Tonight I Burn
Author(s): Katharine J. Adams
Thorns, Tides, Embers, Storms, and Ores. All five covens are bound in servitude to the tyrant High Warden of Halstett.
Penny Albright is a daughter of the thorn coven, forced to patrol the veil between the realms of Life and Death, keeping it safe and whole. Each night, one thorn witch - and only one - must cross the veil by burning at the stake. Each morning, that witch returns with the help of their magical lifeline. Failure to follow the rules of Death risks them all.
But one morning, Penny's favourite sister Ella doesn't return. And that night, determined to find her, Penny breaks the rules. She burns in secret.
What she finds in Death is a manor that shouldn't exist, home to the devastating Lord Malin, who shouldn't be there. Malin offers Penny a dangerous deal: Ella's freedom in exchange for information about the High Warden.
But all isn't as it seems in Life or Death. Penny's bargain leads her to Alice, a mysterious captive prophet... and to a rebellion brewing in the shadows of their city. And as Penny's world splits between her growing love for the ethereal Alice in Life and her attraction to the seductive Malin, in Death, she'll face a devastating choice.
Because it's not just her sister's life that hangs in the balance. It's the fate of all magic.
All it takes is one witch - and one spark - to set the world ablaze.
General Information
- :
- : Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand
- : Moa Press
- : 01 November 2023
- : books
Other Specifications
- : Katharine J. Adams
- : Paperback
More About The Product
Finalist for the Young Adult Fiction Award of The NZ Book Awards For Children and Young Adults 2024
Schrödinger's Books Review:
Do you know a teen reader who loves witches? Tonight, I Burn, the first in the Thorn Witch series by Katharine J. Adams is a YA fantasy romance about a coven of witches who burn each night so they can patrol the plains of Death. They return each morning after their duty is complete only to burn again the next night.
I was intrigued by the different concept of a world where colour is banned by the despised Warden. Penny, a young witch, must save her sister when she does not return from the veil after burning one night. I was rooting for her every step of the way. Together, with a mysterious man living in Death, Penny plots to save her people from the Warden’s iron rule and his masked army of Gilded. But with deceit around every corner, how long with her plot stay secret?
With LGBTQ+ themes and a strong bond between sisters, this is the perfect read for an older teen who loves a bit of magic, romance, and a daring plot.
Denika Mead (YA author, runs Schrödinger's Books Childen's Book Group)
Katharine worked in medical imaging until moving to the glorious Kapiti Coast in Aotearoa where she spends her days writing, playing taxi to her children, and making space for just one more book on overflowing shelves. She's passionate about positive LGBTQ+ representation in literature and genuinely thought everyone secretly liked all genders for an embarrassingly long time. If she's not out mountain biking or hiking with her family, she's often found hiding in the garden where she accidentally kills more plants than she does characters in her stories.