A riveting tale of subterfuge and deadly self-indulgence” ( Publishers Weekly, starred review) from award-winning author Claire North, Notes from the Burning Age puts dystopian fiction in a whole new light. Synopsis: The “Burning Age” is our near future when the Earth itself rebels, using mystical nature spirits called the Kakuy “angels, or devils, guardian voi or djinn of fire and sea” to wipe away humanity by fire, plague, or simple physical stomping at bodies. On the other hand, Georg is a powerful entity in and of himself. He is resourceful, secretive and manipulative. He is a puppet master and most people don’t even know what he is making them do. He is the perfect mafia warlord. This conflict fuels the action of the book, of those feeling only a few deserve the best of technologies, comforts and opportunities, as exemplified by the Brotherhood, and many others have a strong belief in community, of being mindful of one’s affect on the land and on others.

But when the revolutionary Brotherhood approaches Ven, pressuring him to translate stolen writings that threaten everything he once held dear, his life will be turned upside down. Torn between friendship and faith, Ven must decide how far he’s willing to go to save this new world, and how much he is willing to lose. Claire North's new SF is climate-punk without as QUITE an uber-bleak outlook as usually comes with such cli-punk SF. Lots of intrigue, repressed societies, quasi-religious cultural restrictions that summon up the monsters that burned the old world, but still enough technology going around to make this world quite interesting and believable. Green-grey eyes looked down upon the city as if waiting at any moment for a fire to start. When her face was neutral, it was an almost formless thing, with thin pale lips and small flat nose seeming to blend into each other. On those occasions when she frowned — or, more rarely, smiled — contours of fibre and tendon emerged from cheek and chin, as if she existed in only two states: animated, or corpse-like, with no middle ground between them. Notes from the Burning Age, Kindle edition, chapter 16, location 3675 This is a complex, complicated book dealing in ideas and beliefs. It’s absorbing and thought provoking, and very good.A gripping, utterly involving, dystopian eco-thriller that balances the intimacies of betrayal against global climate collapse’ Daily Mail a b "Kate Griffin: Urban Magic". Archived from the original on 16 February 2015 . Retrieved 19 March 2009. I could have gotten over that, though, had I been drawn in by the plot and characters. But unfortunately, I found the pacing rather slow. While the writing is beautiful, I also found the naturalistic descriptions and political and moral philosophizing somewhat tedious to plod through. Ven and Yue are interesting foils, and North delivers some unexpected and affecting twists in their interweaving story lines. But I still didn’t feel much attachment to them. Both are rather guarded--attributable to their childhood trauma, espionage activities, and likely, North’s desire not to blow their covers (i.e. her plot twists) too early.

The plot is big and covers a lot, but I never felt my interest flagging. Claire North combines a tale of espionage with philosophy; North’s world is vivid, and Ven’s life and interactions are full of tension, and many times suddenly violent. At the same time the text is frequently beautiful, and has scenes full of sound and wonder. When things are good, we find ourselves wondering - what more? And what will I lose if I do not get more now? It is a trait that pushed mankind across the oceans and out into space - what is out there, what else? It is one of our most beautiful qualities and has for millennia served us well in finding new ways to live better. But like all things, it is neither good nor bad, but what we make of it." The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August (as Claire North) nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel Notes from the Burning Age is a dystopian novel of espionage and subterfuge. A world readying for war over differing philosophies and pursuit of power, Ven is an inquisitor whose knowledge of languages of the past can be used to translate documents from the Burning Age. The notes from the past provide a look into happier and sometimes simpler times, but also provide information of nuclear war, disease, and other weapons that the Brotherhood seeks to harness. Since the Burning Age of environmental destruction, can society move on or will they be damned to repeat it?

Many thanks to the publisher and The Nerd Daily for providing me the gifted copy of the book for an honest review. This review was first posted on The Nerd Daily on June 29th, 2021. Prayers are for gifts.They are for blessed things, bestowed with mercy, compassion. They are raised up in exaltation...and cry out for special attention, for the world to be something other than what it is....p214 Ven came from the Temple, and spends years in dialogue with a mastermind of the Brotherhood. Their discussions veer from practicalities to philosophies, with Ven’s acerbic voice taking us through them and a world very different from ours, but sadly the same, as the Brotherhood eagerly takes advantage of unearthed information about old tech.