Blodwinn, is chosen to marry the Sunra’s heir and become queen. The Ones We Burn tells the story of Ranka, a young witch and latest Bloodwinn, from the moment she is forced to leave her coven in the North and journey to Seasweapt, capital of the human kingdom, to marry Galen Sunra… and to kill him, as part of a coup planned by her coven’s leader.
But Ranka gets surprised when she discovers that Galen is not a cruel leader, like his father, but a gentle prince, and his twin, Aramis, is brilliant and extremely attractive. Walking on the fine line that separates villains and heroes, Ranka will be forced to examine all her beliefs in a journey that could change everything, or doom the whole world.

Even though the main plot is always gripping and left you curious to solve the mystery of the witch-killing plague, with brilliant plot twists that are always surprising but also perfectly fits with the rest of the narrative, The Ones We Burn is, at its core, a character-driven story: told from Ranka’s point of view, it’s sustained by all the four main characters equally (Percy is definitely my favorite, and I’m sure many will adore him as well), and as a matter of fact the plot itself is something deeply connected with the characters, not just a series of events they live through. And there is something extraordinary in the way, with a perfect balance of adorable (and quieter) scenes between Ranka, Aramis, Galen and Percy, and more active ones that move the story forward, this book is ultimately the story of how these four grown-up kids found a safe place in each other among the madness of their lives. It’s found family dynamic at its best, truly.

The characters’ development is executed remarkably well, considering the limited space of a stand-alone, with complex and stunning evolution arcs, especially Ranka’s (if you loved Zuko’s arc in ATLA, be assured you are going to adore hers as well), that is extremely realistic in not being completely straightforward, and instead interrupted by many wrong decisions and mistakes. But there is something moving in seeing how Ranka literally blossoms from the moment she starts to hang out with Percy and the twins, even when they are still her enemies (at least in name), because for the first time she got to be with people who didn’t fear her because of her blood magic or saw her only as a weapon to be used, but whom at least were able to “friendly” tolerate her.

However, the thing in which Rebecca has completely outdone herself is the relationship between Ranka and Aramis, and how it slowly evolved from hate and diffidence, to mutual respect, to something that clearly reminds of love. But nothing is too easy in this book, and the connection that bonds them is way more complicated and fascinating than this.

The Ones We Burn is able to be fun and cute at times, but also deep and heartbreaking in portraying how abuse often comes from the people one loves the most, and the immense strength it takes to shape ourselves into something different, something better than what others raised one to become. And at the center of it all, is the concept that healing is not an easy process, and definitely one that should be undertaken only for oneself, not for anyone else.

There is a part of Rebecca intertwined between every line, and that’s one of the reasons why this book is so special. She is truly a talented writer, with a prose full of highlighting-worthy quotes, and you should definitely keep her on your radar.

I recommend The Ones We Burn to readers looking for a unique fantasy with charming characters, and who don’t mind crying at least a couple of times… and I’m going to sob over that beautiful epilogue and make peace with the fact that I will have to say goodbye to my favorite dorks 😭

I’m going to preface this review by saying my take on this book is one reader’s opinion. I am a Black, disabled YA author who is not comfortable posting this from my author account given the way other BIPOC authors were harassed solely for following Mix or saying they were looking forward to this story.
 
Before I address the actual contents of the story, I do want to be blunt – from what I can tell, the controversy drummed up online is based on nothing, led largely by either anonymous accounts, or people who are known to try to build platforms by grifting off of outrage culture. I was wondering why nearly a month later the only reviews that were getting passed around as evidence that this book was some kind of white supremacist dog whistle had either no textual evidence, or a single out of context line.
 
I have my answer now: it’s because there is none.
 
There are going to be light spoilers below but I believe they are necessary given the way public conversation around this book has unfolded.

The Ones We Burn follows the story of Ranka, a seventeen year old blood-witch, who grows up among other witches in a politically disorganized country engaged in border conflict over resource extraction with a larger port country. A treaty has been established that relies on the Bloodwinn (Ranka) to marry the human heir (Galen, the Black prince) to renew a treaty they’ve had for three generations. Ranka is sent to start a coup against this kingdom when her plans are quickly waylaid by the emergence of a strange plague that turns ordinary witches into zombie-ified monsters. Much of this book follows Ranka, Aramis, Galen, and Percy as they try to find a cure for this plague and stave off the coming political collapse of their countries.
 
When we meet Ranka she’s fully under the influence of one of the political factions the Skra witches, and is particularly under the thumb of their leader, Ongrum, who Ranka clearly views as her mother by adoption if not by blood. A word of warning: if you are a survivor of abuse, some of the dynamics in this book may be difficult for you, and while I cannot presume to know Mix’s personal life, the dynamics between both Ranka and her leader have the rawness of someone who knows exactly what they’re writing about. The dedication is also written to “the kids who survived”, so infer from that what you will.  

Ranka’s perception of the world wildly contrasts with the text’s portrayal of it. She is a morally gray, unreliable narrator who essentially has her ass handed to her for 480 pages in a way that is simultaneously satisfying and heart wrenching. The assertion that Ranka is somehow oppressed is just not textually accurate, given that this book spends far more time punishing and condemning Ranka than being kind to her. Despite her being the protagonist, the narrative makes us root against Ranka because we know if she gets what she wants, ultimately, she will suffer. She is abused, brutalized, humiliated, and when she makes mistakes, characters do not forgive her, and she does not expect them to. At least a third of this novel is Ranka essentially expecting to die and knowing she is not owed reconciliation with characters she has betrayed. The general message here seems to be that you are not responsible for the wounds you suffered, but you’re responsible for healing them so you don’t enact further suffering on others.
 
Much of the concern about this book seems to be from an anonymous review and a tweet claiming this book was about a nation of Brown and Black people oppressing the white witches. This is a factually inaccurate claim, given neither country is racially homogenous. Both groups are repeatedly canonized as being multi-racial. Some may be concerned that this is an anti-hero narrative that places a white character against Black characters. But while Ranka initially views Aramis and Galen, the Black teenagers, as her political enemies, it’s essential to note the text does not. Ranka’s first interaction with Galen is a scene where she meets him at dinner and is baffled that the wellbeing of the palace staff is his first priority. The staff adore him, the guards adore him, and even before either of the Black teens are on-page, there is some very clear signaling from Mix that the text is already aligned against Ranka’s interests to favor the twins, and that the reader should be, too. Mix spends 500 pages fleshing out three-dimensional arcs around Galen and Aramis coming into their power as heirs over a struggling nation, and while they do make mistakes, at no point are they portrayed villains or antagonists. In every scene, in every chapter, even when they make complicated choices, they are clearly the protagonists against Ranka’s messier, albeit more frustrating anti-hero arc.
 
It's also important to note that while Aramis and Galen are royalty, the resources of the country are almost out entirely of their hands. They have no access to wealth, their military, or even control over public policy. Much of the book is building up to Galen’s eighteenth birthday when he will presumably take the throne and have be granted full governing power. This book starts four months prior, with Galen still underage and at the whims of a Council that has been (very poorly) ruling as a type of managerial regent. There are multiple references to laws being passed without Galen being allowed to read them, and white guardians and political leaders have seized the reins in the absence of their parent’s death. Much of the witch’s resentment in the novel seems to have intensified in recent years following the death of Aramis and Galen’s parents – implying things were relatively peaceful before the Queen and King passed, with one of the major sources of civil unrest being a recent event we later learn was Ranka’s fault. The political positioning in this story is surprisingly well done, and the political nightmare Galen has inherited reminds me of what happens with Black politicians are elected to lead largely white establishments and are unable to enact actual change but are still the public face of failure and inaction.
 
A second note I want to make is the treatment of the lead Black teens in what is regularly a very violent narrative. While the story does often veer into violence and gore, the narrative’s treatment of Aramis and Galen seems intentionally gentle. Mix is extremely careful to treat the lead characters of color with care in scenes where others are getting grievously injured. Ranka and the other witches who are canonized white are regularly stabbed, set on fire, medically experimented upon, and even thrown from cliffs. While Aramis and Galen are often put in harms way, the narrative is very protective of them and refuses to linger on their pain in a way it often does with Ranka and other white characters. I’m uncertain if there’s a single scene in this book where Galen is actually injured. Even in a chapter where Ranka, Percy, and Aramis have been poisoned, Mix lingers far more on Ranka and Percy’s physical pain than that of Aramis despite the narrative’s concern for Aramis’ wellbeing above all else. This careful refusal to linger on the pain of the Black teenagers meant a lot to me as someone who is used to bracing myself for trauma porn when Black and Brown bodies appear on screen, and it’s done in a way that never feels untrue to the text. While both the covens and the human kingdom are mixed race, I noticed repeatedly that bystanders who enact or suffer horrific violence (there is a particularly hard to stomach scene where a young girl is burned alive) are white. The white characters, including Ranka, are the ones either condemned by the narrative as villains or as victims of horrific violence at the hands of other white characters. This happens frequently enough that it cannot be an accident, and it seems particularly relevant given the way dialogue around this book evolved.
 
Like another reviewer has noted, I appreciate that this novel seems painfully conscious of the way Black characters are treated in popular media, and the efforts it takes to avoid them. Even when Aramis is sharp with Ranka, the narrative is clearly on her side. Galen’s most defining feature is that he is gentle and kind-hearted, and his biggest “flaw” is that he’s not interested in compromising his personal morals if that’s what it takes to become king. The other characters of color in this story are largely the heroes – I particularly enjoyed the non-binary witch who leads a rival coven who emerges later in the story – or are written as people going about their normal lives.

It is worth nothing that I don't believe this story was really meant to be read through a racial lens at all. Much of the power struggles in this book seem to be an allegory for class and the way people who are queer or disabled are ostracized. I'm concerned the discourse will cause largely white readers to project things onto this book that for me, as a Black author, simply are not there. Similarly, I’ve found it interesting that some reviewers read Aramis and Galen’s father, the King who was known to be a complicated ruler both beloved by his people and feared for his storm magic, as Black – I believe he was meant to be read as white. There are a few places in the book where the novel references the late Queen having brown skin and the late King being pale, but they’re very easy to miss. Regardless, I find it interesting some have read the complicated King as Black and their more affectionately remembered mother as white.
 
Though I found one of the lead villains uncompelling, I understand why they made the decisions they did. I will say this is something Mix excels at: many of the people in this book make terrible decisions, and, unfortunately, you typically understand why. There are characters in this story who make some of the most terrible choices conceivable but it never feels out of character and it makes the general crux of this narrative, that of being a child of extremely manipulative adults, all the more fully realized and painful.

Most of the stumbling points for the novel for me have to do with YA Fantasy generally not being to my particular taste and the general heft of this story packed into a standalone. This is also a very gruesome book and my tastes do not usually veer towards the kinds of body horror Mix seems to have an odd love for. I was more interested in the worldbuilding in regards to the witches than the political infighting and plague plotline most of the novel was built around. Some of the characters are clearly written for a teenage audience. Percy in particular will likely be grating to adults but entertaining for the actual children Mix is writing for.

Overall, I found this to be a promising debut written with a lot of heart and care. This text is going to be very important to survivors of abuse, particularly the children Mix is writing for, and I have to hope that this book finds it’s audience regardless of the controversy clearly designed to kneecap a young author’s career before it can begin.
 
For nearly five hundred pages, it feels like throughout what seems to be a very carefully written text, Mix’s dedication carries through to establish a single message for her young readers: regardless of your race, regardless of your class, if the parental figures in this book remind you of your own, you deserve to know the way you were treated was abuse, and it wasn’t your fault.

THIS MAGIC SYSTEM IS INSANE!! Magic that craves death is a really interesting idea and I adore it. Ranka is called a blood witch, but her magic is not blood related and is in fact solely based on her magic craving death.

If you’re into ya fantasy this is definitely a great read, the plot was incredibly interesting and very well written. There were plot twists I didn’t predict while reading, but once they happened I remembered the subtle hints in the previous chapters. The characters had amazing arcs, we had huge growth from our main character, Ranka, in particular. She learnt to trust herself and be who she wants to be, not the weapon she was forced to become. We had the twins who were such polar opposites that I loved their characters as individuals, and as a dynamic duo. We have Galen who is more shy and reserved, and Aramis who is a smart, funny, all-round badass. And Percy who I think is literally my favourite because he is hilarious, but also has a heart of gold.

I adored the slow burn romance in this, and the theme of trauma, suppressing trauma and eventually facing your trauma was something that really stuck with me. As someone who has experienced trauma, I really related to the characters struggles and the difficulty overcoming her trauma, it was slow, it took time, and it was written perfectly. It hit hard, and was very accurately represented in this book.

Another theme of this novel that was tackled superbly is abuse. What do you do when the people who are supposed to love you, care for you, and protect you, are the ones who hurt you just to further their own ambitions? What do you do when everything you’ve ever been taught was a lie to weaponise you and the person you were taught to hate, is in fact, innocent? My heart hurts.

Rebecca Mix’s debut is absolutely everything I love in a ya fantasy read and I cannot wait to read more from her.

A wonderful witchy powerful story! Magical beyond words. I devoured this book and it stayed with me for days, I highly recommend it!

Ranka is a bloodwitch, whose magic compels her to kill. Galen is the boy-prince of Isodal, whose magic secures his claim to the throne. When Ranka is named Bloodwinn, the bride-to-be of the prince, her coven sends her south with one objective; kill the prince. But when Ranka enters the court, she realises not everything is what she expected. The royal twins are not evil, they are just teenagers who have no idea what is happening in their own city. The real enemy is the plague that is attacking and killing witches. In order to save her kin, she must team up with the very person she intended to kill.

This book was very raw and dealt with a lot of sensitive topics. Emotional and childhood trauma feature very heavily and this book talks openly and deeply about abuse from those whom we love and look up to. There was a lot of character growth and it was nice to see Ranka deal with her pain and grow from it.

There's lots of action in this book and a lot of plot twists. The beginning is quite slow paced, with lots of narration, but towards the mid to end, the pace really picks up. There are a few big time jumps at the start, but I think it would have flowed better if it was more of a quick summary rather than just a complete jump. The actual plot though was excellent and was very well thought out, with so many layers. The writing was beautiful and the descriptions were bewitching.

However, I wasn't really feeling the chemistry between Aramis and Ranka, it felt a bit forced/sudden. Percy and Galen though were perfect together, Percy is absolutely my favourite character. I would have liked to have seen more info about the other covens, there is definitely the potential for spin offs there.

All in all, this book was a strong debut, but could have done with more world building and better pacing.

Thank you to Hodder and Net Galley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

The writing is 4 stars, but there a few things about the timings of the action in this book that mean I’ve given 3 stars. It frustrated me, but I really enjoyed reading this book. A new author for me, with a future of many more books, Rebecca Mix, has a lot of talent and has produced an entertaining fantasy book. The book has elements of political intrigue, love, acceptance, redemption, betrayal and gently introduced LBGT relationships. All in, definitely a good read. Thank you to Hodder and Stoughton and NetGalley for letting me read an ARC. The views expressed are mine, freely given.

Had things been a bit different, I would doubtless be calling the Ones We Burn a straightforward, promising YA fantasy, but unfortunately it has fallen into a classic trap and paid the consequences. Using fantasy to explore discrimination is a common thing, and obviously admirable, but it needs to be set up and framed very carefully or it just backfires, as has happened here (prompting very warranted criticism and upset from readers). When people say this is a "reverse racism" book, it doesn't mean it literally is about non-white people oppressing white people (that's not how the world in the book is set up): it's a little more complicated and layered than that, but still absolutely valid as a complaint. What we have is a completely fictional racial dynamic (humans oppressing witches), in which our representative victim is white, and our representative oppressors are a pair of Black royal siblings. The fact that other characters are of various races sort of doesn't matter, because the book foregrounds this dynamic, and so I'm not surprised readers feel this is an excuse (intentional or not) to reverse real-world power dynamics. But there is another layer which adds on to this: we actually are supposed to side with the Black characters, but they are coded as monarchs in a very white Western Europe way - many of the enemies actually end up being marginalised figures. So on this other layer, we are actually being positioned into supporting an inherently white imperial structure through the fact that we are expected to be progressive and support characters we recognise as marginalised in the real world. Complicated, and quite possibly unintentional, but this is exactly what needs to be caught in publishing. And I think it trickles out to affect the rest of the book to be honest: treating the human-witch split as a racial/cultural thing rather than as something akin to queerness or disability (which feels a more natural fit) creates a world that I can't quite understand - it leaves me with more questions about how this world even functions on these lines. That's a real shame, because there is a genuinely powerful story about trauma and gaslighting in here (and a sweet enough romance), that really should have been the focus. Trying to also tackle racial dynamics, even in a fantastical version, has sadly brought down a book that otherwise had a lot of potential.