READING: Burn Bright by Marianne De Pierres

Burn Bright by Marianne De Pierres

Publication date: March 1st, 2011
Published by: Random House Australia
Genre: YA Sci-Fi, Dystopian
Rating: 3/5

Into a world of wild secrets and deadly pleasures comes a girl whose innocence may be her greatest strength.

In Ixion music and party are our only beliefs. Darkness is our comfort. We have few rules but they are absolute . . .

Retra doesn’t want to go to Ixion, the island of ever-night, ever-youth and never-sleep. Retra is a Seal – sealed minds, sealed community. She doesn’t crave parties and pleasure, experience and freedom.

But her brother Joel left for Ixion two years ago, and Retra is determined to find him. Braving the intense pain of her obedience strip to escape the only home she’s ever known, Retra stows away on the barge that will take her to her brother.

When she can’t find Joel, Retra finds herself drawn deeper into the intoxicating world of Ixion. Come to me, whispers a voice in her head. Who are the Ripers, the mysterious guardians of Ixion? What are the Night Creatures Retra can see in the shadows? And what happens to those who grow too old for Ixion?

Retra will find that Ixion has its pleasures, but its secrets are deadly. Will friendship, and the creation of an eternal bond with a Riper, be enough to save her from the darkness?

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.

You gotta fight!
For your right!
To paaaaaaaaaaarty!

That is pretty much the concept of Burn Bright. The one I got from it, at least.

World in Burn Bright is not our own, so this is not a post apocalyptic-I was mowing my lawn when suddenly a terrible plague killed 2,75 gazillion people-world. It's completely fictional and contains a lot of "areas" one could have grown up in. The protagonist, Retra, is a Seal which basically means someone who is devoid of every pleasure in life, is very shy and doesn't have the right to express an opinion. On the other hand there is Ixion, where the sun never rises. A place where you don't have to sleep(only briefly)and you can party and indulge in pretty much anything you can think of all day. Retra, after enduring unbearable physiological and physical pain at home, risks her life to go to Ixion and reunite with her brother Joel who had run off to Ixion a while back.

So. Ixion- the party planet. At first I thought it was something new and original but then meh I don't know. I mean, an island you can party and have sex non stop? Granted, it sounds intriguing and I'm certainly not a prude, but how is this a solution to Retra's or Joel's problems, created by a dysfunctional environment? For not being allowed to look in a mirror because it was considered a sin to choking down "happy pills" everyday, it's kind of a long way. And I liked Retra in the first half because she refused to change. She felt free from her father's tyranny sure, but she didn't become a ho bag in a matter of hours.

Until of course, god-like Lenoir touched her thigh and she had an orgasm.

...

Then everything changed inside her and she decided to go with the flow and become like the other Ixion-ites, but slightly better since she was Lenoir's favorite.

I don't know what to tell you, I didn't connect with the story or the characters at all. Yes, the book had a nice gothic feel to it. While reading I kept imagining Ixion like a medieval Ibiza. With a bunch of churches and monsters lurking in the dark. Now, that's a pretty picture! But when it's all said and done, I am not sure the imagery alone is enough to make me like Burn Bright. I didn't get the romance between Retra and Lenoir, either. Story of Ruzalia was interesting, though. 

When people at Ixion stopped being young(it doesn't say how young or how old that is), rumor has it that they are withdrawn from Ixion. What does that entail exactly? Nobody knows. Ruzalia claims that the Ripers(Guardians of the Ixion youth) get rid of them once and for all. The Ripers claim otherwise. So Ruzalia and her followers live in a huge pirate - like boat, fight the Ripers and have built a whole new world where people who are withdrawn can go. Second book is supposeed to be Ruzalia-centered so I may give the series another chance.

Burn Bright was an OK book I guess. Nothing special for me and I struggled a little bit to finish it. It's worth a try for dystopian enthusiasts.