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The Ones We Burn: the New York Times bestselling dark epic young adult fantasy

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When a girl has an entire goodreads shelf dedicated to witches, you can safely assume she likes them. Now to discuss the blood libel BRIEFLY, I will say there is a much more in-depth review from a Jewish reader here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... Galen shook himself and turned to the nearest servant. “Rhyla, how’s your daughter?” “Better,” the woman breathed. “Thank you again, Your Highness. If it weren’t for you—” Galen waved her off, his nose wrinkling as though he was embarrassed. “It’s nothing. Truly. I’m glad she’s well.” He moved down the table, greeting each servant by name, asking after family members, neighbors, and even one man’s pet cat. Ranka blinked. The Skra didn’t dare to even look Ongrum in the eye. These people met their prince’s gaze and stood with ease.

Paste: Ranka is such an unexpected heroine for a book like this—she’s basically just this feral girl who wants to go live by herself in the woods. (Which, honestly? Relatable.) How did her journey come together for you? The final aspect I want to discuss is the issues brought up around antisemitism and blood libel. The main character is called a blood witch, but there is no blood used for the magic. She is called that because her magic compels her to kill. To be honest, a more accurate name for her would be something like "death witch". I can definitely see how the name can cause some confusion. Later, at 19% in the book Aramis (Galen’s sister) and Ranka have a charged conversation in which Aramis accuses Ranka of being ignorant and violent, while she, Aramis, is literally trying to save everyone: But when witches start turning up dead, murdered by a mysterious, magical plague, Aramis makes Ranka an offer: help her develop a cure, and in return, she'll teach Ranka to contain her deadly magic. But as the coup draws nearer and the plague spreads, Ranka is forced to question everything she thought she knew about her power, her past, and who she's meant to fight for. Soon, she will have choose between the coven that raised her - and the princess who sees beyond the monster they shaped her to be. But as the bodies pile up, a monster may be exactly what they need. About This Edition ISBN:The book is solid, I would have given it four stars bumped it up to five for the algorithm, I'm VERY UNCOMFORTABLE with the way YA purity politics have completely destroyed the capacity to engage in honest rhetoric (the problem part 3) and I hope people actually give the book a try since I thought it was slightly less identical than most YA fantasy releases and rather better written. Why was she in a human city? Her clothes were the southern human style, but the wooden beads in her ears marked her as a Kerth witch. Could she be one of the missing? Why not just return home? Why flee farther north, into Skra lands? Younger witches always thought they wanted adventure. They dreamed of bloody battles, secret missions, and noble sacrifices. They were never prepared for what came after—injuries that ached more every year, nightmares that never ended, and the guilt, festering like a wound, fed by memories of friends killed in an act of mercy because the healers always arrived too late or never at all. But I have not heard about how blood magic is antisemitic before. Avatar: The Last Airbender uses blood magic, for instance, but I do not recall anyone saying that it was a terrible thing to use as a story device. I've read about blood witches in other fiction too, so again, I want to understand how in this case it is different if the author is not using the character as a caricature of an entire group of people to use as a tool for storytelling? For two weeks she’d patrolled, passing up easy kills, keeping her power starved and primed to hunt, searching for missing witches, for any clue as to who or what had taken them. For two weeks she’d starved.

Galen: shy and quiet, he’s very sweet and I would GREATLY enjoy a book about his and Percy’s adventures! LAST POINT on these two: I will add that if Galen or Aramis were coded in stereotypical ways, that could be hugely problematic, despite the fact that Mix’s world isn’t drawn along those lines. Her readers come from a world that is. However, while both siblings are tough and compelling, I didn’t find that to be the case. The political angle came later—I love political fantasy stories, and I’m fascinated by what power reveals about us, but the heart of this story has always been that terrifying experience of being a very hurt child transitioning to adulthood, and realizing the ones charged with protecting you may have actually been the ones doing the most harm.At least if she was going to die, it was here in the north where she belonged. Not in some distant human kingdom. When we meet Ranka she’s fully under the influence of one of the political factions the Skra witches, and is particularly under the thumb of their leader, Ongrum, who Ranka clearly views as her mother by adoption if not by blood. A word of warning: if you are a survivor of abuse, some of the dynamics in this book may be difficult for you, and while I cannot presume to know Mix’s personal life, the dynamics between both Ranka and her leader have the rawness of someone who knows exactly what they’re writing about. The dedication is also written to “the kids who survived”, so infer from that what you will. This is the only other Jewish person I was able to find talking about this book (with specifics), not counting the tiktok comments I trawled through, which I will not relate due to how awful tiktok comments are to follow (both in terms of content and in terms of how tiktok is set up). I also did further research bothering Everyone I Know and also some people I don't know about blood magic and if it is Always Blood Libel If It's Blood Magic, and the general consensus is this: Ranka is tired of death. All she wants now is to be left alone, living out her days in Witchik’s wild north with the coven that raised her, attempting to forget the horrors of her past. But when she is named Bloodwinn, the next treaty bride to the human kingdom of Isodal, her coven sends her south with a single directive: kill him. Easy enough, for a blood-witch whose magic compels her to kill.

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