SuitabookBurn
Patrick Ness
- Reading
- Consider reading alongside discussion breaks, particularly after intense violence or scenes involving prejudice. Talk through how fantasy and history interact, and check in privately if sexual assault, grief or racism feels difficult.
- Themes
- Prejudice and identity: Sarah experiences prejudice connected with her mixed-race family, while another important character has Japanese parents; racist policing affects the community. The described racist treatment is presented as harmful and connected to intimidation and violence, while affected characters retain agency and importance.
- Power, violence and conscience: A trained assassin pursues a mission while struggling with its cost; dragons, guns, artillery and destructive powers shape the conflict. Violence drives the adventure, but the assassin’s conscience and the emphasis on power suggest that its costs are not treated as straightforwardly heroic.
- Connection across difference: Sarah develops a friendship with a dragon, while Malcolm falls in love with Nelson; relationships provide an emotional counterpoint to the action. Friendship, love and hope are given meaningful emotional weight, including a same-sex relationship and connections across human–dragon boundaries.
- Worth knowing
- Violence is substantial: dragons burn and eat people, buildings are destroyed, and human conflict includes shootings, stabbing, fights, police brutality and weapons. Also note remembered sexual assault, strong language, romance, implied sex, racism and smoking.