I started this book as a young woman I finished old and wrinkled, it was that long and dull. I want my youth back ! I almost quit it so many times. I didn't, I held on because I knew she had some secret BOOM moment coming that would make all the nodding off and forced reading worth it. No, it was 400 pages of slow conversations, inner dialogs, dressing and hair, boring meetings and even more boring problems. I thought the last 40 pages were picking up. Gods that sounds so sad. Well I thought they were picking up but I was foolish again. It built up to a huge semi better than bland so obvious resolution. I know you're thinking, wow that sounds boring. YES it was ! 400 pages that could have easily fit into 75 pages and not missed a bit of the story. I never liked the spoiled Countess, the MC, never admired her stupid choices, or attitude.
What was the book about ? A rich Countess doesn't want to marry her cousin to save her class standing so she runs away and sells herself to a group that will train her to be an good upper class wife in the new world sold to the highest bidder. She decides not to follow those rules and fall fro another. Then she must lower herself even lower and do actual labor.

I will not be reading anymore in this series

I don't know what it was about this book, but it was one of the oddest reading experiences I have ever had. Burning Paradise was ridiculously compelling while also boring me to tears sometimes, and other times I had zero idea what was going on and yet I couldn't stop. The book, for me, was pretty much unputdownable, and yet, I am hesitant to recommend it. Basically, my thoughts are all over the places and it has me wondering if all his books are like this. I can tell you one thing: I want to read more of his books because I have a feeling they are better, but how am I to go about reviewing THIS book?  

No clue.

The story is weird, weird, weird. That's a good thing though as it was one of the parts I enjoyed most. The book kept you guessing, and I can honestly say that I was stumped until the end. I had my ideas but they were all wrong. That was the good thing, and I can say that the ending did NOT let me down. The build to the conclusion is the best part of this book, and it's very difficult for me to say what or how without spoiling anything so I think I am just going to skip that part. You can read the summary for yourself, and while it is a teensy bit misleading, it does cover the most important parts. What I can tell you is that it's a book about aliens and they take the shape of humans. In my mind, these are the scariest kinds of aliens because you can't see them coming if they look like you. Here's the bad part though: there weren't NEARLY enough scenes with the aliens. When it was good it was great, but there are some things I really didn't like at all. List time.

1. The pacing was all over the fricking place. There was a lot of driving from one place to another, a lot of scenes where not a whole lot happened, and then something exciting would happen, and then it would be infodump, infodump until the next bit of action. Annoying.

2. There was a lot of scientific jargon that really made my eyes gloss over. I was worried that it would affect my understanding of the events that occurred later on in the book, but it didn't. So the fact that I really didn't absorb any of it didn't matter one iota, so why was it there. It made shit drag majorly.

3. None of the characters were likable. I have been having this issue a lot lately with books though. I know the author tried to make characters like Cassie and Leo likable but I just couldn't relate to them because I don't feel like they were developed enough. I was on the fence. The characters were compelling enough, but when you don't like any of them, is that okay? I guess that depends on the reader. 

Here's the thing though. There were some really grand ideas here that I have not read anywhere else. I've read about aliens that take human form before but not in the way that these did. The events that happen in this book are pretty terrifying because it's not so hard to suspend disbelief. I do think that something like this is possible. The universe knows no bounds and who knows what is going on out there somewhere else? To think that there are not other worlds out there that sustain life like ours just seems ignorant to me. But again, you have no idea what I am talking about without me spoiling the book for you and I won't do that. So what I say to you is this: if the blurb sounds interesting to you, then perhaps you should give it a shot. It wasn't my favorite book but I definitely don't regret reading it, and I think down the road this will be probably one that sticks with me for some time. Technically, I believe it could have used some work. But that's not all there is, is there?

Also, I need to add in at the last minute because it would not fit anywhere else: the world-building is excellent, though I suspect this is what this author truly excels at. He takes you from rural Vermont all the way to the Atacama desert in Chile, and it alternates from viewpoint to viewpoint, and he does it well. So, I am conflicted, and you can see my dilemma. Which is why I will read more of his work to truly decide. He's won the Hugo award so I have high hopes. 

Morgan lives in a city in the sky. Below this hunk of floating rock, earth. Her people stare down at us, copy our advancements, and wonder what it’s like down here. For some, this becomes a deadly fixation and they become either so enamored by the idea of us, or so desperate to escape their small world, that they hurl themselves over the edge. Her brother is one of these, they’re called jumpers. 

Is one of them? IS, as in IS still alive? How is that possible if he jumped? 

The wind surrounding the island that they live on is so strong that it hurled him back up. But now he’s blind. Another girl that jumped has epilepsy and yet another survivor is- 

Woah, woah, woah, back that train up. Why do they have different injuries? 

Er…they just do. So anywho, because they’re jumpers, the government now watches their entire fam-

How does anyone even get that close to the edge if the winds are so strong? Wouldn’t it blown them away from it? And for that matter, how can anyone move around at all with winds like that?

Would you stop it with the questions? 

But there seem to be a lot of holes in the world, in the story even.

That’s because there are. Let me just get through the synopsis please? 

Fine. 

Okay then. Morgan thinks that life is just dandy until a young girl is found murdered on the train tracks. Their society is a sort of Utopia so this discovery throws the populace into a panic. Things deteriorate from there. 

How?

Oh, you know, same old, same old. MC thinks things are just great, evil regime is evil and has been covering shit up and offing people that disagree with them, no one knows, except of course, the rebels, the MC's eyes are suddenly opened, more people die, she's taken prisoner, escapes, joins with the rebels, they jump ship, etc, etc.

That sounds…familiar. 

It is. I’ve read this book so many times that I just can’t bring myself to get excited about it anymore. 

Why would you read this book multiple times if you didn’t like it?

JFC, not this exact book, just many, many YA books that follow similar themes. I mean the world itself was semi-original but when you get right down to it, there was nothing new here. The first half was pretty boring and there seemed to be a lot that could have been shaved off, then there was a neat plot twist but then the MC became TSTL so…meh. 

Was there anything you liked?

Um…the love interest was pretty cool and there wasn’t ANY slut shaming, or a love triangle, but I think I can smell one coming in future installments. 

Huh.

Yup.