Confessions of a Fantasy Author: Blog Tour: Burn Mark

Glory is from a family of witches and lives beyond the law. She is desperate to develop her powers and become a witch herself. Lucas is the son of the Chief Prosecutor for the Inquisition—the witches’ mortal enemy—and his privileged life is very different to the forbidden world that he lives alongside.

And then on the same day, it hits them both. Glory and Lucas develop the Fae—the mark of the witch. In one fell stroke, their lives are inextricably bound together, whether they like it or not . . .

A modern-day Inquisition with mafia-like witches and prosecutors who would see them bound in iron cuffs and burned at the stake? I was instantly intrigued. Most paranormal novels involving witches/wizards are more . . . lighthearted in nature. Burn Mark was definitely a gritty story.

Glory is a witch-in-waiting. That is, she’s waiting to obtain the Fae—a small mark, like an ink blotch, which signifies she’s received her powers. Strong powers. Glory comes from a long line of witches who are practically royalty.

On the opposite side of the fence, we meet Lucas, who comes from a “royalty” line of his own. A line of powerful prosecutors. But Lucas, who doesn’t have a witchy bone in his body, suddenly obtains the Fae and his entire world changes.

Overall, I loved the concept of this novel. I loved the edginess to the story; it was very dark, and it’s something I don’t see often in Young Adult literature these days. However, I found myself skipping over paragraph after paragraph of unnecessary info-dumping, and I never really connected to any of the characters. Speaking of . . . there were so many characters in this book, it was crazy! I think just about every chapter dumped a new one on the reader. Eventually, I was too tired to keep up with all of them. So, if you’re looking for book about witches with a London setting, or a paranormal book that steps a foot or two outside the YA mold, then I’d recommend this.