Notes from the Burning Age

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The plot is big and covers a lot, but I never felt my interest flagging. Claire North combines a tale of espionage with philosophy; North’s world is vivid, and Ven’s life and interactions are full of tension, and many times suddenly violent. At the same time the text is frequently beautiful, and has scenes full of sound and wonder.

a story set in an age after the world has burned, which explores whether humankind can change the paths we seem fated to follow. Some technology like solar panels, wind turbines, or information technology have survived. People might have heard of combustion engines, but fear to use them because the Kakuy could wake up from their slumber at any time. Instead, they use bicycles mostly. Ok, you’ve got that probably: all those Middle-European names are a little bit twisted, just like the Danube got the “Ube”. The stories touches many of the Middle-European cities like Vienna, Budapest, Bukarest, or Belgrad, finally reaching Istanbul. A lifelong Londoner, Webb enjoys walking through the areas she describes in her books – Bethnal Green, Clerkenwell, and along the River Thames – comparing the city of London as it is now with how it was at various times in the past. She appeared in CosmoGirl in 2006/7 in an interview. She also appeared in online interviews with CBBC and nzgirl when she was 15, [5] [6] and also with The Daily Telegraph, which described her as a teen queen. [3] Bibliography [ edit ] The book description speaks of Notes From The Burning Age being a post apocalyptic story of humanity trying to find itself, but more than that this is a spy novel. It is first and foremost a spy novel worthy of comparison to the work of John Le Carré as opposed to any post apocalyptic novel I've read. But typical of North that doesn't summarise what the story is either.I could have gotten over that, though, had I been drawn in by the plot and characters. But unfortunately, I found the pacing rather slow. While the writing is beautiful, I also found the naturalistic descriptions and political and moral philosophizing somewhat tedious to plod through. Ven and Yue are interesting foils, and North delivers some unexpected and affecting twists in their interweaving story lines. But I still didn’t feel much attachment to them. Both are rather guarded--attributable to their childhood trauma, espionage activities, and likely, North’s desire not to blow their covers (i.e. her plot twists) too early. It remembers me too much of Miller’s “Canticle for Leibowitz” (review), and not in a good way. I’d recommend rather to read that one.

There's enough in NFTBA to satisfy SFF fans but I hope that when NFTBA is officially released that its also marketed to entice fans of spy thrillers as they'd be best pleased with this offering from Claire North. The plot follows Ven’s exploits as a spy for the Council and a race between him and his unknown counterpart, spying within the Council for the Brotherhood, as to which will be revealed first. It’s an exciting story full of sharply drawn characters and richly imagined detail of a damaged world. It is, above all, the story of Ven Marzouki, who survived a traumatic childhood when he witnessed the great burning of the old civilization and the loss of a friend, Vae, for which he blames himself. Though damaged and emotionally distanced from all belief, he came to accept the Temple faith that emerged after vast destruction of the Burning Age. The great burning of the world took down the civilization that saw humans as masters of the world, free to exploit its wealth with brilliant but dangerous technologies.

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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. North has an amazing imagination and this is certainly fully displayed in this dystopian tale of our world in the distant future after it has been ruined by the way we treat it. Most technology has been discarded and even reading about its history is heresy. Energy sources are renewable and unreliable. Of course politics are just the same and are really the basis for the whole story.

Giving this book only three stars hurts a little because I usually love everything this author writes under all of her pseudonyms. In fact I liked Notes from the Burning Age too but just not as much. Now centuries passed and a new church of kakuy, ‘Temple’ is collecting old knowledge and decides whether to re-introduce it to the new world. However, populists hungry for the old, more luxurious way of life are on the rise, demanding less censorship from the Temple, on things from internal combustion engines to nuclear weapons. Catherine’s first novel, Mirror Dreams, was completed when she was 14 years old. The book was published in 2002 and garnered comparisons with Terry Pratchett and Philip Pullman. She went on to publish a further seven young adult novels under her own name, earning her extensive critical acclaim and two Carnegie nominations for her novels Timekeepers and The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle.Synopsis: The “Burning Age” is our near future when the Earth itself rebels, using mystical nature spirits called the Kakuy “angels, or devils, guardian voi or djinn of fire and sea” to wipe away humanity by fire, plague, or simple physical stomping at bodies. Notes from a Burning Age is a stunning achievement. The stories included clash, intersect, conflict, and betray each other for precedence. The sheer lyricism of CN's writing softens somewhat the harshness of the dystopian narrative of subversion and betrayal in a future jostling to organize itself after the great burnings.

Ven is, eventually. a likeable protagonist whom North subjects to all manner of challenges: he is beaten, tortured mentally and physically, spends quite a bit of time captive or on the run, almost drowns yet recovers to return to his mission. At one stage, one of his mentors comments that he will present a danger to anyone who gives him shelter. a b "Telegraph Family book club: Exploits of a Teen Queen". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 16 June 2008 . Retrieved 17 December 2014. This was my first Claire North book, though I've always been drawn to her books conceptually. After my positive experience with this one, I am bumping some of her others up on my TBR list. This conflict fuels the action of the book, of those feeling only a few deserve the best of technologies, comforts and opportunities, as exemplified by the Brotherhood, and many others have a strong belief in community, of being mindful of one’s affect on the land and on others.

When things are good, we find ourselves wondering - what more? And what will I lose if I do not get more now? It is a trait that pushed mankind across the oceans and out into space - what is out there, what else? It is one of our most beautiful qualities and has for millennia served us well in finding new ways to live better. But like all things, it is neither good nor bad, but what we make of it." Claire North's new SF is climate-punk without as QUITE an uber-bleak outlook as usually comes with such cli-punk SF. Lots of intrigue, repressed societies, quasi-religious cultural restrictions that summon up the monsters that burned the old world, but still enough technology going around to make this world quite interesting and believable. Ven survives childhood trauma with permanent scars and an emotional reserve that leaves him feeling always like an observer of life rather then a participant in his life. Yet at crucial times, the horror of early trauma haunts him and requires all his energy to keep any trace of his guilt and terror from showing on the surface. The novel follows Middle-European Ven who is one of a few people of his time to have spotted a Kakuy. He becomes a priest, learns dead languages like English or German to translate the Notes of the Burning Age. Many are forgeries, most contain silly content like WhatsApp conversations, or porn. But here and there are valuable “heretical” information about technology. Ven goes rogue and sells the information outside of his monastery, ends up disgraced. He works as a bartender in the city of Vien at the beautiful river Ube. Why didn’t it work for me? I nearly DNFed it after 20% in, because it dragged on and on. I soldiered through, because I loved other works from the author. And indeed, the middle-part was a breathless action plot. Only, that it was too much: Too many recurring situations where I thought “yet another XYZ”. Half of it would have perfectly well transported the needs and situation without giving up anything. The plot really wasn’t driven forward by yet another flight to yet another station.