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Bright We Burn is the conclusion to Kiersten White’s YA series about Lada Dracul, a fictional female version of Vlad Dracul, the Wallachian prince who has gone down in history for his bloodthirstiness and tendency to impale people.
Lada is settled in to her home country, the place she loves and has given everything for. Many of her people are fiercely devoted to her, for the way she has nearly eradicated crime, fought for the masses and gotten rid of the elites. But she still has to contend with Mehmed, the Ottoman sultan, who despite his love for her cannot just let her kill his envoys (which she does …) and declare utter independence from being a vassal state under his rule.
Radu is living as a bey in Mehmed’s empire. He is struggling with the aftermath of Mehmed’s bloody takeover of Constantinople and the part he played in it. But he finally has Mehmed to himself; Lada will never return to Mehmed’s side, no matter how powerful he could make her there. Wallachia is home and ever will be for her. Radu and Mehmed know Lada so well and fear that the war that must happen will destroy her, if not end in her death. And what about Radu’s feelings for Mehmed? Will he ever have those feelings returned? And if so, would he want to act on them?
I did appreciate reading the conclusion to a story I followed in two previous books. I still didn’t enjoy it; I guess I just didn’t love the characters enough to make me care too much about what happened to them. But it was an interesting exploration of the world of a woman in a time that allowed females little power, at least outright or without many concessions. White deliberately made Lada unattractive and not at all possessed of many “feminine” qualities; it was an opportunity to show that women’s personalities can vary widely and they don’t have to be put into a small box. It’s possible White also downplayed Lada’s cruelty in comparison with the real Vlad Dracul; I’m not sure, however, so it would be interesting to read up a bit on the history now (White provides some references for readers in the first book, And I Darken).
Rated: Moderate. There is hardly any language. Sex scenes occur a few times but really are “fade to black” with no detail. There are some kissing-and-more scenes, still with very little in the way of detail. Violence is the biggest issue, as would be expected. It’s generally not horrific in detail, but there’s just a lot of it throughout the book. Might be a high for younger readers.
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