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Notes from the Burning Age Kindle Edition

by Claire North (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 670 ratings
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“ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE READ IN RECENT YEARS. THOUGHT PROVOKING, IMAGINATIVE AND PACKS A HELL OF AN EMOTIONAL PUNCH.” —Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of Time

From one of the most imaginative writers of her generation comes an extraordinary vision of the future…

Ven was once a holy man, a keeper of ancient archives. It was his duty to interpret archaic texts, sorting useful knowledge from the heretical ideas of the Burning Age—a time of excess and climate disaster. For in Ven's world, such material must be closely guarded so that the ills that led to that cataclysmic era can never be repeated.

But when the revolutionary Brotherhood approaches Ven, pressuring him to translate stolen writings that threaten everything he once held dear, his life will be turned upside down. Torn between friendship and faith, Ven must decide how far he's willing to go to save this new world—and how much he is willing to lose.

“A riveting tale of subterfuge and deadly self-indulgence” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) from award-winning author Claire North, Notes from the Burning Age puts dystopian fiction in a whole new light.


Also by Claire North:
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
Touch
The Sudden Appearance of Hope
The End of the Day
84K
The Gameshouse
The Pursuit of William Abbey
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  1. Print length
    450 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Orbit
  5. Publication date
    July 20, 2021
  6. File size
    1966 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
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  9. Enhanced typesetting
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From the Publisher

notes from the burning age claire north

notes from the burning age claire north

notes from the burning age claire north

Editorial Reviews

Review

''A riveting tale of subterfuge and deadly self-indulgence in this post-apocalyptic thrill ride...North's convincing view of post-apocalyptic society captivates, and the political intrigues will keep readers hooked right up until the explosive close.'' --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

About the Author

Claire North is a pseudonym for Catherine Webb, a Carnegie Medal-nominated author who has written numerous young-adult novels and several successful fantasy novels for adults in the Matthew Swift and Magicals Anonymous series under the pseudonym Kate Griffin.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08MZV3TMJ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orbit (July 20, 2021)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 20, 2021
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1966 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 450 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0316498831
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 670 ratings

About the author

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Claire North

Claire North

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Claire North is a pseudonym for Catherine Webb, a Carnegie Medal-nominated author whose first book was written when she was just fourteen years old. She went on to write several other novels in various genres, before publishing her first major work as Claire North, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, in 2014. It was a critically acclaimed success, receiving rave reviews and an Audie nomination, and was included in the Washington Post's Best Books of the Year list. Her most recent novel, Touch, was also in the Washington Post's Best Books of the Year, in 2015.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
670 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Trey
5.0 out of 5 stars Solarpunk with a brain as well as a heart
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2023
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This was (and is!) some beautiful work. The writing is top notch, evocative and describes the world well, while introducing characters you care about.

Now, while the purpose of solarpunk is to provide inspiration, not an instruction manual, this one gives more thought to what happens when some are discontent with the status quo. And that's where it's darker than many because it gets into spies, spying and the costs to the spy as well as the spied upon.

And it also gets into how a solarpunk society would deal with these problems.

Looks, it's a wonderful, wonderful book and I look forward to reading more Ms. North's work. Or Ms. Webb's. The author's.
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SeattleSue
4.0 out of 5 stars Ponderously Poetic
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2021
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I’m a die-hard North fan, but this was a difficult read. Dystopian and filled with the prophecy of doom for our current world situation, it does offer hope in the form of mankind’s terrible will to survive. There’s a lot to parse, and so very much heavy, illuminating prose that it’s difficult to find the heart of the characters. Slogged through it without much joy, but I know this book will stay with me for a long time.
5 people found this helpful
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SF
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking, engaging, fun
Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2021
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I love Clair North writing. I like some of her books more than others. This one, I think, is one of her best. This is the kind of book that you keep thinking about afterwards, trying to puzzle out things that were possibly left unsaid. It took me a while to get started and to fully appreciate the ending. The writing is masterful and the ideas are engaging and relevant to the world we live in. Clair is great at making you turn the pages following the action. Thank you for another great novel.
7 people found this helpful
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Hallie
4.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking
Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2021
Notes From The Burning Age is at times a political spy thriller, at times a futuristic, dystopian epic, at times a fantasy, and at times a tragedy. Claire North writes fluidly from the haunting and poetic style in one paragraph to the blunt and harsh style in the next. A powerful novel questioning what it means to be human in the era that, hypothetically, follows the anthropocene.

The novel follows Ven, first as a child and then as an adult, who is shaped by a tragic wildfire-made worse by climate change-that swept through the forest where he grew up. The fantastical element is at play here because society as we knew it was destroyed when the "kakuy," god-like, indestructible beasts, awoke when humanity went too far in its destruction of the earth. Now, the kakuy are asleep, and humanity has started to forget, and a philosophical battle carries on between the Temple that Ven is a part of, which teaches that humanity must be humble before the earth and not live in excess, and the Brotherhood, a group of extremists that desire to return to the age of the "Burning Ones," the age of humanity's control over the world and the wealthy were at the top and men were men and women were women. Ven becomes entangled with the Brotherhood, and is forced to choose sides as the humans of the new age decide whether they will wage war with the earth itself and start the destructive cycle anew.

This is a thought-provoking book, and although at times it felt slow in pacing, at other times it was completely gripping. The novel raises, and addresses with poignancy, painful questions of humanity's place on the planet, of the suffering we inflict, and the guilt and shame we carry with us every day as part of our existence. What duty do we owe to each other? What duty do we owe to this world? I highly recommend this book.
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D Zavaglia
3.0 out of 5 stars The author has written much better books.
Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2024
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I am a big fan of the author. Her books are exciting, with unpredictable plot twists and dramatic endings. “Burning Age” missed the mark for me. The plot was predictable; it was clear who the villain was. The descriptions of the dystopian world were numerous and lengthy — it made the book drag in a few places. The overall story is ok. Some parts were very good, others fell flat. My expectations were high, so maybe my disappointment comes from my expecting more than I should have.
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Mohammed
5.0 out of 5 stars Best book of fiction so far in 2021
Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2021
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I think I read everything written by Claire North since The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and have to say that nothing came close to that masterpiece. Until this wonderful novel that is!

I expect that even those like me who are not big fans of post apocalyptic fiction would find it immensely enjoyable.

Highly recommend it with audible narration !!
4 people found this helpful
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Kylie
4.0 out of 5 stars Atmospheric spy dystopian
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2021
Notes from the Burning Age is an interesting and wonderful addition to contemporary dystopian novels with strong philosophical musings about ecology/climate change, individualism, capitalism, and religion. (My summary is necessarily short as it is very difficult to say more without giving away best parts).

Overall, Burning Age is an excellent read. It is thoughtful, thrilling, full of fantastic twists and turns, and underpinned with a dry wit that works perfectly with the tone of the book. It is also a rare example of a novel where the protagonist manages to keep secrets from the reader without feeling cheap or contrived by the author—and is used to great effect in keeping the mystery alive.

The world North has built within provides enough distance from our own to feel fantastic, rich, and magical without losing track of its connection to the real world. Though some of the references are bit cringe-y (the music of "Beyondsee," for example), more frequently the joy of an anthropological study of contemporary times eases the awkwardness.

My biggest complaint for this novel is that occasionally the protagonists penchant for philosophical musing gets away from him and devolves into ramblings. It wasn't always necessary for the prose to be quite so purple and long-winded and it undercut the tensions of spy/thriller plot. Though each time the novel eventually got back on track, it broke up an otherwise smooth reading experience.

I Would Recommend To: Fans of classic dystopia (1984, Clockwork Orange, etc) and/or fans of atmospheric spy novels (George Smiley Novels, etc).

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Dennis C Caron
5.0 out of 5 stars Another Masterpiece
Reviewed in Canada on August 12, 2021
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I have been reading Ms. North’s works for some time now. Her imagination is amazing and her writing style is clear, concise and captivating. I look forward to her next piece.
One person found this helpful
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Amazonian Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Another cracker from a very talented author
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 11, 2022
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I am awestruck by Claire North's incredible imagination. The world she has created for Notes from the Burning Age is one that has emerged following a climate catastrophe that destroyed the world as we know it. Civilisation has reinvented itself into seven Provinces, each represented in a Council that sets common laws, enacted across all the Provinces. There is also a religious faction that venerates the spirits of the natural world and controls information mined from history, sorting it into useful and heretical material. Inevitably there is dissent and this comes in the form of the Justice and Equality Brotherhood who want access to more of the secrets of the past, no matter how heretical and environmentally destructive.

In the highly charged political landscape of this dystopian future she has invented, Claire North weaves a tale of intrigue and suspense. We follow Ven, an ex-priest who is coerced into translating stolen heretical material for the Brotherhood. Despite the unfamiliar setting, this story of spies, secrets and lies is a thrilling page turner. Every book she writes is wildly different to the last, and each one is fabulous.
2 people found this helpful
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Mike
5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Good
Reviewed in Germany on June 9, 2022
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Having as good as given up on contemporary fiction I'm not sure how I stumbled into this story, but I am glad I did. I look forward to reading more of this author's work.
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ekcentrik
5.0 out of 5 stars A tale for our conflicted times
Reviewed in France on September 24, 2021
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An apt read for these times of cognitive dissonance, where world leaders impose their changing, often contradictory wills on a population mired in the shifting quicksand of "reality". A reminder of what liesv beneath the surface of our industrialzed existence.
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Purplerose2030
4.0 out of 5 stars Another great one
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2021
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Claire north has done it again, a book that really makes you think.
One person found this helpful
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