In terms of plot, The Burning World is very much a sort of adventure/”on the road” story that expertly weaves the personal character struggles with a much broader view and exploration of the plagued world. Though Marion finished this novel a few years ago (before the world became what it is now), these similarities to the real world make the atmosphere of the fictional world that much more compelling and the story more intense.

There are a few passages sprinkled throughout the book that hit incredibly hard because they could be used to describe the world at this very moment. It’s fascinating.Īnother fascinating (while also eerie) aspect of The Burning World is the way in which it connects with current events in the real world.

The experience of The Burning World is sort of like going back to Warm Bodies and The New Hunger and seeing different cracks and important details that you never knew to look for. Julie, Nora, M, R, and even a few already deceased characters’ pasts rise from the ashes of the plague to stir up trouble and introduce new hardships. In The Burning World, each character’s past (not just R’s) affects and even threatens the present. That for R to try to ignore his past is not only ridiculous but also dangerous. But once The Burning World begins, it becomes obvious that that can’t happen. In the context of that novel, that was okay. For a sizable portion of Warm Bodies, R kept repeating how he didn’t care about his past and that he’s choosing the life and identity he’s living now that he’s met Julie. With the character-building Marion does in A New Hunger (which is a must-read before you dig into The Burning World, by the way), The Burning World is free to start exploring the implications of those pasts without needing to spend time over-explaining them again.Īnd boy, do all the characters’ pasts really come into play.

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