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Burning Kingdoms

(The Internment Chronicles #2)

Lauren DeStefano (Goodreads Author)

3.52 · Rating details · 2,287 ratings · 344 reviews

Danger descends in the second book of The Internment Chronicles, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Chemical Garden trilogy.

After escaping Internment, Morgan and her fellow fugitives land on the ground to finally learn about the world beneath their floating island home.

The ground is a strange place where water falls from the sky as snow, and people watch mov ...more

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ebook, 320 pages

Published March 10th 2015 by Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers

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Start your review of Burning Kingdoms (The Internment Chronicles, #2)

May 11, 2014 Vicky Marie rated it liked it

Shelves: dystopian

WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO THE COVERS!?

After reading

After waiting a year for the second installment of the Internment Chronicles I'm sad to say it was a complete disappointment. The plot went almost nowhere. Instead of a journey into a new world, Morgan and friends are left to stay in a hotel pretty much the entirety of the book. I wanted adventure, to discover what secrets the ground below held. What we get is pages with Morgan and Pen sneaking out at night with their new friend to get wasted. The ...more

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Apr 13, 2013 Hannah (The Curiouser & Curiouser) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-author, dystopian, my-brain-is-happy-dancing, i-want-to-eat-the-writing, genius-heroine, 2015-favorites

UHHHHHH . . .

Dat cover . . . WHHHYYYYYYYYY?????

HOW could they think the original type of cover wasn't perfect?!

Firstly, now my copy of Perfect Ruin is not going to MATCH with the rest of the series.

Secondly, the original cover was perfect!!!! It is still one of my favorite covers. So beautiful . . .

But NOOOO . . . they have to mess with beautiful things.

Check out my blog, where I also review and rant over YA books:http://obsessivereads.wordpress.com/ ...more

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Jan 13, 2014 Rayne rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, dystopian, love-triangle, 2015, between-3-and-4-stars, romance, fantasy

3.5 stars

Nobody bores me quite as beautifully as DeStefano. She is a very talented writer and her lyrical prose is absolutely mesmerizing. Her writing pretty nearly makes up for 300+ pages of almost comatose inactivity because it is simply a delight to read her words, to see the way she strings sentences together and creates the most beautiful of images almost effortlessly. Even after losing the intrigue that made the first book in this series, Perfect Ruin, a hit with me, I was riveted by the w 3.5 stars

Nobody bores me quite as beautifully as DeStefano. She is a very talented writer and her lyrical prose is absolutely mesmerizing. Her writing pretty nearly makes up for 300+ pages of almost comatose inactivity because it is simply a delight to read her words, to see the way she strings sentences together and creates the most beautiful of images almost effortlessly. Even after losing the intrigue that made the first book in this series, Perfect Ruin, a hit with me, I was riveted by the way in which DeStefano developed her characters in this one, the way she presented this new world and the decisions she made regarding the relationships between the characters. Sadly, at least for me, that still leaves a fairly repetitive and uneventful book that felt like it lasted forever. I understand the need to give these characters a chance to develop and become the people they need to be for the next book, but, quite frankly, I was bored with the novel most of the time.

This novel is very different from Perfect Ruin in almost every aspect, maybe not in most of its elements, but definitely in what they focus on and that made a marked difference in my reading experience. In the first novel, the mystery and intrigue behind the story, the beautiful contradiction between the technological and modern aspects of this monarchic, deeply religious island in the sky, and the sensitivity and thoughtfulness of the main character, made Perfect Ruin an enthralling read that defeated my every protest about the plot. Many of the same elements find a place in the sequel, but to a much smaller scale. There's also a mysterious, inconsistent world, but it is not explored as much as Internment was, and in spite of having a few elements to it that were pretty fascinating, those didn't play into the actual plot in the novel quite as much as the elements of Interment did. Moreover, the world wasn't explored all that much or figured that prominently in the way the story was told. Certain elements of it were highlighted, and enough details were given to pique my interest, but they never built together anything concrete or that satisfied my curiosity. There is not much of a mystery behind this world, either. There's some intrigue, but it is not unpredictable or all that hidden in the novel, and it has a lot more to do with what can potentially happen in the next book.

Morgan's still a great narrator, but her voice wasn't as compelling in this one, mostly because there wasn't all that much plot-wise for her to contemplate, and the way she saw the rest of the characters turned somewhat repetitive. What became evident to me about Morgan in this novel is that, by herself, she's not a very interesting character. Actually, she's almost a blank slate of a heroine, and she is defined almost exclusively by the people around her and what they say and think of her. In this novel, Morgan had a lot of time to think for herself and by herself, and it wasn't nearly as engaging as when she had others around her to buoy her characterization. She's a fantastic narrator because DeStefano is a magnificent writer and because she's a lot better at defining others than at defining herself and making her character stand out. I know being quiet and slightly unremarkable is part of her characterization, but she's too much of an observant when she should be an active participant in her own story.

I liked how DeStefano played with the characters, the new dimensions she gave them, how alliances shifted, friendships weakened while others flowered, and how she twisted around the romance angle. I didn't see that last one coming, and it was an interesting way to play up the tired love triangle angle, as well as a way to develop the characters involved and throw some light on some things we might've missed about those relationships in the first novel. The new characters introduced were certainly intriguing and they did add to the story and the characters we'd met before, becoming a natural fit into the group dynamic, but even though she did a commendable work with all of the aforementioned, the fact still is that those things took over the story and left the actual plot stagnant.

Truth be told, there wasn't much of a plot in there. There was a general idea guiding the story, but it didn't factor in until the last third of the novel, where it gave the novel a rather abrupt ending. This one is a very slow-moving read, compelling in a strange way, but still almost uneventful. I do like the thoughtful and measured way in which DeStefano moved her characters here, and truth be told, this is a really good novel, but because of how different the take in this one was from the first novel, and how stilted the development of the entire novel was, I was left feeling unfulfilled and that ultimately had a lot of weight on how I rated this novel.

I still think this is a good novel, maybe not the strongest sequel, but definitely a really fantastically executed product that just focused its attention on some areas in particular, and did a great job at it, while relegating others to the background, some of which I think it could've benefited from. Slightly predictable, vague and confusing sometimes, I think the novel needed a bit more tightening up with the world-building and the development of the main plot removed from the main characters. It was slow-going, but I did enjoy the novel, even if it did not live up to my expectations entirely. In spite of everything, I'm still eagerly looking forward to the next book. ...more

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Jun 12, 2018 Rusty's Ghost Engine (also known as.......... Jinky Spring) rated it it was ok

Shelves: apocalyptic, sci-fi-or-dystopia, that-don-t-impress-me-much, annoyed

Review posted here
https://edwardsghostengine.wordpress....

After reading the first book, which set the scenes up very well, I had quite high expectations for this one. I thought at last we would have the history behind this world revealed, but we didn’t. Instead I just got a well written description of the characters everyday lives and while that may be ideal for some, it makes boring, uneventful reading for me.

I think the only real good thing here was the writing style and how the author was abl Review posted here
https://edwardsghostengine.wordpress....

After reading the first book, which set the scenes up very well, I had quite high expectations for this one. I thought at last we would have the history behind this world revealed, but we didn’t. Instead I just got a well written description of the characters everyday lives and while that may be ideal for some, it makes boring, uneventful reading for me.

I think the only real good thing here was the writing style and how the author was able to keep the reader intrigued even when not a lot was going on. It, like the first book was very well written with our MC’s feelings being fully brought to life. That’s where the good ends though, I felt hardly anything important happened in this book, at least not until the few chapters at the end. It was just pointless descriptions of the characters everyday lives in the hotel they were staying in on the ground with no revelations about the history of the world on the ground or the floating city of Internment.

Another thing I didn’t like was that most of the characters were pushed into the background with only the MC and her closest friends being spotlighted. Everyone else just felt like a dismissed extra and I will admit though that Morgan’s character was still realistic and believable, in fact everyone’s character was, I just wish the other characters had had more page time as well cause this author definitely knows how to develop her characters…

There could have definitely been more things going on in the plot and would it have really been too hard to fit in some history? Despite all this the writing still managed to keep my attention but there really isn’t much to say about this book because genuinely not a lot happens AND there was a small hint towards a future love triangle which I thought developed way too fast without any sort of build up.

I can definitely see why some would like this even though I wasn’t really impressed. Despite this I will read the last book in the series mostly out of curiosity as to how the author is going to tie everything up and what will become of both these worlds… But mostly this was a disappointing read that had a lot of potential to be exciting and informative but just fell flat throughout most of the book. ...more

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Oct 15, 2014 Victoria Scott rated it it was amazing

How I love this book! Let me count the ways:

1) The return of characters I adore.

2) A fresh, new world and plot. No second book syndrome here!

3) Reveals that broke my hearts (in a good way).

4) Romantic tension that sizzles.

5) The dreamy, lyrical writing DeStefano is famous for.

6) Beautiful endings that leave you feeling complete, yet wanting more.

GIVE ME THE LAST BOOK!!!

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Jan 14, 2014 Tegan marked it as to-read

Shelves: gimme-now, 2014-releases

October 7th?!

I guess it could be worse...*sigh* ...more

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Aug 30, 2014 Michael rated it liked it · review of another edition

Picking up straight were Perfect Ruin left of, Morgan and her colleagues arrival on Earth is quite the culture shock. This land is far different from what they know of there home city in the sky, Internment. What confront's them is a land of seemingly endless size, with huge oceans, black and white silent movies and no rules on who can marry who. Taken in by a hotel owner Jack Piper, who is friends with ruler, King Ingram, and his five children, Morgan and her fugitives will soon come to wonder Picking up straight were Perfect Ruin left of, Morgan and her colleagues arrival on Earth is quite the culture shock. This land is far different from what they know of there home city in the sky, Internment. What confront's them is a land of seemingly endless size, with huge oceans, black and white silent movies and no rules on who can marry who. Taken in by a hotel owner Jack Piper, who is friends with ruler, King Ingram, and his five children, Morgan and her fugitives will soon come to wonder if escaping there floating island home was a good idea after all.

Morgan is sceptical of this world she is know in, which seems to be a mishmash of 1800's western world and some modern day technologies. Her best friend Pen though is more that happy to explore the world and gets drunk on more than one occasion and befriends Jacks daughters Birdie. The outings though are not safe with a war in place between the forces of Ingram and rival King Erasmus. Bombings are a constant threat to the population but looking for fun the girls take there chances much to Lex, Thomas, Basil and Birdies older brother, Nimble's displeasure. Princess Celeste believes a diplomatic partnership can be reached on behalf of her world and Ingram's while Morgan, despite knowing the dangers of her corrupt world wan't to return. Little does she know what the king's true intentions are for them and her home land.

Overall although not being as impressed as i was with the first installment in the series, i still found Burning Kingdoms to be an enjoyable read. On the plus side is strong characterization with some great female friendships such as best friends Morgan and Pen and the unlikely development of Celeste and Morgan, who despite early resentment come to a rocky understanding. World building was something that could of been better as you can only jazz up Earth so much even if in Morgan's eyes it's one of wonder and fear. The pace is a fair amount slower in Burning Kingdoms, but this was for me at least not a problem thanks to DeStefano's beautiful layered writing. In conclusion this is a worthy follow up and sets up things nicely for what i hope will be a ground breaking ending to what has been to know, a really good series. ...more

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Apr 06, 2015 Molly rated it liked it

Shelves: borrowed, ya-lit, dystopia, fantasy, 3-stars, good-concept-poor-execution, i-want-to-like-you, spinning-wheels, meh, read-in-2015

Classic bridge book. Lots of walking and talking and *almost* revelations, and then everything wraps up with a cliffhanger. Stay tuned for book three!

What's weird is, nothing really happened in the first book either. Again, more wibbling around, talking endlessly about maybe doing something, and not until the last 50 pages does anything of note happen. Plus there's the world's most poorly thought out rebel resistance ever. We don't get much info on that front, because book two takes place exclu Classic bridge book. Lots of walking and talking and *almost* revelations, and then everything wraps up with a cliffhanger. Stay tuned for book three!

What's weird is, nothing really happened in the first book either. Again, more wibbling around, talking endlessly about maybe doing something, and not until the last 50 pages does anything of note happen. Plus there's the world's most poorly thought out rebel resistance ever. We don't get much info on that front, because book two takes place exclusively on the ground. And at first I was on board: it's like our world in the 20s. And also at war. And with a monarchy. Morgan and friends end up staying with the king's advisor Jack Piper and family at a huge, off season hotel. I'm not sure what city this was meant to emulate...obviously one near water. I'd guess New York if not for the fact that there are numerous references to the ocean. And also Internment was probably once part of a nearby archipelago, over which the king is now at war. The islands are the only source of some precious fuel-adjacent resource that could power everything, and...do you see where this is going?

As it transpires, Princess Celeste is keen to make a deal in the hopes of saving her mother (dying of "sun sickness," aka skin cancer). (view spoiler) Woe is Celeste.

I really wanted all of her sob stories to just be a way of manipulating Morgan into sharing the info about the fuel, but no, she's all sincerity. Barf. She reminds me a bit of Dinah from the Queen of Hearts series: I know I'm supposed to feel sympathy for her, but I'd like her better if she just gave in and went mad. Without Celeste, there's no real villain here. Oh sure, the country is at war, and the King is corrupt (aren't they all?), but both of those are sort of shadowy dangers at best. The plot consists mostly of a lot of sneaking out of the hotel, bonding with oldest daughter Birdie, and remarking on all of the differences between Internment and the ground. There's so much space! They have all this open space! Wow, a graveyard is such a waste of space! It felt like sort of a cheap way to get in exposition about Havalais.

Speaking of which, I wanted to know more! I said in my review of Perfect Ruin that DeStephano got around her world building problems by making the world smaller. Here, unfortunately, those problems are on full display. How is Internment more advanced than the ground? I'm not sure if I should shelve this as dystopia or fantasy. Book one was pure fantasy, but by bringing the crew to the ground (which, let's be honest, probably had to happen), DeStephano opened up a whole new set of questions she doesn't seem interested in addressing. Is this alternative history, a la Queen of the Tearling? The fashions and slang and technology all certainly evoke the 20s. But there are mermaids, so we're clearly dipping a toe in the fantasy waters here.

We're told in Perfect Ruin that Internment was created as a punishment, that the city was carved out of the ground and placed into the sky by the gods over three hundred years earlier. But Havalais is basically a tourist attraction: it features a theme park where you can pay to look at Internment through a telescope. And the people on the ground are fascinated by the sky people, but we aren't told what *their* story is for this magical floating island. Pen reads a "sacred text" that bears a great deal of resemblance to the Christian bible. And while it's been a loooooong time since I did any bible study, I'm pretty sure I'd remember a story about God creating a floating city. It's like DeStephano can't quite commit to dystopia or fantasy, so we're stuck in this sort of no man's land with no explanation for the damned island in the sky!

The final book promises a war in which Internment will play a part, but I have to wonder how many of these questions will still be left on the table at the end of the series. I like the idea, but I feel like there's not much *there* there. The concept of Internment itself could have made a nifty short story, but all of the "ground stuff," as it were, needs some work.

I still enjoy DeStephano's writing style, and while I don't hate Morgan as a narrator, I kept wishing that the story were from Pen or Celeste's perspective instead. We're beaten over the head with what a good and proper girl Morgan is, which is completely true...which is why she's not terribly interesting. She's very blah, while Pen is off self medicating with gin and Celeste is falling in love with the king's advisor's son (who (view spoiler)) and Morgan is wibbling around feeling sad and out of place. Again. Some more. She and her betrothed aren't that into each other, and she'd really rather mack on Judas, but in the end she and Basil (ugh) just sort of shrug their shoulders and decide to be together anyway. I'm certainly not complaining about the lack of romance here, but the above interaction is indicative of the kind of character Morgan is. She's like "meh" personified.

That having been said, will I be back for book three? Of course. I just can't quit you, YA trilogies! ...more

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Nov 09, 2016 Cesar rated it really liked it

4 stars

This review will contain spoilers from Perfect Ruin. You have been warned. Also some minor spoilers for Burning Kingdoms

You know, when a series is beginning to expand in the world building and exploring new places and new people, it can make a series much better. It all depends if the author manages to create a unique world with interesting characters. For some, it’s either a hit or miss. I’ve read some books where the world building is great! And other times I’ve read some books where th ...more

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Mar 12, 2015 LB rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopian, young-adult, fantasy

2.5 / 5 stars rating

This review is also posted at http://readingnookandcranny.blogspot....

I have an interesting take on DeStefano that I developed while reading her Chemical Garden series, and this series only seems to solidify it. DeStefano is a talented writer, but she isn't a great novelist. That is, she has the words to make eloquent writing, but she doesn't seem capable of writing a plot that can keep me interested in a series. Perfect Ruin was interesting, but nothing special. It left a lo ...more

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Dec 25, 2013 Roge marked it as to-read

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE COVER?

EXPECTED PUBLICATION: MAY 10TH 2015

MY REACTION

OH WELL!!!.......

...more

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Feb 09, 2015 Stacee rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2015, edelweiss

Sort of a slow start, but I really enjoyed it.

For me, it lost some of the magic Perfect Ruin had once the characters went to the ground. There are some great new characters and some sweet swoons. The ending is a bit floaty and I'm not a fan of that. I need concrete endings and now I need book 3.

**Huge thanks to Simon and Schuster and Edelweiss for providing the arc in exchange for an honest review**

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Jul 26, 2014 Lauren ✨ (TheBookishTwins) rated it really liked it

Shelves: edelweiss, highly-anticipated-2015, owned, dystopian

I received a free copy via Edelweiss for review purposes.

First Impression: I didn't enjoy Burning Kingdoms as much as Perfect Ruin. It seemed a lot slower and very much anti-climatic. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it and love the female friendships.

Review: I really enjoyed Perfect Ruin. So much so that I hadn't even finished the first one before I requested the second.

Burning Kingdoms picks up immediately after Perfect Ruin, and the gang have just had their first steps on Earth. It's different, they'r ...more

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Sep 18, 2014 Jessie Potts rated it really liked it

I liked it a lot! I think I"ll enjoy the audio version even more, I loved the narrator for Perfect Ruin and am currently reading the 1.5 installment and can't wait for 2.5!

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Aug 12, 2019 Andy rated it liked it

Shelves: 2019-read

Morgan and her friends are now stranded on the Earth or the land below Internment. They have no way to get back either and must depend on the hospitality of the people they meet. Morgan tries to get used to life below Interment and finds that she could stay there. However, the guilt of dragging her friends, especially Pen with her is eating her from the inside.

I enjoyed seeing Morgan settle into life on Earth. She has a personality that is very easy to adapt to new situations. I loved how much ...more

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Dec 26, 2013 Trisha rated it really liked it

"How is it that there are two worlds - one in the sky and one on the ground - and I forever feel that I have nowhere to go?"

This was an amazing sequel. I read it in just a few hours and could not put it down. I stayed up way to late and hung on every written word.

There is a feel of the author's other series here, but just barely. This story definitely stands well on it's own. I don't know what it is, but I absolutely love Morgan and Basil. Pen and Thomas equally make me angry and everyone else ...more

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May 07, 2016 Giedre rated it it was ok

Book was quite disappointing in terms of slow development and too much unnecessary situations. I had high expectations for this book. Anyhow, last few chapters were really good so I am off to read the third installment.b

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Apr 25, 2015 Teigan Elliott rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned-books

This was a good sequel. It kept me interested the way Perfect Ruin did and I think I like it as much as the first one. Lauren DeStefano ' s writing is so beautiful and poetic, and she has some amazing quotes in her writing. She has a beautiful way with words and that makes up half the series for me so far. The other half is everything else: the character building, the relationships, the plot. I really feel like in this book I got to know Pen and Morgan so much more. Pen was becoming damaged, lif ...more

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Oct 13, 2015 Carys rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 40-book-challenge-2015

Soooooooooo, I have a lot to say about this book.

Let's just start by clarifying the reason I gave it 2 stars. The plot merited it a good solid 1, but I felt obliged to give it another because Lauren DeStefano's writing was still as beautiful as ever, despite the not-so-beautiful story.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVED Perfect Ruin. I thought the plot was more or less good, but it was the characters that really got me. They all felt so real and raw and exposed, and I appreciated that. Nowadays, most Y ...more

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Aug 09, 2013 La La rated it liked it

Shelves: review-arcs-edelweiss, on-my-kindle

When I first started reading I had high hopes that this book was going to be five stars, but then insert one mythological creature. Really? In a story like this? It is almost like putting a werewolf in the Divergent series. I kept waiting for an explaination that they were just misidentified animals, but no explaination came. What makes it even worse (cheesier) is that they are the latest popular mythological creatures for YA stories. This book basically tanked in the last 40%. Also, I don't kno ...more

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Aug 10, 2014 Desirae added it

Shelves: dnf

6/15/2015 ---

I'm not saying I won't finish it, but I've been trying to get past chapter three for nearly four months, so...

on hold for now...

I do feel like Lauren DeStefano has lost her creative edge, and she's trying way too hard to be like other contemporary YA authors by creating series with ideas that have already been done.

Thoughts from before I started reading, way back when I was excited to read this ---

First the freakishly long wait after book 1's publication, and now the cover design ...more

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Oct 16, 2014 Brandi Kosiner rated it liked it

I wanted to read Burning Kingdoms because I enjoyed the characters in the first book and wanted to know what happened to them.

Karen at For What It's Worth and Mary at The Book Swarm occasionally post twitter-style reviews. Karen calls hers Short and Tweet, and I am going to borrow that review style here.

Tweet Review:

Slow at times, but still featured the characters I love and introduces new ones. Will be continuing.

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Jan 17, 2017 Amanda Leon added it

Shelves: small-towns, series, historical-fiction, read-in-2016, read-in-2017

It was a solid read.
Check out my review for the other installments in the series here.

If you like my reviews, check out my beauty and book blog, ReadsByAmanda.com! Thanks for reading! :) ...more

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Dec 26, 2013 Amy Williams rated it it was amazing

lol just finished the fist book like two hrs ago, so i was searching for the second book online only to find it didnt come out yet.... haha

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Oct 03, 2013 Alexa rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2015-publication, fantasy, i-cried

Lauren DeStefano weaves magic with her words, is what she does. I am seriously so in awe of how eloquent she is. Her writing style is simply so smooth and beautiful, nothing else — no one else — can compare.

We collect a few stares from passersby, but they mean nothing. We are young and enchanted and clattering with beads. We are untouchable.

“We can't be kings,” I tell her. “We're girls.”
“So what, we're girls?” Pen says. “We can be anything we want, and tonight I want to be a king of this mad wor

...more

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May 10, 2017 Cassie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017-read

3.5 Stars

Why the cover change?? The cover for the first book was beautiful... these covers for the 2nd and 3rd make no sense to me, but whatever, it's what on the inside that counts most of all.

So.... this book. I was thrilled to go back into this world, even though throughout the whole book as a whole I dealt with some issues. I will admit, when I started the second book I had some HIGH expectations. Such as, Morgan having more personality, the world on the ground being developed more and descr 3.5 Stars

Why the cover change?? The cover for the first book was beautiful... these covers for the 2nd and 3rd make no sense to me, but whatever, it's what on the inside that counts most of all.

So.... this book. I was thrilled to go back into this world, even though throughout the whole book as a whole I dealt with some issues. I will admit, when I started the second book I had some HIGH expectations. Such as, Morgan having more personality, the world on the ground being developed more and described, etc. But let's start off with this, DeStefano's writing is simply memorizing and in this book I came to really appreciate it. The way she had described people and things going on, was absolutely stunning. But even with it, the MC Morgan still lacked personality and depth, to me at least. I can say she is slightly better in this book than in the first one, but still she seems SO flat to me. Maybe it's just me, but I can't seem to when I think about it, to describe her personality aloud. While on the other hand, Pen is still my favorite character, she has spunk and confidence.

Here comes the biggest issue I had with this book, it literally had no action for most of it, instead being a lot of dialogue. Plus, you never really get a clear picture of what the world on the ground really looks like, I've tried numerous times to picture what the map would look like in my head, and I've come to blanks every time. I literally have no idea what the heck it is supposed to look like. The only action was basically when Birdie, Pen, and Morgan went out at night. And that brings me to another thing I can't seem to fathom. Pen and Morgan's friendship. I'll be frank here, and before I state this, please do not think I'm against homosexuality, I support those who are part of that and I see them as equals. BUT PEN AND MORGAN SEEM TO NOT JUST 'Like' EACH OTHER AS FRIENDS. So many times in this book it seemed like they were more in a relationship with each other rather than the people they are betrothed to. And then that whole thing with Morgan and (view spoiler). I mean I secretly ship that, but still?! Amy and Judas, and especially the professor had basically no role in this book! Nothing of importance happened at all to them, and they were basically never mentioned unless the author just decided to plop them in at random scenes. I was annoyed with this because those three are higher up on my favorite characters in this trilogy rather than the MC herself!

The reason this book got 3.5 stars from me instead of 2.5 (which I was originally thinking of doing up until the last chapters) was because in the last 50 or so pages it started to get real and had a lot of action and plot. I will of course continue this only because I NEED to know what happens, but compared to other series/trilogies I've read that are dystopians, these books fall a little short. Which is sad, since I believe this could have been probably one of my favorites, considering how much I seriously LOVE this world even with its faults. ...more

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Aug 10, 2020 Marie Clarisse rated it liked it

Shelves: e-book, female-protagonist, dystopia, finished-series, eutopia, disability-rep

My love for the protagonist Morgan and for Lauren DeStefano’s writing style almost made me give this book 4 stars. I wasn’t as bothered as most people were with Morgan not being the center of the action of the story, and somehow I liked the way the series was so character focused, even if it was at the expense of the plot sometimes.

But what I COULD NOT excuse was Chapter 20. I honest to God almost DNFed this book even after making it 80% through and being genuinely invested in the story. There w ...more

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Dec 16, 2019 Juwayriya Khan&#X1f499; rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 18, 2017 pdbkwm rated it it was ok

Can't say that I'm surprised, but I'm still surprised that this happened again. Lauren DeStefano creates great stories that immediately pulls you in, but this is the second time she's written a subpar second book despite the fact that the first one was so good.

In Burning Kingdoms, Morgan and her band of merry men and women have escaped their magical island in the sky and landed on the ground. Before they have a chance to do anything noteworthy, they’re immediately whisked away to a hotel. The ho ...more

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Mar 15, 2015 Shanti rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015, fabulous, fighting, reviewed, write-faster-author, yes, read-again-and-again, fantasy-realms, made-me-cry, book-is-better-than-beautiful-cover

This book was almost entirely perfect. I love it deeply. Now I want to read Wither- is it good? I also can't believe that I have to wait AN ENTIRE YEAR FOR A SEQUEL. Seriously, Lauren DeStefano how could you do this to us? *fangirls intensley* aside from EVERYTHING The characters, setting plot, dialogue and characters and concept and honest portrayal of war made me love this with all my little heart and it gets a five star.

So, lets start with characters. I liked Pen a lot more this time. I r

So, lets start with characters. I liked Pen a lot more this time. I really got where she was coming from, and I loved her curiosity. I also loved the reveal close to the end (view spoiler) Thomas was also really well built into the story. I felt sad that Basil took a backseat here, and so did the professor. All of the Piper kids, especially Birdie and Nim were fabulous and complex, and their father was an antagonist. Celeste was also developed much more- I enjoy seeing her assertiveness and willingness to make decisions, but enormous vulnerability at the same time. (view spoiler) Lauren dealt a hand of many different characters here, but they all developed and I loved seeing their backstories.

And then there is Morgan. A couple of times her voice felt a little isolated, but apart from that her narration continued to be a high point for me. She really grew as a character. I was glad that she wasn't spared from the horrors of the earth, and she got injured but retained her faith in others while questioning her faith in in Internement and the god of the sky. Her friendships and choices were also done really, really well.

The setting of this book was delicious. Vaguely magical 1920's kingdom at war? Heck yes. There were parties and drinking and cinemas and fun and bombing and magical elements called phosphane... There are secrets and treachery that hold this world together though, and that was interesting. I liked it, actually. The different words and Internments' ex-residents exploring of the world offer an interesting means of worldbuilding. The kings are terrifying. Juck Piper is really sad. So I liked the setting, yeah.

The dialogue between the characters was really great. I felt that the authors was really true to her characters and how they think. I especially liked that one conversation between Basil and Morgan *feels* and all of the hallucinations and sadness at the harbor. Be warned: the characters in this book will break your heart more than a little bit because they are so good. I wished that Morgan would talk more to Lex, but that was the way it was and ugh I understand so much more now

I don't want to write a super long review (too late) but I'll just mention some of these things quickly
- The way that war is shown as heartbreaking and real and having an impact on real people was great. And also heartbreaking. There was pain. It was mostly my pain.
-The concept was really cool. I liked how it evolved in this book, and the isolation and friendship and emotion was PRETTY DARN AMAZING.
-The plot kept moving, kept revealing stuff kept making me feel things.. it was certainly never boring. (view spoiler)
-The prose is precise and emotional and understanding (though obviously not of my feelings) And I need a map. and a tree like they had and HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME LAUREN. *sorry*

So pretty much I loved this book a lot and you should go read it right now.

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About Lauren DeStefano

Lauren DeStefano

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Other books in the series

The Internment Chronicles (3 books)

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Perfect Ruin (The Internment Chronicles, #1)

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Trivia About Burning Kingdoms ...

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Quotes from Burning Kingdoms

“There is a need, in every world, to believe in things that cannot be seen.” — 7 likes

“This story is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
"I could find another one," Basil says.
"No, I want to see if they'll I through with it," she says.
"I don't understand why they're throwing her in the volcano," I say.
"Because she's a virgin," Basil says, and clears his throat.
"We could throw Morgan into the volcano," Pen says.” — 6 likes

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