My Thoughts: Burn (The Last City) by Dylan Steel

 

Book Blurb:

Alphastad. The last city left standing. A refuge for a remnant of humanity. Until it isn’t.
Charlie lives on the streets — the lowest level in a city of towers. The government doesn’t care about her existence — not like if she were an upstanding citizen living on a middle or upper level. To everyone above her, she’s forgettable scum, utterly insignificant… which is exactly what she wants.

The streets of Alphastad are dangerous. Charlie’s only survived them the last three years by pledging her loyalty to the leader of her sector and by keeping her past a secret.

But when a riot breaks out, the government retaliates by cutting off the food supply and transforming Alphastad from Earth’s last refuge to a tomb. As a street runner, Charlie can smuggle in rations — if she’s willing to risk the secret she’s already killed to keep.

My thoughts: (No Spoilers)

This book started off with a lot of action, a lot of vague world building, and a handful of characters being introduced without much in the way of explanation. It was a little confusing to be dropped into what seemed like the middle of an action movie type plot. However, we got to "meet" the main character Charlie and her friend Harper and some of the others in her sector. 

Charlie is a tough girl. She's definitely earned her way up to the top, but also still has some softness. She barely avoids being a stereotype by actually being a decently written character. Her past is vague, but we know that it's kept her moving and kept her on the lower levels. 

The world building is dropped in bits and pieces, at least at the start of the book. We know it's a post apocalyptic world. We know that people are segregated. The lower class is at the bottom and the higher at top. Food is scarce, water is scarce..at least for the lower classes. The whole shebang is ruled by a man called the Prime. 

Let's talk characters shall we? I've already mentioned Charlie. She was decently written. Soft and tough. I liked her. She could have been tooo cliched, but something about her kept her from going that direction. Her best friend Harper, doesn't get much page time but she's cute, loyal and lovable. Then we have Luke. At first I was rolling my eyes as he seemed to be set up for the "enemies to lovers" trope, but I was pleasantly surprised! He too was well written and fun. 

I will say that yes there are some of the common tropes in this genre, however; I found myself looking past that at the characters and the story that was being told. The twists were somewhat surprising and I can honestly say that I didn't see one of them coming. The ending set up the next book perfectly. 

All in all, I liked the book. I will most likely read the next in the series and will do so happily.