BOOK REVIEW: Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian ★★★★☆

WARNING. SOME SPOILERS AHEAD. SORRY.

Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian received their MFA in Creative Writing: Children’s Literature from The New School University. They got together and wrote Burn for Burn series (2012), followed up by Fire with Fire (2013) and Ashes to Ashes (2014).

Summer is over and the school year has just begun. The cheerleader, the new girl, and the loner, an unlikely trio end up in a girl’s bathroom. It’s the beginning of revenge plotting for those who hurt them. Imagine the characters of Mean Girls and John Tucker Must Die at the same high school.

Kat Debrassio, the loner, is sick and tired of being bullied by her former best friend Rennie. Lillia Cho, the cheerleader, has always looked out for her little sister Nadia, so when she discovers that her male friend Alex Lind has been secretly hooking up with Nadia; she’s going to put a stop to it. Mary Zane, the new girl, is perpetually haunted by a traumatic event from years past, and the boy Reeve who’s responsible has yet to get what’s coming to him.

I know that I’m not expecting overly descriptive words or a very complex storyline. What I am expecting is a simple but hard cut story of revenge. This book delivered because I didn’t have high expectations. All three characters had a distinct voice and so I had no trouble telling the difference. Each girl’s reason for revenge is revealed throughout the story, with a hint of their back story that gives that right amount of mystery.

What I didn’t expect (but actually worked) was the amount of darkness that’s in this story, despite the bright cover. Teenagers, well these wild teenagers are ruthless drug and alcohol abuse and their hookups. And this book deals with serious issues like date rape, underaged sex, bullying and attempted suicide. Wow, I mean; Han and Vivian didn’t sugar coat this at all. Plus I especially like the supernatural type ending. It threw me off a bit but I wouldn’t have thought it would end like that. It makes room for the next book. What could possibly happen?

When I read any book, the plot has got to have a point, but also the characters need to be believable and fleshed out as it’ll drive the book. Like I mentioned I didn’t have a hard time tell each narrative apart.

Kat is the ringleader in the trio, has no problem voicing her opinions and is generally a badass. Labelled as a ‘biker whore’ by the ex-friend Rennie, Kat really doesn’t give a rats ass what people think. She’s my favourite character out of the three because she doesn’t give up on her plan and give moral support in helping the other two with their revenge.

Now Mary, on the other hand, is the quiet, shy one with a tragic back story. Back then she was fat, bullied by Reeve which drove her to attempted suicide. Coming back to Jar Island, all she wants is for Reeve to acknowledge her. To me, she’s the strongest one, because even after all that’s happened to her, it takes great courage to revisit a dark part of the past.

Lillia is an interesting character because she becomes the double agent. In one world she’s a cheerleader, hangs out with the jock and has popularity, wealth, beauty and best friends with Rennie. On the other side, she sneaks out at night, meets up with Kat and Mary to plot against the wrongdoers as the antagonists happen to be Lillia’s friends. Lillia’s wants to get revenge on a boy that’s been sleeping around with her sister. Although it’s Alex and she does get her revenge, she’s the one who has the guilty conscious and questions if she really meant to go far. The authors really fleshed out Lillia’s characters because there is so much more to her. Underneath it all, she feels a great amount of guilt and shame for not protecting her sister and herself in a traumatic past event (won’t say more on that).

The antagonists like Rennie Alex and Reeve haven’t really developed as characters like their protagonist. It’s alright for now as there are two more books. I hope the authors give some back story to these guys. There must be a reason why they act the way they do?

I only had one snag with this story. I had hoped the acts of revenge would be anything other than Mean Girl knockoffs i.e. the skin cream, photocopying pages from a notebook and pasting them around the school and attacking an item of clothing. But the drugging part was a WTF moment. Maybe that’s the only thing teens can pull off as revenge tactics in high school.

Despite that one snag, I really need to read the next book, but damn the local library (they don’t own the second book but have the last one... why?). If you want a pure revenge story set in high school then I recommend Carrie by Stephan King.

Rating 4.5/5 Stars
Publishers: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication Date: September 18th 2012
Genre: YA/Contemporary