Kayleigh {K-Books}

Into a world of wild secrets and deadly pleasures comes a girl whose innocence may be her greatest strength.

In Ixion music and party are our only beliefs. Darkness is our comfort. We have few rules but they are absolute . . .

Retra doesn’t want to go to Ixion, the island of ever-night, ever-youth and never-sleep. Retra is a Seal – sealed minds, sealed community. She doesn’t crave parties and pleasure, experience and freedom.

But her brother Joel left for Ixion two years ago, and Retra is determined to find him. Braving the intense pain of her obedience strip to escape the only home she’s ever known, Retra stows away on the barge that will take her to her brother.

When she can’t find Joel, Retra finds herself drawn deeper into the intoxicating world of Ixion. Come to me, whispers a voice in her head. Who are the Ripers, the mysterious guardians of Ixion? What are the Night Creatures Retra can see in the shadows? And what happens to those who grow too old for Ixion?

Retra will find that Ixion has its pleasures, but its secrets are deadly. Will friendship, and the creation of an eternal bond with a Riper, be enough to save her from the darkness?

Listen well, baby bats. Burn bright, but do not stray from the paths. Remember, when you live in a place of darkness you also live with creatures of the dark.

Wow. I can barely speak right now. I have spent the past 3 or 4 days completely torn with this book wondering what the hell I could say in my review. It's positively the strangest, weirdest book I have ever read in my life. BUT that is not in any way a bad thing. I spent most of the book not really knowing what was going on and I was confused for the most part but Marianne just hooks you and I just had to know what was going to happen and that curiosity kept me reading. I am so glad I didn't give up because I was confused because what a fantastic book.

Retra is determined to find her brother Joel. He left the 'Seal' community to travel to the mysterious place of Ixion. Ixion is a place that only the 'younglings' are allowed to go. A place of party and pleasure, but a place where it is always night and the sun never rises. But can you really be safe in this place where you are warned to never stray from the lit paths. What is hiding in the dark? Where do the people go when they are older? Retra is determined to find out. But will she endanger her life while searching for the truth? Ixion is not as it seems, is the place of fun and pleasure really a place of darkness and danger?

I loved this book. By the end I had fallen in love with the story, the characters and this new world. While reading I was just confused. You have to be a really patient reader to really appreciate the genius of this book. It takes a long time to get into and for the first half of the book you are just really confused. I didn't really understand the world at all and for the most part I just kept complaining that it was weird and I didn't really know what was happening. But this world was so new and I've never read anything quite like it I had to keep reading to see what happens.

There were so many questions floating round in my head, what are the Ripers? What do they do? What is this place Ixion and why does everyone go there? What happens to the older people? You don't really get all of the answers to there questions but by the end I didn't really care. I was so caught up in this incredible unique world where there is no sunshine and people get stalked by creatures of the night that all my questions came insignificant in comparison with the new questions that formed in my head. They were: What is going on with this world? Will Retra find out? Will she survive? Ixion is dangerous and Marianne's incredible writing style had me sat with bated breathe on the edge of my seat wondering what could possible happen next. There's plenty of twists and turns that I never saw coming and it definitely kept my interest and kept me reading.

This is a fantastic start to a new fantasy series. Before reading this I heard it was a dystopia book. If you go into this thinking is is dystopian prepare to be disappointed because this is nothing like dystopian. It's a great fantasy book and while in a way it can be seen as dystopia because of the world and how everyone live it's main focus is this new fantasy world which will keep you reading and wondering what could possibly happen next.

I for one am very excited about this new series and if book 2 is half as good as this one then it will be phenomenal. Marianne is definitely an author to watch out for and you will be amazed at her incredible writing which leaves you with the weird but wonderful fantasy world that you cannot forget or get out of your head. The only think I am incredibly sad about is that the series in not available in the UK. Burn Bright ended with a bang and I am left reeling dying to know what it going to happen next with no way of getting my hands on the next book.

This was my first Aussie YA book that I read and I loved it, I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5 because of how confusing it was at first but I am so impressed with this book and I cannot wait to see what's going to happen. I will definitely be trying to read more Aussie YA in the future. A must-read for any fantasy fans waiting to be consumed by a fantastic new series.