Audiobook Review: Between Burning Worlds (System Divine #2) by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell
I absolutely adored Sky Without Stars, full of twists, characters that stay with you, and a world so full of visualization that you can picture it when you shut your eyes. So to say I was exciting for Between Burning Worlds is an understatement! See why 5 stars doesn’t even begin to describe this incredible story below!
Between Burning Worlds (System Divine, #2)
by Jessica Brody, Joanne Rendellon March 24, 2020
Genres: Sci-Fi, Young Adult
IndieBound, Audiobook through LibroFM
Goodreads
Laterre is on the brink of war. The Third Estate are rioting against the injustices of a corrupt system. The Patriarche, reeling from the murder of his only heir, makes brutal attempts to quash the unrest, while a new militant faction launches a series of deadly attacks.
Marcellus is now a traitor to his planet, willing to do anything to stop his grandfather from seizing control of Laterre, even if it means joining the Vangarde, a rebel group back from the dead.
Chatine is a prisoner on Bastille. Desperate to survive the harsh conditions of the moon, she becomes embroiled in the Vangarde’s dangerous attempt to free their infamous leader.
Alouette is a fugitive who has been lied to her entire life. Searching for the truth about her mysterious past, she soon finds herself hunted by the Regime for reasons she’s only beginning to understand.
But when Laterre is threatened by the emergence of a deadly new weapon, these three renegades must risk everything, traveling to the far reaches of the System Divine and into the white hot center of a planet ready to ignite.
Review
While Chatine was the focus in Sky Without Stars, Marcellus is the star here. Having rebelled from his family and now aligned the Vangarde, Marcellus is faced with pulling the rose colored glasses off and looking at the world of Laterre with clear eyes. And holy shit, is it going to go down in this book! Chatine is left mining while imprisoned, which doesn’t dampen her snark or resolve. Alouette finds her world turned upside down and holds the world in her hands. In this story, we also meet the charismatic Etienne and now my ships are all a damn mess.
A gritty, distinct world ripe for revolution, Laterre is home to warring bodies fighting for the same ending. On one side, you have the Vangarde, open to more peaceful means should their leader be freed. A nice sentiment that the Red Scar deeply disagrees with, as evidenced by their bombings. As an outsider looking in, it’s hard to pick a side. Is peaceful opposition an option when someone has murdered the prince? Are bombings going to unite the people or scare them into the arms of the government promising upward mobility?
Some of the standout moments in this story involve a monarch chess piece, a stiletto heel, and a twitchy finger. It was constant twists and turns through the story, world, and character building and I just DO NOT UNDERSTAND how Jess and Jo have managed to create a universe that I so desperately need to turn into a series (no one movie is going to do it here).
Somehow Jess and Jo make 688 pages (or nearly 24 hours, if you’re an audio reader like me) breeze by and leave you begging for more like you’re living in the frets. I can’t wait to see where Alouette takes this story (especially after her big reveal)!
