The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas

Summary from Goodreads:

It all began with a ruined elixir and a bolt of lightning.

Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she's been told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of The Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the most powerful tyrant and mage the world has ever known. This would be a suicide task for anyone, let alone a reluctant sixteen-year-old girl with no training.

Guided by his mother's visions and committed to avenging his family, Prince Titus has sworn to protect Iolanthe even as he prepares her for their battle with the Bane. But he makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the tyrant closing in, Titus must choose between his mission—and her life.

The Burning Sky—the first book in the Elemental Trilogy—is an electrifying and unforgettable novel of intrigue and adventure.

Review:

In searching my TBR shelf for a nice pile of paperbacks to take with me on my holiday trip back to the family in Chicago, I came across this gorgeous book. Believe it or not, the copy I took with me was an ARC from 2013…I’m so glad I don’t get rid of books that I think I might enjoy reading at some point in the future. I loved this. Sadly, I did not start reading it until I was back home in MA…but still. I’m so glad I put this back on my radar.

Reading this felt like reading a great fantasy of the past (and I don’t mean four years ago in the past when I should have read this). It felt like an old Tamora Pierce/Garth Nix/Caroline Stevermer/Sherwood Smith/Tanith Lee type book. It read like a book I would have carried around with me, close to my heart, in my awkward early teen years, like I did with books by the authors mentioned above.

There is something so inherently classic fantasy about this book. And also, I can see it appealing to the young folks today. I mean the girl main character can summon lightning like Pikachu, summon elements like something from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and is destined to save the world from a great evil like Harry was chosen to do. The elements for great fantasy are all there in a super appealing, almost familiar way.

But also, there’s Prince Titus who guides Iolanthe (the main character) into all she’s supposed to be. And he has this crazy, awesome, magic book that he can metaphysically go into and train in. He literally battles dragons, defeats evil fairytale villains, and becomes the best prince he can in that book. I want one of those books so bad.

There’s secret portals, all kinds of magical creatures, a kingdom/world on the brink of a badly needed revolution, and so much magic. I love all the parts where Iolanthe pretends to be a boy at Titus’s normal human school. And I kind of love that this is the background for which Titus falls for her. It reminded me so much of Alanna and George in Tamora Pierce’s books.

I also love all the scenes where Iloanthe was a bird (she took a potion –kind of polyjuice like) and hid in plain sight from the one person in the world who could not know where she was. I love the scenes that take place within the magic book. Just when I thought this book could not get any more magical, fairytales came to life and epic battles were fought. And I adored how smart and manipulative the prince was. Watching his brain work was so, so cool.

I also seriously shipped the two main characters. I want them together so bad! I know they mostly likely won’t have a happy future together because of the prophecy, but I so don’t care. I ship them any way.

All in all, I zoomed through this one. And I already ordered the next two…they should be at my house by tomorrow. I guess there is a perk to reading this so late –I don’t have to wait long to get my hands on the rest of the series. I give it a 10/10, and I highly recommend this to all fantasy fans.