Review of Burn Mark

Burn Mark by Lauren Powell

Pages: 416

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Review source: publisher

Rating: 4/5

Reviewed by: Stormi

Next in series: Witch Fire

In a modern world—where witches are hunted down and burned at the stake—two live interact. Cleo is from a family of witches, and is desperate to develop the ‘Fae’ and become a witch herself. Lucas is the son of the Chief Prosecutor for the Inquisition and his privileged life is very different from the witches he is being trained to prosecute. And then one day, both Cleo and Lucas develop the Fae. In one fell stroke, their lives are inextricably bound together, whether they like it or not.

I wasn't sure about this book at first, it is a modern world but it's sort of I am guessing what is called a Dystopian novel. Those types of books are not my favorites and they usually come down to I either like them or not. I like witch books and this sounded cool so I gave it a try.

It's sort of like a modern day Britian, but with a few exceptions. For instance, their is a inquisition and witches. The inquisition has modernize from what it was a long time ago, but it still has some of it's old traditions as well. They have a WICA team which is a division designed to work with witches to catch criminals. They also have things like dunk tanks in which they put the person suspected of being a witch and dunk them, it is suppose to show their witch mark.

The witch mark is called the devils kiss and for Lucas, son of the Chief Prosecutor, getting his mark was the worst day of his life. He thought his days of working for the inquisition were over and his father had to hide the fact that he was a witch until after this rather large witch trial was over, as he was the chief prosecutor. Then a chance comes along for Lucas to do something of worth, he fills like it is his way of atoning for the fact that he became a witch.  WICA needs him to infiltrate the cooper street coven where they have an informant. They need someone to get in through Cooper street to the Wednesday coven. Using a glamour with the help of the informant he gets into the coven. I like Lucas, and I really felt sorry for him that he turned witch. I also like how his is strong enough to try and turn what happened to him into a way to still bring criminals to justice. Yes, it will be different for him but at least he is trying to cope.

Glory Starling comes from a solid witch background and she prays that one day she will wake up and have her witch mark. Just coming from a witch line doesn't mean you will turn witch. They call this getting your 'fae'. It can happen to you when your young or maybe into your twenties, the younger you get it the more powerful you are. Glory and your Aunt are the only two who know who Lucas really is and she hates working with him, but she hates Charlie Morgan, the Wednesday coven leader even more. While Lucas and Glory are spying on Charlie they find out a lot more than they bargained for and now they don't know who to trust or where to go. Glory to me is a little high and mighty, but not a bad character. She is a witch from a witch family and all she knows is what her aunt has been telling her, though in the end she has to make her own choice. 

I don't pretend to know a lot about witches so I was a little confused at the turn 'fae' being used and that makes me think of fairy kind not witches? When a witch becomes a witch they come into their 'fae' which gives them a mark on their body. When they do witch work the spot on their body tingles. Any way the use of the term 'fae' was just strange to me.

Over all I thought it was an interesting world and I am interested in finding out what happens next in Witch Fire. So if you like these types of books I think you should give it a try.