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WORK TITLE: A Shadow Bright and Burning
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://jessicacluess.com/
CITY: Santa Monica
STATE: CA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/304147/jessica-cluess
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Female.
EDUCATION:Northwestern University, graduated.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and teacher. Instructor at Writopia Lab. Previously, worked as a barista and a Web site moderator.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Jessica Cluess is a writer and teacher. She teaches students at the Writopia Lab. Previously, Cluess worked as a barista and as a moderator on a Web site. She holds a degree from Northwestern University.
In 2016, Cluess released her first novel, a young-adult fantasy called A Shadow Bright and Burning. This volume is the first book in the “Kingdom on Fire” series, which is set in an alternative version of Victorian England. Its protagonist is Henrietta Howel, a sixteen-year-old girl with supernatural abilities. She is able to will fires into existence. Henrietta was left at an orphanage in Yorkshire when she was a baby. She tries to keep her powers a secret from her classmates at the Brimthorn School for Girls. Master Agrippa, a sorcerer, discovers Henrietta and believes she may be the Chosen One, an individual who is integral in the fight against the Ancients, a powerful yet evil race of supernatural beings. Agrippa requests that Henrietta accompany him to a school for sorcerers to harness her special abilities. She will also have the opportunity to become one of the royal sorcerers and to be commended by Queen Victoria. Henrietta consents to go with him but demands that Rook, her longtime best friend, come too. Her early days at the sorcerers’ school are exciting and encouraging. However, she eventually realizes that she is not the Chosen One. Meanwhile, Henrietta finds herself falling for both a new classmate and Rook. The book includes mentions of the longtime feud between magicians and sorcerers. It also features descriptions of London neighborhoods that have been burned and destroyed.
In an interview with Cristina Arreola, contributor to the Bustle Web site, Cluess explained how she became inspired to write the book. She was watching the film Nicholas Nickleby, which is based on a Charles Dickens novel, and she was struck by the scene in which the title character stops a young boy from being physically attacked. Cluess told Arreola: “As I was walking to work the next day, I couldn’t help wondering how a girl in the Victoria Era would’ve handled that situation. … I imagined different scenarios where the girl used something, and then I had this picture of her opening her hands and shooting fire out of them. I stopped dead on the sidewalk, because I knew I wanted to write about this girl.” Regarding her goals for the book, Cluess told Laurel Busby, writer on the Palisades News Web site: “I just really want readers to have a good time.” Discussing the moral of the book, Cluess stated: “It’s really ridiculous to assign someone’s worth based on how they’re born—whether race, gender, or breeding in society. … It’s just a silly thing to do.”
Critics responded favorably to A Shadow Bright and Burning. Debbie Carton, contributor to Booklist, commented: “Cluess’ debut is a marvelous mash-up of Dickens, the students-with-magical-powers genre, and alt-history.” “Cluess gamely turns the chosen-one trope upside down in this smashing dark fantasy,” asserted a writer in Publishers Weekly. School Library Journal reviewer Karen Alexander predicted: “Fantasy fans will rejoice and impatiently await the second volume in this new series.” Writing on the Happy Ever After Web site, Serena Chase suggested: “Highly recommended for fans of relationship-driven epic fantasy and romantic fantasy, A Shadow Bright and Burning is a solid offering for your fantasy series shelf and a page-flying read.” A critic on the Huffington Post Web site stated: “The pages turn quickly and this first installment in the story is over before the reader will want it to be. The ending is perfect, too. Just enough of a conclusion to be satisfying.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 1, 2016, Debbie Carton, review of A Shadow Bright and Burning, p. 110.
Publishers Weekly, July 11, 2016, review of A Shadow Bright and Burning, p. 69; December 2, 2016, review of A Shadow Bright and Burning, p. 111.
School Library Journal, July, 2016, Karen Alexander, review of A Shadow Bright and Burning, p. 75.
ONLINE
Bustle, https://www.bustle.com/ (September 20, 2016), Cristina Arreola, author interview.
Happy Ever After, http://happyeverafter.usatoday.com/ (September 21, 2016), Serena Chase, review of A Shadow Bright and Burning.
Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ (September 14, 2016), review of A Shadow Bright and Burning.
Jessica Cluess Home Page, http://jessicacluess.com (April 3, 2017).
Palisades News, http://www.palisadesnews.com/ (September 15, 2016), Laurel Busby, author interview.
Series
Kingdom On Fire
1. A Shadow Bright and Burning (2016)
2. A Poison Dark and Drowning (2017)
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LC control no.: n 2015044945
Descriptive conventions:
rda
Personal name heading:
Cluess, Jessica
Found in: A shadow bright and burning, 2016: ECIP t.p. (Jessica
Cluess)
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AUTHORITIES
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Questions? Contact: ils@loc.gov
JESSICA CLUESS is a writer, a graduate of Northwestern University, and an unapologetic nerd. After college, she moved to Los Angeles, where she served coffee to the rich and famous while working on her first novel, A Shadow Bright and Burning. When she’s not writing books, she’s an instructor at Writopia Lab, helping kids and teens tell their own stories. Visit her at jessicacluess.com and follow her on Twitter at @JessCluess.
Short bio: Jessica Cluess is a writer, a graduate of Northwestern University, and an unapologetic nerd. After college, she moved to Los Angeles, where she served coffee to the rich and famous while working on her first novel. When she’s not writing books, she’s an instructor at Writopia Lab, helping kids and teens tell their own stories.
Long bio: This probably won’t be very long, because most of my life is spent sitting in dark rooms, writing and hissing at the sun. Clearly Los Angeles was a superb choice for a hometown, because there’s plenty of sun to hiss at.
As a kid, I sort of knew how to skateboard. My list of impressive accomplishments dies there.
In high school, I didn’t hang out with the cool kids, but I was in their AP classes.
In college, I finally found a group of people who have seen Eddie Izzard’s stand-up concert ‘Dressed To Kill’ and I knew I’d discovered my tribe.
After college, I had an assortment of odd jobs. I performed Cinderella for most of Texas, moderated a radio news site, served coffee to Orson Scott Card and was probably working for the NSA at some point. It was a sketchy time.
Throughout these years, I wrote many bad things. Then I wrote something that was okay. Then, with the help of some friends, I started writing things that were kind of good. Hopefully, I keep going.
Final thoughts: if you haven’t seen Bram Stoker’s Dracula, get on it. That movie is wonderfully insane.
Interviews: Bustle
Palisades News
Reviews: USA Today
Huffington Post
QUOTED: "As I was walking to work the next day, I couldn't help wondering how a girl in the Victoria Era would've handled that situation... I imagined different scenarios where the girl used something, and then I had this picture of her opening her hands and shooting fire out of them. I stopped dead on the sidewalk, because I knew I wanted to write about this girl."
Cristina Arreola
September 20, 2016
Consider this your introduction to your next fantasy favorite: A Shadow Bright and Burning is a Victorian Era-fantasy that subverts all those YA tropes we've grown tried of: chosen one prophecies, love triangles, and schools for magicians. Yes, people say Henrietta is the chosen one — but is she, really? Yes, there's a love triangle — but don't expect it to end with just three people. And yes, there's a schools for sorcerers, but it's nothing like you've seen before. Bustle has an exclusive interview with author Jessica Cluess and an excerpt from the novel, out today from Random House.
A Shadow Bright and Burningis the story Henrietta Howel, a poor orphan girl who can burst in flames. Literally, she's a girl on fire. When her abilities are discovered by a mysterious sorcerer, she's brought to London to train with fellow sorcerers — all men — and discovers that she just might be the chosen one who can end mankind's fight against the Fae. Along the way, she'll have to prove that she's just as good as the boys (because, of course she does) and decide what she's willing to risk in her quest to save the world and the people she loves.
Author Jessica Cluess says "Charlie Hunnam with his shirt off" sparked the idea for her girl on fire — and she's not just being facetious.
"This is actually sort of true. I'd been watching the 2000s version of Nicholas Nickleby. The scene that inspires me was the part where Nicholas physically stops an assault on a helpless boy," Cluess tells Bustle. "As I was walking to work the next day, I couldn't help wondering how a girl in the Victoria Era would've handled that situation... I imagined different scenarios where the girl used something, and then I had this picture of her opening her hands and shooting fire out of them. I stopped dead on the sidewalk, because I knew I wanted to write about this girl."
When the girl in question, Henrietta, moves to England, she brings along her childhood friend Rook, a stable boy with constant, debilitating pain as a result of being "marked" by the Fae. His storyline will be important to the plot of the novel, as will the stories of her two other love interests: Magnus and Blackwood, two sorcerers with very different backgrounds and very different personalities. Though readers may groan at the idea of a love triangle (erm, square?), this novel never lets the romance take centerstage. "I get why people give it the side-eye," she says. "A love triangle can sometimes be code for 'I don't care if there's a world that needs saving, I must figure out which of these boys I yearn to kiss.' I tried to make sure Henrietta's journey stayed focus on the war and her quest for self-understanding."
Cluess promises that all three love interests will all have their own story arcs — and their journeys may inevitably push them further away from Henrietta. One character, in particular, exhibits a relationship with the heroine that feels like a major homage to Pride and Prejudice, with the love interest (I'll let you figure out which one) as Mr. Darcy and Henrietta as Lizzie Bennet. "Any time you have a plucky woman challenging a snooty man who's higher up the social ladder, you're going to get some Pride and Prejudice vibes," Cluess says. "But as the series goes along, that dynamic is going to change."
A Shadow Bright and Burningis the first book in a trilogy, Kingdom on Fire, so except plenty more of Henrietta, Rook, Magnus, and Blackwood in the years to come. Cluess says revisions on book two are coming along, and she's bouncing around ideas for future books.
So what's her advice for fellow debut fantasy authors? "You have to love what you're doing, without questions," she says. "And you have to try to make the characters' feelings and relationships as real as possible. Because so much wacky stuff happens in this genre — what with talking swords and goblins and faeries and so on — if the emotions aren't real, the reader won't be able to buy any of it."
Bustle is proud to present an exclusive excerpt from Jessica Cluess' A Shadow Bright and Burning, out Sept. 20 from Random House. In the excerpt, Henrietta and Rook discuss her powers and the mysterious waning of his constant pain:
QUOTED: "I just really want readers to have a good time."
"It’s really ridiculous to assign someone’s worth based on how they’re born—whether race, gender, or breeding in society. ... It’s just a silly thing to do.”
September 15, 2016By Laurel Busby
Staff Writer
For a first-time novelist, Jessica Cluess had a particularly breezy time finding a publisher.
She contacted an agent via Twitter who signed her about a week after receiving her young adult manuscript, which bursts with Victorian-era, fantastical sorcery and monsters. The agent then worked with her for a few months to improve A Shadow Bright and Burning before submitting it to publishing houses. The novel was subsequently put up for auction, where it received multiple offers. Cluess chose Random House to publish her book, which will be released Sept. 20 as the first in a trilogy.
“I know normally authors are not that lucky,” said Cluess, who grew up in Pacific Palisades. “Random House has been incredibly nice about everything. My editor has been a dream. Maybe aliens will attack on the day it comes out, and I’ll say, ‘I knew it was too good to be true.’”
Cluess, a wisecracking 31-year-old, is now at work on her second novel while also publicizing her first one. In July, she at- tended Comic-Con and spoke on a panel with some of her favorite authors. There she also signed advance reader copies of her book, which follows the adventures of Henrietta Howel, a 16-year-old girl with fiery powers who may be the prophesied savior of an alternate version of Victorian England.
A Shadow Bright and Burning recently received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, and the novel is a fast-paced, twisting tale combining the travails of adolescence with the threat of imminent doom. In Cluess’ world, ancient powers attempt to destroy England while sorcerers endeavor to protect it.
Cluess’ path to creating the work is a bit twisting itself. A communications major at Northwestern, the young woman graduated in 2007, when the recession made finding a job difficult.
“My dreams all kind of crashed,” Cluess said. Previously, fantasy and science fiction hadn’t interested her, but she “picked up Dune by Frank Herbert. This was just what I needed. It got me out of this terrible point of my life. That’s when I got serious about fantasy and writing in general.”
Cluess, who also works for Writopia, which provides writing workshops for children, eventually won admission to the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writ- ers Workshop, where she honed her craft and developed mentors. Over the years, she wrote various stories and eventually found the idea for her book while watching a version of Charles Dickens’ Nicholas Nickelby. “A man was beating a helpless boy, and Nick was having none of it,” Cluess said. She wondered how a girl might handle the same situation and saw an image of a girl “opening up her hands and roasting him with fire—fire power and impoverished England. That image is where the whole thing came from.”
Over the years, she worked intently, sometimes at two jobs, but still rising about 5:30 a.m. each morning to work on her novel, which took about a year to create. Humor spills from Cluess as she chats about the book.
“To me, it’s hilarious,” Cluess said. “I’m actually drawn to dark, gothic Victorian stuff. There’s too much sugar comedy. Who doesn’t think murderous monsters are hilarious?” She noted that her “life-long habit” of enjoying Masterpiece Theatre and Victorian fiction collided with “my love of face-eating monsters. When you bring those things together, they surprisingly work.”
Comedy is also part of her heritage. Her father, Chris, a former Second City writer, also wrote for MADtv, Night Court and The Simpsons. Growing up with him, her mother Joyce and her younger sister, Meredith, now a Turner Broadcasting executive, was a lively endeavor, said Cluess, a Marymount High graduate.
26-Shadow Bright & Burning
Her family “is a lot of fun. No one ever gets a word in edgewise; people are con- stantly talking over each other,” she joked.
In her book, her sense of fun emerges too. “I just really want readers to have a good time.” And underlying the fierce battles and the moments of levity is a serious theme that emerges not only from her protagonist’s efforts to be accepted as a female sorcerer but also through other characters, male and female, who are living in a classist, divisive world where some people often don’t see their value.
The theme and book illustrate that “it’s really ridiculous to assign someone’s worth based on how they’re born—whether race, gender, or breeding in society,” Cluess said. “It’s just a silly thing to do.”
A Shadow Bright and Burning
263.49 (Dec. 2, 2016): p111.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
A Shadow Bright and Burning
Jessica Cluess. Random House, $17.99
ISBN 978-0-553-53590-7
Sixteen-year-old Henrietta Howel can start fires with a thought, but because women aren't permitted to practice magic, she must keeps her power under wraps at the Brimthorn School for Girls, where she teaches in a magical version of Victorian London. After a sorcerer, Master Agrippa, visits the school, an attack by a "Familiar" of the (decidedly Lovecraftian) Ancients forces Henrietta's hand. Agrippa believes that Henrietta is integral to fighting the Ancients, offering to train her for eventual commendation by a young Queen Victoria and a place among the royal sorcerers. She agrees, on the condition that her childhood friend Rook comes along. In a strong opening to the Kingdom on Fire trilogy, debut author Cluess makes the most of her setting, never shying from gritty details, such as the "burned and ravaged" London outside the wards that protect the sorcerers; the contentious history between sorcerers and magicians adds heft. Henrietta is pragmatic and bitingly funny, and she more than holds her own in a man's world. Cluess gamely turns the chosen-one trope upside down in this smashing dark fantasy. Ages 12-up.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"A Shadow Bright and Burning." Publishers Weekly, 2 Dec. 2016, p. 111. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA475224735&it=r&asid=6c7243c9209dda8ba3194782100cf61e. Accessed 1 Mar. 2017.
QUOTED: "Cluess' debut is a marvelous mash-up of Dickens, the students-with-magical-powers genre, and alt-history."
Gale Document Number: GALE|A475224735
A Shadow Bright and Burning
Debbie Carton
113.1 (Sept. 1, 2016): p110.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
A Shadow Bright and Burning. By Jessica Cluess. Sept. 2016.416p. Random, $17.99 (9780553535907); lib. ed., $20.99 (97805535359141; e-book, $17.99 (9780553535921). Gr. 8-11.
Cluess' debut is a marvelous mash-up of Dickens, the students-with-magical-powers genre, and alt-history. Sixteen-year-old Henrietta Howel, discovered in a rural Yorkshire orphanage, is proclaimed as the prophesied female sorcerer who will, with training, finally defeat the seven Ancients. Victorian London has been attacked by these terrifying monsters for years while sorcerers searched for the Chosen One. Henrietta, who has the ability to summon and harness fire, arrives in London for training. At first, she's delighted to be encouraged in her desire to learn. Then Henrietta discovers a secret truth: she is not, in fact, the girl of the prophecy. Afraid of letting down her beloved teacher, she struggles to meet expectations, while simultaneously discovering the thrill of sexual attraction to both her childhood friend Rook and another student. It's a fascinating look at a society wherein magic, though accepted and respected, has its own class boundaries. Cluess' clever prose employs Dickensian names and rolls along at a speedy and compelling clip. Expect a demand for future series titles.--Debbie Carton
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Carton, Debbie. "A Shadow Bright and Burning." Booklist, 1 Sept. 2016, p. 110. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA463755260&it=r&asid=6ec336e043be3a8f2e804a8e035fcf12. Accessed 1 Mar. 2017.
QUOTED: "Cluess gamely turns the chosen-one trope upside down in this smashing dark fantasy."
Gale Document Number: GALE|A463755260
A Shadow Bright and Burning
263.28 (July 11, 2016): p69.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
* A Shadow Bright and Burning
Jessica Cluess. Random House, $17.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-553-53590-7
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Sixteen-year-old Henrietta Howel can start fires with a thought, but because women aren't permitted to practice magic, she must keeps her power under wraps at the Brimthorn School for Girls, where she teaches in a magical version of Victorian London. After a sorcerer, Master Agrippa, visits the school, an attack by a "Familiar" of the (decidedly Lovecraftian) Ancients forces Henrietta's hand. Agrippa believes that Henrietta is integral to fighting the Ancients, offering to train her for eventual commendation by a young Queen Victoria and a place' among the royal sorcerers. She agrees, on the condition that her childhood friend Rook comes along. In a strong opening to the Kingdom on Fire trilogy, debut author Cluess makes the most of her setting, never shying from gritty details, such as the "burned and ravaged" London outside the wards that protect the sorcerers; the contentious history between sorcerers and magicians adds heft. Henrietta is pragmatic and bitingly funny, and she more than holds her own in a man's world. Cluess gamely turns the chosen-one trope upside down in this smashing dark fantasy. Ages 12-up. Agent: Brooks Sherman, Bent Agency. (Sept.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"A Shadow Bright and Burning." Publishers Weekly, 11 July 2016, p. 69. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA458915417&it=r&asid=06adfa0a9842656d3cce059195826b60. Accessed 1 Mar. 2017.
QUOTED: "Fantasy fans will rejoice and impatiently await the second volume in this new series."
Gale Document Number: GALE|A458915417
Cluess, Jessica. A Shadow Bright and Burning
Karen Alexander
62.7 (July 2016): p75.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
CLUESS, Jessica. A Shadow Bright and Burning. 416p. (Kingdom on Fire: Bk. 1). ebook available. Random. Sept. 2016. Tr$ 17.99. ISBN 9780553535907.
Gr 7 Up--Sixteen-year-old Henrietta Howel has the power to burst into flames. She believes that she will be executed when she comes forward to defend a friend; instead she is invited to train as one of Her Majesty's royal sorcerers, among whom Henrietta is the only female. The heroine struggles to combat the enchantment of Victorian London, even though her male classmates wish to fight against her. With humanity at risk, Henrietta discovers the secrets of others and her own strength while she tries to defeat the Ancients, terrorizing demons. Readers who enjoy books about magic, fantastical monsters, and forces of good and evil will not be able to put this first installment down. While Guess's debut novel might be reminiscent of J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter," it features a protagonist who proves to be more than just a chosen one with a wand. The work has well-developed secondary characters, including Rook, Henrietta's childhood friend, and while the author takes time to introduce readers to the heroine and her new surroundings, she keeps the adventure moving at a good clip. VERDICT Fantasy fans will rejoice and impatiently await the second volume in this new series --Karen Alexander, Lake Fenton High School, Linden, MI
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Alexander, Karen. "Cluess, Jessica. A Shadow Bright and Burning." School Library Journal, July 2016, p. 75. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA457303168&it=r&asid=1d1a77bcb50f9ed079511ffe3598566d. Accessed 1 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A457303168
QUOTED: "Highly recommended for fans of relationship-driven epic fantasy and romantic fantasy, A Shadow Bright and Burning is a solid offering for your fantasy series shelf and a page-flying read."
Must-read YA fantasy debut: 'A Shadow Bright and Burning' by Jessica Cluess
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By: Serena Chase | September 21, 2016 12:00 am
A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess
A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess
What it’s about (from publisher Random House):
Henrietta Howel can burst into flames.
Forced to reveal her power to save a friend, she’s shocked when instead of being executed, she’s invited to train as one of Her Majesty’s royal sorcerers.
Thrust into the glamour of Victorian London, Henrietta is declared the chosen one, the girl who will defeat the Ancients, bloodthirsty demons terrorizing humanity. She also meets her fellow sorcerer trainees, handsome young men eager to test her power and her heart. One will challenge her. One will fight for her. One will betray her.
But Henrietta Howel is not the chosen one.
As she plays a dangerous game of deception, she discovers that the sorcerers have their own secrets to protect. With battle looming, what does it mean to not be the one? And how much will she risk to save the city—and the one she loves?
Why you should read it: In A Shadow Bright and Burning (first in the Kingdom on Fire series), debut author Jessica Cluess combines fantasy elements of spell-working and elemental control into a story of political unrest, otherworldly attacks and multiple romantic possibilities.
Set in a Victorian England that is … well … a tad different than that we know from history, the novel gives several nods, both subtle and not so subtle, to a few popular fantasy works while portraying Henrietta’s friends and enemies in a vivid fashion that keeps the tropes fresh and the story unique. Highly recommended for fans of relationship-driven epic fantasy and romantic fantasy, A Shadow Bright and Burning is a solid offering for your fantasy series shelf and a page-flying read you should add to your autumn TBR.
Serena Chase is the author of the critically acclaimed Eyes of E’veria series. Book four, The Sunken Realm, is available now. Serena lives in Iowa with her husband and two teen daughters
QUOTED: "The pages turn quickly and this first installment in the story is over before the reader will want it to be. The ending is perfect, too. Just enough of a conclusion to be satisfying."
‘A Shadow Bright and Burning’ is YA fantasy that will hook the reader
09/14/2016 11:08 pm ET
Random House Books for Young Readers
Fabulous YA fantasy
Jessica Cluess manages to hook the reader on the very first page of “A Shadow Bright and Burning.” That’s not an easy feat — especially when the reader is weary of young adult fantasies with long titles. They all start to sound the same.
But after reading just the first few pages, “A Shadow Bright and Burning” was a difficult book to put down. It’s the story of Henrietta, an orphaned young girl in Victorian England (a magical, alternate Victorian England) who has a magical power — fire. She’s afraid that she’s a witch, and witches are killed in England, so she hides her power.
But she is “outed” when she uses her power to save the life of her best friend when one of the magical ancient monsters — who were unleashed by witches and magicians years before — tries to kill him. Her friend, Rook, is considered “unclean” because he bears the scars from being attacked by one of the monsters. He is one of the few who lived through the attack. The “unclean” are shunned by those untouched by monsters.
Henrietta finds out that she is not a witch, but rather a sorcerer, one of a group of highly respected humans with magical powers. In fact, she is believed to be the woman sorcerer who was prophesied to save the world from the seven ancient monsters.
Yes, the story may sound a bit too fantastic. But the writing, the characters, the descriptions, and the plot all serve to make a wonderful read. The characters are all flawed, including Henrietta. She is hiding a huge secret from her fellow sorcerer students, but so are some of them. In fact, even their esteemed “Master,” or teacher, is hiding a huge secret.
The pages turn quickly and this first installment in the story is over before the reader will want it to be. The ending is perfect, too. Just enough of a conclusion to be satisfying, but also enough mystery to make readers anxious to see the next installment. Lovely debut novel by a talented writer.