This book had some interesting ideas, but I feel like the storyline was dragged out quite a lot so it was hard to get into. The overall theme and the characters were spot on.

I'm conflicted with my review of this book, I really enjoyed this but it has been brought to my attention that the book apparently contains controversial and racist plot points, and while I don't really agree, I'm also a white, privileged girl from Europe, and I really don't know whether my voice is one that deserves to be heard..

This book really checks all of my boxes: it has marriage of convenience, withes and magic, queer rep.
I really liked the characters, the plot and the worldbuilding and I also have newfound love for stand-alone fantasy books! <3

I picked up this book because of the great title and cover and premise and I was not disappointed!
It was throughoutly interesting and hooking and I just love witchy books so much. I listened to this around Halloween which was just perfect.
"The ones we burn" by Rebecca Mix is the perfect read for everyone who loves magical fantasy adventures.
The narration was amazing and I really enjoyed listening to it.

It was a very nice debut, but it has its laking hence why it's more of a 3.5/5 rate! I felt like there were a lot of "tell don't show" moments, and I believe that's what confused me so much as we got told something but I didn't know where it was coming from, especially towards the end with Omrun (no idea how the leader of Ranka's covent name is written, thanks to the audiobook...). I also got a bit confused on why there were witches but also people with magical powers who don't seem to have any problems? I don't think it was explained.

I also liked our MC Ranka less than I liked the other characters, which is a shame. Galen is a sweetheart and while we haven't seen him a lot, I really loved how he developped throughout the book and I'm proud of him okay. Aramis was really interesting and strong even if she had so many things putting her down. I liked her relationship with Ranka. I also loved Percy and his friendship(?) with Ranka, he's amazing and always made me smile, it was the fun side to the book while still having so many things to say that you still have to take him seriously.

But overall the story was really well done and I loved how the bloodwinn powers worked. Ranka's strong, and her Bloodwinn status is so important. We quickly learn the ones persecuting the witches are not the royals, and we're more onto the witch hunt side of our history and I really loved that part (but beware that some parts and the witch hunt and also Ranka's sister parts are really hard to read). The plague took a huge part of the book I wasn't expecting it but it was actually super interesting and which we could learn more about it : they were actually kind of creepy!

Anyway I had a good time reading it. I do feel like this was still a strong debut and I would gladly read a next book (a spin-off with Percy and Galen PLEASE AND THANK YOU.) but I'm still really satisfied with how everything ended. I might have wanted a liiittle bit more romance because I was rooting so much for them but that's me being picky haha.

Firstly, I want to say I received an advance copy is this in exchange for an honest review and I held off from any judgment until I read the book beginning to end. I think there’s been serious miscommunication about the reverse racism/ controversy in the book. As a poc, I do not see it? It’s a story about witches versus humans and has a lovely, slow burn sapphic (enemies to lovers) romance.
Yes, the Royal twins are black and initially viewed as the enemy by the other
M/C (a white witch girl) but the twins are amazing! They are not antagonists but young rulers that want to do good for their kingdom and people. It’s the corrupt people around them causing conflict between humans and witches, not the twins.

As a poc, it breaks me every time I see my fellow brown and black readers once again feeling the need to scream out wrong doings/ injustice done to us in books (as has been the case over and over again through time - from Twilight to Harry Potter to all of Sarah J Masses books- I’ve read the books, loved them but felt like an outsider looking in with them because my colour was brushed aside as nothing). The publishing industry and authors need to do better.

However, I think there is some confusion circulating with this book because the diversity was on point and I felt proud seeing amazing coloured characters in the lead.

While it started a little slow this was a great read. I really enjoyed the characters and the world Rebeca Mix created. The story has magic, action and adventure and the most beautiful love story.

4.5 stars

The very first thing to say about this book is Woah - the cover. That was what immediately made me think, yep, this is something I am going to love. I really enjoyed listening to Roisin Rankin and found her voice very easy to tune in to, as well as peak interest during the story. The first part of the story feels slow, while the world builds around Ranka, a blood witch. There is a lot of trauma within the story so I would encourage readers to check trigger warnings.

I was unable to finish the entire audiobook as the file was archived from the app prior to finishing (I didn't realise this would happen with the audio files). Therefore I would rate this 3/5 stars for what I have listened to and I will request the ebook in order to update my review.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to this in exchange for an honest review.

Thankyou to Net Galley and Hodder & Stoughton Audio for a free audio book, in exchange for a non-bias review.

The Ones We Burn is an atmospheric fantasy book about magic, found families and touch of romance.
I did find it difficult to keep up with the audio book soley as I am not used to the names so had to move towards tandem reading the book. Once i started reading the book alongside the audio i started to enjoy it much more and found it to be a solid YA book- not usually my chosen age range of book.

I got a free copy from Netgalley all opinions are my own.
I have both an e-arc and the audiobook arc.

I'm probably going to get some hate for this review lol.

For starters, I think that people just want something or someone to hate on. They want to see everything as problematic, and even though I'm no saint, the cancel culture just isn't healthy.

Most of the people writing bad reviews about this book looks to not be POC. And I'm not saying that only POC are allowed to call things out, but I've noticed a rise in a lot of non POC finding things racist or appropriating, which gets really tiring🙄
I do recognise that some POC have written bad reviews too, and I won't discredit them or their experiences and feelings.

Also a lot of the 1 star reviews are literally from people that haven't even read the book. Which I find very infuriating.
There's also a lot of "fake" accounts only made to review this book. Those "fake" accounts, either write bad or good reviews, so I feel like all the reviews should be taken with a grain of salt🤷🏻‍♀️.

Anyways finished with my rant lol.

I love the audiobook narrator, her voice is really nice. She doesn't sound "old" which I really like, because sometimes when I don't find the narrators voice fitting to the MC, it's just very off putting.
Like I've heard narrators, where the main MC is supposed to be like 19, but they sound like a 40 year old💀
So anyways big props to Roisin Rankin, I really like her voice, and will definitely be checking other of her works out.

I don't see any reverse racism of the sort, maybe I'm just blind, but I really didn't notice anything problematic.

It's a pretty basic fantasy story in my opinion, and follows the usual tropes. The characters are okay, they act just like teenagers does, which suprisingly didn´t annoy me.

Overall I didn't mind this book, it was okay, it wasn't bad in my opinion. I think as I often do with audiobooks, that I would have liked this much better as a physical copy. I really should stop reading audiobooks, I rarely get the full enjoyment from audiobooks if it's my first read.

Luckily for me I also have an e-arc, and the chapters I read, I did like. I liked that the chapters weren´t too long, and I liked the writing.
I liked the ending too, it was nice.

So you know what I like this book. Hate me all you want.
It's more a 3 star read for me, but due to all the low ratings, I'm giving this 4 stars to bump it up🥴

Ok.... so the situation is this, there is a lot of talk about this book and I apologise but cant really ignore that however I'm also not sure that I'm qualified to talk in too much depth over it, I'm a reader that looks to be transported to a fantasy world for fun and escapism, I don't often like to super analyse a book, its why I love YA, its usually easy to follow, fun and a bit more carefree.
I requested the Audiobook after starting the text eArc I received prior to the discourse surrounding it. I love Hodder books in general and the blurb sounded right up my street but, in all honesty, I ended up listening to this as I found the book slow to begin with and because of the comments I really wanted to finish this book to form my own opinion as I couldn't find any solid, detailed information backing the claims from the account that started the controversy around this book. I find listening can often help me to reengage with a book, that was very much the case here.
Having now listened to it, I don't understand this controversy and the comments made.

It's important to say that I am not black or jewish, I am very aware that my experiences and knowledge will be very different from others and my perspective and opinions are my own. I may have some learning to do here but let me explain what I read and understood.
Ranka does not seem to be oppressed by the royals. Yes she has a tough time of it, an abusive relationship with a parent figure, yes, having to fear for her kind because of a virus killing them, yes, being married off against her will because of a treaty, also yes, but my understanding is the countries and groups responsible for this are multi cultural and it is not the royals imposing this, in fact I'm almost certain I read that the Prince himself was often not able to even read the laws that were being passed by his council until he comes of age (which I believe consists of multi-cultures)
*spoiler alert* if anything the 4 main characters seemed to form a found family bond and help each other solve the problems.

I don't know, maybe I missed something which honestly could be possible because I had some trouble getting into the book, it was a slow start for me. Once I got going I realised I was having trouble with the lore/magic and this is what caused my slow start. I had a lot of questions that made me stop and start. Who was who? what magic was possessed and why? where did it came from? why is a Bloodwin so special? what is the Scra? the list goes on a bit, I had to keep thinking and flicking back to reaffirm groups of people and their alliances. Perhaps that's a reader problem for me, I enjoy my YA and id say this is on the upper side of that genre.
It is certainly more politically focused and I would have enjoyed some more world building to bring the various countries to life more.

I did enjoy the fact that nothing seemed to come easy for any of the characters and for once we have an enemies to lovers romance that isn't insta love disguised as enemies to lovers or a romance that turns into this head over heals love formed from an enemies beginning, its tentative and real, moving through phases that reflect the situations they have found themselves in. In fact the character growth all round is really very good, all of them learn and grow throughout although I must admit to not feeling a lot for them except Percy who was quite fun.

I did find the plot and the mystery really interesting and great to follow it has lots of twists and turns and a fair amount to unpack for those who like political YA and a good character development story also has LGBTQIA+ representation.

The narration of this book is a huge plus! they do a fantastic job of accents and a variety of tone and acting that really does bring the characters to life more or as a minimum makes them easy to decipher.
Pacing was good I usually fid audio painfully slow but this is one of the first audios in a while I have not listened to on x2 speed.

Im pleased to be given the opportunity to listen and form my own opinions.

Where do I begin the concept of this book had promise but it fell down in so many places, the characters were one dimensional and I didn't care for any of them, it dragged on and took way too long to get anywhere.
The only redeeming factor was the narrator who did a great job trying to give this book something worthwhile

I'm aware that this book has received many negative reviews regarding racism, I read this after reading reviews from several Black readers who disagreed that the book was racist.

I felt that this book was a strong entry for a debut novel, given the authors events in her own life she did a great job! I really enjoyed the fantasy aspect; I loved how the magic was described and I found it very fast paced and full of action.

I appreciated the writing, and the narration was really well done. I felt like each character was well voiced and I could differentiate between them. Overall, this was a solid start to this what I hope could be a series and I'd be very much excited to see it continue.

Firstly apologies if I have spelt names incorrectly. I listened to the audiobook but *think* I have them right!

Ranka, a blood witch whose magic compels her to kill, infiltrates the home of Prince Galen due to being promised in marriage and fully intending not to like him, his sister Aramis or his friends. Her mission is to end them.

But the problem is she does like them and wants to help them in their mission to cure a plague. Ranka begins to question what she's always been told and battles with herself about what is right.

This was a good fantasy read with a little bit of romance, found family trope and some jaw dropping revelations. My only complaint is that it dragged in places and I found myself becoming a bit disinterested so was a stop and start book for me but the writing was beautiful.

I would say that this book could be classed as older YA but it is quite dark and gory so prepare!

Thank you for letting me listen to this audiobook. There were some things in this story that I liked. But I found myself zoom out somewhere in the middle of the book.

3.5 Stars - Ebook provided by NetGalley

Ranka is a feared blood witch who is chosen to be the bloodwinn and marry the human prince. Here is where the story takes off and Ranka has to decide whether to help the royal twins or kill the prince.

I really enjoyed this book it feels like a simple plot from the synopsis but there is so much going on with a complex well thought out world. There were lots of twists and turns to the book and revivals that I didn’t expect. I liked the characters of Ranka, Galen, Percy, and Aramis although I did find them all very naive, especially Ranka.
To make the book better I feel the characters needed to be explored more to feel real, especially Percy who has an interesting backstory I would have liked more from. The book seemed to cut from scene to scene without much linking them which isn’t my preferred writing style but it did make the story fast-paced.

The audiobook was a good listen as I’m terrible with pronouncing names and the narrator had good pace and emotion. The only issue I had with the audiobook is the narrator didn’t differentiate which character was speaking very well so I often got confused as to who was talking and I lost track of the story.

Overall I liked the world, characters, and message of the story and I would recommend it to people who like a fast pace YA book but not to people who read mostly adult and character-driven books.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the narrator and I found my self getting lost and so switched to reading a physical copy.

This book wasn't for me. I may go back to it at a later date and try again because all books deserve a second chance. I'm going to leave it as a neutral 3 stars but I won't be sharing on my channels.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book

“The Ones We Burn” written by Rebecca Mix and narrated by Roisin Rankin is a great bk to read for fans of fantasy, magic, and YA adventures. Most of the story is centered around Ranka, a blood witch, who is tasked with carrying out a task of high importance to her witch coven. As time goes by at the prince’s court, she starts having doubts about her mission and through her journey makes discoveries that threaten to shutter her world completely!

I loved listening to every minute this audiobook and I highly recommend it as a candidate for a one-sitting reading / listening session!

Special thanks to NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton Audio, Hodder & Stoughton, and the editorial team for giving me the opportunity to review the ARC in audiobook format and to you, my reader, for taking the time to read this honest personal book review.

If you are interested in other of my book reviews, make sure to follow me on GoodReads!

#TheOnesWeBurn #NetGalley #LifeLongLearning

Before we begin, I want to address the controversy that surrounds this book. As always, please be sure to check out own voices reviews, because as a white reader, my opinion on the matter is not truly relevant, and I will just be reporting what I read online. The book has been accused both of antisemitic takes and racism.
Let’s start by the antisemitism, but be aware that it’s a bit unclear to me: Jewish reader have pointed out that the use of blood magic is antisemitic, however I have also seen Jewish reviewers saying that a witch using blood magic is not antisemitic. If you know more about this topic, feel free to explain it to me in the comments, because I am interested in learning, but I am afraid that the Internet won’t be helpful and will give me wrong info.
As far as the racism is concerned, the reviews by Black people are also divided. I will report both sides, and you can then decide what to think. In the book, the royal family is portrayed as POC, and the main character is white. According to some reviews, there the reverse racism trope, because the royalty and government is oppressing witches. However, other reviews point out that not all witches are white and they are not oppressed because they are white, but because they are witches, so it’s not really reverse racism.
I believe that the problem with this particular thing is how badly the book is written. Personally, I think the author shouldn’t have written this oppressor-oppressed thing with the oppressor being Black, since she is white, but I also think that there are contrasting opinions on the matter because the book was truly awful as far as world building is concerned.
Aside from its issues, I found this to be a below average YA fantasy, which was trying to do too many things and accomplished none of them: the characters were extremely stereotypical, even the one character I enjoyed (Percy) was clearly written to be the fan favourite, stringing together a bunch of clichés; the world building, as I said, is lacking and left me with a bad taste in my mouth, because it could have been great; the plot was so basic and boring I found myself dozing off in the middle of chapters. The writing wasn’t good either and it contributed, at least in my opinion, to make the issues above more prominent.
In general, this reminded me a bit of Sweet & Bitter Magic, another instance where a witchy sapphic book disappointed me. At least Sweet & Bitter Magic wasn’t controversial.
Anyways, I would not recommend this book, because despite the fact that there are contrasting takes on the antisemitism and racism, I believe that if so many Jewish and Black people have pointed out its problems, even if there are some that were not offended by this, the issue is still there and I would much rather recommend an uplifting book for marginalised groups. Moreover, it’s really not a good book and you won’t missing out on anything.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton Audio for the audio book.

Ranka has been chosen to kill the prince of the human kingdom because he is the oppressor to her people. When Ranka learns that everything she's been taught is far from the true she has to decide what it is right and what it is not.

I enjoy the politics and the moral debate that take place through out the book.

The audiobook is very enjoyable and very well done.

Brilliant book and narrated well.
Doesn't deserve all the hate around it at all.
People need to read/listen before they comment.