Rating: 4 stars out of 5
One hundred years ago, a sheriff’s posse killed dark warlock Rhyfel Gremory, but his witch-disciples escaped, and their magic made them nearly immortal. To keep their power, each year one of the witch-disciples kills a descendant of one of the men in the posse, a twelve-year cycle that has cost dozens of lives, including that of Seth Tanner’s brother, Jesse.
Seth uncovers a cycle of ritual murders that feed the witch-disciples’ power, and he saves Evan Malone, one of the warlock’s potential victims. Neither Seth nor Evan expected to fall in love, but when the dust settles, they find themselves on the run and on the road together, heading toward Pittsburgh, on the trail of the next killer.
Seth wonders whether Evan will come to regret his choice to stay together, now that he’s living the reality of Seth’s nomadic life and the risks that come with it. He wants Evan to stay, but he’s afraid that Evan would be better off without him, living a normal life. Evan’s whole world has been upended, but there’s one thing he’s sure of, his love for Seth. Evan worries that he’s a liability, not yet able to hold his own in Seth’s rough-and-tumble world, but determined to do whatever necessary to have Seth’s back. On the way to face the next warlock, supernatural threats abound, forcing them to learn to fight as a team.
Fate and danger threw them together. But once the adrenaline fades, will love last?
Burn is a short follow-up story in the Witchbane series where Seth Tanner and Evan Malone are still adjusting not only to each other but recovering from the recents events from book one, Witchbane and before book two, Dark Rivers. Their “partnership” is new, from the tentatively forming romance to the decision to carry on and find the rest of the warlock’s witch disciples. And dispose of them. So Burn is a story of uncertainty, adjustment, learning, and communication. All while killing nasty supernatural and paranormal beasties.
It is most definitely NOT a standalone in any way shape or form. Really wish they would stop doing that in blurbs and descriptions. It’s a series, people, with world building and this is only an interim story. It most certainly rests on the shoulders of the rest one as any solid building block does.
So, if you’ve read Witchbane, this is a wonderful sequel and mirror into where the characters stood immediately after the events of that novel. Not shockingly, they are having issues. Not talking and it’s ready to combust. As written by Morgan Brice and narrated by the most wonderful Kale Williams, this story flies by. It’s action packed, the characters alive and full of torn emotions. As they should be. I was so caught up in the story that it was over before I knew it. As I said it’s a short story and the audio reflects that.
Witchbane is just one of the many interconnected series that Brice has right now. There’s Witchbane, Badlands, t and the the new one , Treasure Trail. All with interconnected characters that appear in each others stories and series. If you read one or listen to one, you find yourself getting sucked, quite willingly, into the overall universe Brice is building. Read one? Nope, have to read them all. Or listen to them. Which I am finding equally addicting under the spell of Kale Williams.
Which means I am recommending Burn the audio to you all, after you listen to Witchbane of course. That was a terrific audio too. Now to wait for Dark Rivers to arrive in audio. Be still my heart!
Cover art works for the characters and tone of the story. Love it.
Buy Links
Audio Details:
Listening Length: 3 hours and 2 minutes
Audiobook
Published April 16th 2019 by Tantor Audio (first published September 26th 2018)
ASINB07Q4R76RK
Edition Language English
Series Witchbane #1.5
Witchbane Series
Burn 1.5
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 