The Burning Shadow Review

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You don't need to worry about me, Peaches. I'm always going to come back to you. That's a promise.

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Title: The Burning Shadow

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series: Origin, #2

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, YA, SciFi

Publisher: Tor Teen

Date Published: October 8, 2019

Pages: 432

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Goodreads Synopsis:
When Evelyn Dasher crossed paths with Luc, she was thrown headfirst into the world of the Lux—only to discover that she was already far more involved in their world than she ever suspected.

Because the Luxen aren’t the only ones with a hidden past. There’s a gap in Evie’s memory, lost months of her life and a lingering sense that something happened, something she can’t remember and nobody is willing to tell her. She needs to find out the truth about who she is—and who she was. But every answer she finds only brings up more questions.

Her search for the truth brings her ever closer to Luc, the Origin at the center of it all. He’s powerful, arrogant, inhumanly beautiful, extremely dangerous…and possibly in love with her. But even as Evie falls for him, she can’t help but wonder if his attraction is to her, or to the memory of a girl who no longer exists.

And all the while, a new threat looms: reports of a flu-like, fatal virus that the government insists is being spread by Luxen. A horrifying illness that changes whoever it touches, spreading panic across a country already at its breaking point.

#1 New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout returns to the world of the Lux with this steamy, shocking second installment of the Origin series that will leave readers reeling.

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Review:
Did I blow off a ton of school work to read this book? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely. The Burning Shadow seamlessly picks up pretty much where The Darkest Star (book #1 in the series) left off. The second I cracked open this much awaited release, I knew I was in for a wild ride. This is one of those forget to feed the dog, stay home from work, blow off your responsibilities until you finish reading, type of books. I have a few things I’d like to touch on throughout this review so let’s get into it!

First off, who is the queen of swoon-worthy book boyfriends? Yup, you guessed it! Jennifer L. Armentrout! Every single series of hers that I have read contains some of the most dreamy guys! Even though that is definitely a plus, something that I absolutely loved was the character development in this story. Luc, the main male character, is someone whom we met in the Lux series, as a young teenager, and being able to see him develop from that stage, to where he is in the Origin series, is incredible. In addition to being able to clearly observe the evolution of Luc, the other main characters in the book (Evie, Zoe, Heidi, etc.) also unquestionably go through significant developments and transformations of their own, even just through the two books that we’ve seen them in so far (especially Evie ;)). 

The world building in The Burning Shadow is absolutely incredible, immediately tossing the reader right into the world of the Luxen. If you weren’t aware, this series takes place in the same world as another one of JLA’s series, the Lux series. It is by no means easy to continue adding onto an already established world, keeping readers interested with new additions to the world, but Armentrout does it, and she does it perfectly. The Lux series has been one of my favorite series for a long time (it was one of the books that got me into reading and blogging!)and even though I have read it several times, with the Origin series, Armentrout continues to spring so many new twists and turns, that I don’t think I could ever get bored. Of course with these cliffhangers, one could never get bored (OMG the cliffhanger killed me!!)!

A big thing I love about The Burning Shadow is the reappearance of old and beloved characters from the Lux series being interspersed throughout the book. It’s amazing to be able to revisit these characters in new and different circumstances, and see what they’ve been doing since the last series ended!

Finally, I just want to mention how much I adore this series, and really all of Armentrout’s works. There is something truly special about the way she writes, filling all of her books with passion and wonder. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend picking up any of her novels, I promise you definitely won’t regret it!