Book Thoughts: Burn Bright by Marianne de Pierres

rave is a place of repression and rules. You are born into an occupation like it or not. Then there is a walled enclave within Grave called The Seal. The Seal is even more repressive than Grave. The women here must wear veils, people can listen to only approved music, only information you need to know is learned. If you or someone in your family breaks the rules your whole family can be punished, monitored, and shamed. On occasion invitations fall from the sky aimed at young people inviting them to a place where they can be free. Joel took them up on their offer and sneaked out of The Seal on the designated night. With Joel now having escaped, this left his sister Retra and her family shamed and monitored. The fear from the Warden is that Retra may try the same thing. A device is fitted to her thigh that causes extreme pain if she ventures outside the Seal walls. Retra is determined to find her brother no matter what it takes. Thus begins her story.

Ixion is the place of freedom. An island where it is always, mysteriously, night. A place of clubs, dancing, drugs, and since this is a young adult book - a lot of fooling around. The young people soon find out that is it not of course without its rules too. Other important buildings are the churches which are old relics of ancient inhabitants that are considered a place of rest. There are lighted paths that connect the clubs and churches. Never stray from the paths. This is a primary rule. Listen well, baby bats. Burn bright, but do not stray from the paths. Remember, when you live in a place of darkness you also live with creatures of the dark.

Retra arrives here to find her brother where most of the others are here to party. The Ripers or Guardians who inhabit and control the island sense this in her and she becomes ironically, monitored. As the story progresses things are not all fun and parties. After you reach a certain age, the party is over and what happens to those is a mystery. There are power struggles going on within the Guardians, a pirate named Ruzalia, a rogue gang called The League, and of course the creatures of the dark.

This book for me was fantastic. I read most of it within 5 hours since I could not put it down. It's hard to believe so much was crammed into 306 pages, but it was connected and very well written. The book at this time is only available in Australia so I paid the extra shipping to the USA. It was well worth it.

Burn Bright is book one of  The Night Creatures.

I purchased this book from Booktopia an online bookseller in Australia.

See Marianne de Pierres blog for information about this series and links to support the book being published in the USA.

Thanks to Krista at TheCubicleBlindness for reviewing and promoting this book!