wow, okay.

so this book and i went on a journey together. let me just say straight-up that pure was one of my favorite reads of last year, and a totally unexpected surprise. at first, i thought "ho-hum, another dystopia marketed to look like a YA book but i will read it because i read books, and i can read it for free, so hooray."

reader, i loved it. and i was so captivated by the premise and the characters and the grippiness of the plot. and i was so over the moon when i got an ARC of this sequel More...

Dying for this. Pure was possibly definitely The Best Book I've Ever Read. Love.

I'm really conflicted on this one. For a solid two-thirds of the book there was a lot about this sequel that just wasn't working for me. I was more than a bit lost in the beginning (after forgetting so many salient plot points from Pure). I just wanted to remember dammit, and feel all the feels I felt reading the first book. So I spent way too much time in the beginning wishing I had done a re-read of Pure before tackling Fuse (which I highly recommend you do).

It's my own fault. Baggott has wri More...

Just as disturbing and highly addicting, Fuse is an excellent sequel to Julianna's compelling dystopian series. If you're known to love unpleasant, often disturbing post-apocalyptic settings, this series is one you should be reading. The world in Pure may just be one of the most freakish worlds I have ever encountered. It's horrifying, yet I can't help but feel a slight thrill the more I read about it. Descriptions of how humans are fused with objects, other humans, or the earth itself is, witho More...

This series leaves me feeling conflicted every time I pick it up again. I felt very much the same way after finishing Fuse like I did upon finishing Pure. I awarded that book 4 stars as well. But I sort of feel like they don't deserve that high of a rating, and yet I can't seem to justify lowering it. If you are feeling as confused as I am, let me explain.



Most books have likable characters. At least a couple. I can honestly say that I really don't like the characters in this series. It's not th More...

Pure was easily one of my favourite books of 2012 and I have been eagerly awaiting Fuse for a year. Fuse, in Julianna Baggott's typical lyrical style, begins with a prologue from Wilda, a young Wretch-turned-Pure whose scars and fuses have been cured, and she comes with a terrifying warning from the Dome: 'We want our son returned. This girl is proof that we can save you all. If you ignore our plea, we will kill our hostages one at a time.’ I knew instantly that Fuse was going to be as savage as More...

I just saw this pop up on someone's reviews I'm following and I went immediately to my library and placed a hold on the audio version.

Like many others here, Pure was one of my top favorites from last year and I've been keeping my eyes peeled for the 2nd in this series.

I didn't focus on the YA slotting of Julianna Baggott first in this series; yes, the main characters are young people, but this series deserves recognition beyond the YA moniker.

Though, I have to add, that there does seem to be a l More...

I love the characters - El Capitan, Helmud, Lyda, Partridge, Pressia and Bradwell. It's hard sometimes to try to picture what they look like in my mind. This series is just so inventive - the world building is stellar and while its completely dismal, there's also hope that shines through. Pressia did annoy me a little bit during this book though, especially at the end - I couldn't believe she went against Bradwell's wishes. I can't wait to find out what happens in the next book - what a crazy en More...

Note: There are big spoilers for the first book in this series, but none for this one.

Before I started this book, I re-read the first book of the trilogy, Pure. As much as I loved the first book, I thought it was even better the second time through!

As I said in my first review, Julianna Baggott’s gripping and stunningly imaginative dystopia immerses itself into world-building in a way that guarantees we understand the horrific results of the “detonations” that destroyed the world.

This dark tale More...

This is the sequel to Pure, which I had read a while back, and which I just re-read (in anticipation for a book group meeting which, as it turned out, I couldn't go to after all). I was glad that I had just re-read Pure, because I was able to dive right into Fuse without losing where the storyline had ended.

Part of what I like about this book is that the author continues the smooth prose that she had in the first book. There are varied characters, all of them interesting, and while there is a m More...

I received my copy from Headline Publishing through Nudge and rated it 4.5 stars.

In this, the second book in the Pure trilogy, we meet our protagonists where we left them at the end of the first book. Pressia is with Bradwell for whom she is developing feelings she doesn’t recognise or trust and trying to come to terms with the fact that she’s recently found and lost her mother, discovered that her father may still be alive and the existence of her half-brother, Partridge who is a Pure, from the More...

Fuse continues the compelling Pure Trilogy, which is Julanna Baggott's starkly imagined dystopian world which remains, following devastating bombings that change, but do not destroy, life on Earth. Many of those exposed to the nuclear devastation are fused to whatever they were touching at the time. Pressia Belze has the head of a doll at the end of her wrist where a hand ought to be. Another survivor has three living birds partially imbedded in his back. Yet another young man is fused with his More...

Original Rating: 4.5/5

This review can originally be found at The Twins Read .

Holy cow. Whereas I was on the fence about fully recommending Pure to other readers before, Fuse had just made me want to take back all the half-answers I gave, run to the bookstores, and duct tape Pure and Fuse together. (Hehe, "fused" together.)

Fuse reunites us with Pressia, Partridge, and their motley crew. In the midst of all the chaos, Lyda is trying to establish her own identity, but there is one particular perso More...

Fuse Review


At a Glance:

It took me a little while to get back into the world of Pure, but once I did I encapsulated myself within it. I loved this book! I read it about a month ago and already want to re-read it!

Action:

There was stuff going on constantly. People running for their lives, characters bravely forging ahead in dangerous areas to discover the truth, shooting down dusts (people fused with the ground), tip-toeing within The Dome to stay alive and maybe take it down. So, yes. There was ac More...

I started reading Fuse right after I finished the first in the trilogy, Pure. I had a couple of issues with Pure in that I found it far too slow to take off, although I did like it once I got into it. I enjoyed Fuse far more, and I loved the world the author created as well as her poetic style of writing.

One of my favourite aspects about this trilogy is how unpredictable it is. There are a lot of dystopians around these days, and often they all just end exactly the same as each other. This real More...

I liked this almost as much as the first book (Pure) - and that is so unusual. It's hard to be the middle book of a trilogy but Baggott does an awesome job bridging the beginning of the story (and giving enough backstory to help you remember. Also, the characters were developed so fully in book 1 that it isn't hard to jump back in) and setting us up for the third book. I'm excited about the last book even though I really don't know where the story will go exactly: will Pressia choose to be purif More...

A little over a year ago I started off my reading year with Julianna Baggott's Pure , the first book in this trilogy. I found it a fantastic read, which engaged the reader on several levels, had some fabulous characters and world-building, and most importantly, was just a compelling story. Cue January 2013 and in a month's time the sequel, Fuse, will be out and I get to review that as well. While I was very much looking forward to reading the book, because I was curious to see what would happen More...

Fuse is a book not to be missed. The pure trilogy is a must read for anyone from YA readers to the ones who read between the lines.

A look about love, determination, greed, and finding the truth, the real Truth. Does being perfect back you pure or does being true to yourself and your believes make you pure? Find your answers in Fuse.

Julianna has written another astonishing book that will have you thinking about it weeks after you finish it. Starting off where Pure left off Pressia and her new fou More...

In this second book in the trilogy that began with Pure, Pressia, the wretch with a doll's head for a hand, Patridge, her half-brother, who is a Pure that escaped from the dome (meaning he was not exposed to the blast radiation that killed, maimed and mutilated so many), Bramwell, Pressia's friend and perhaps someday lover, who is also a wretch, as he as fused with some birds that were flying and they live as part of his back. El Capitan, and his brother Helmut, who is fused to his back - once l More...

Itchy knee, sun, she go. You know, for something that was relatively nonsensical (and slightly annoying when I know the actual Japanese), Baggott managed to turn it into something meaningful. She also made the characters more relatable than they were in the previous book, which was one of the things I'd disliked about Pure.

There were times when I had to put the book down because it became fairly repetitive, but as a whole, I think it highlighted the characters and showed positive development. T More...

This is the sequel to Pure, which was one of my favorite books of last year. They need to be read in order, though, so pick that one up first if you haven't read it yet. In Fuse, we continue to follow the cast of characters we met in the first book. Pressia is still trying to fix problems of the world today and discover more about where she came from. Bradwell is still convinced that if he figures out the past, he can fix the future. Partridge and Lyda are travelling with the mothers, until som More...

This is the 2nd book of the Pure trilogy. If the first, we are introduced to Partridge and Lyda who are Pures who live under a dome. On the outside there are the Wretches, those who were afflicted when the Detonation War hit the earth. This story picks up after Partridge had escaped from the dome and hooked up with Pressia and Bradwell. Another wretch El Capitan/Helmud joins this group in search of a cure for the Wretches. During the Detonation Wars, many people were fused with object around the More...

Fuse is the second installment in Julianna Baggott’s Pure trilogy, and like any good second installment, the world expands, the stakes get higher and the characters sink to depths that make us fearful for them. In my review of Pure, I highlighted the religious overtones of the book. In Fuse, Baggott continues to weave reflections on faith, fundamentalism and our future into a story where these elements are an organic part of the world.

Fuse isn’t a morality tale about the dangers of religion, but More...

I really enjoyed the first book in this trilogy, Pure (you can read my review here ), but I found myself constantly struggling to remember what happened in the previous installment. The story is told through alternating points of view of numerous characters: Pressia, Partridge, Lyda, El Captain, and Bradwell. The characters and their roles started to come back to me, but there were always some grey areas where I knew that there was something I was forgetting, but I never really got clued into w More...

I get it. You're a shy, not pretty but pretty girl that everyone likes, and you have relationship issues, and you're week and sniffly and whiny, but hey you're 16 that's what 16 year olds do (I didn't but whatever). I'm just sick of this shit. Been there, done that, I'm drowning in the tshirts. I think I'm done with YA in general. I'm too moody and depressed and old to appreciate it at the moment. Maybe next year I'll be less of an ancient, crotchety hot mess.

I honestly just quit this thing bec More...

Book II of the Pure trilogy, Fuse picks up where the first story left off. It’s been a year since I read the YA dystopian, Pure so it took some time to warm up to the story and to remember what was happening with all the characters.

I’m typically not that fussed by world-building in fantasy/ dystopian because I’m always drawn to the characters in a story but this series drew me in with both of these threads. There’s no doubt this world is disturbing, there’s the ‘wretches’ on the outside who have More...

I read this one only days after I finished Pure, now I'm going to be sad and depressed until the third one is available.
I haven't been so attached to a set of characters in this way in such a long time. El Capitan is easily my favourite, and I'm happy to see Helmud is getting more attention in this book than he did in Pure.
The only (small) drawback to this book is the author's need to make it into a teenage love story. There is no need for it, and it seems to me like she didn't really want to More...

This is the kind of book that makes me wait for entire series to be out before I start them. My first reaction when I put the book down was: "How long until the next book?" Like the first one, it's gritty and haunting. There isn't horror per se but people who do horrible things. When you think you have seen the worst, someone commits another atrocity. It's bearable because there is nothing graphic. But if you are faint of heart, turn away. It doesn't mean there isn't hope in the story.

What I end More...

As one would expect from the second novel in a trilogy, everything in this novel is a cliffhanger. I was pleased by the character development. Every character remains true to Pure but we get to know them better, learn more about their fears and hopes. My favorite element of this novel is the way in which Baggott reveals each character's deeper motivations for wanting to bring down Willux and the dome. As a group, there is a common goal but individually we learn that no two people want that goal More...

Fusión continúa sorprendiendo al lector tanto como su novela anterior. Una trilogía cruda en la que la autora no tiene ninguna delicadeza a la hora de dar muerte, hacer sufrir o mutilar a sus personajes. Algo que la hace destacar claramente de tantas otras novelas juveniles. Cuenta con unos maravillosos protagonistas y una trama trepidante y diferente. Si no llega a ser por lo caótico del comienzo y las varias intentonas que tuve que hacer para poder avanzar de verdad la lectura, el libro hubier More...