Title: The World We Burn
Series: Lost Light
Author: Kyla Stone
Genre: Post Apocalyptic
Release Date: 25th December 2023
BLURB
The last installment of the series of four books in the Lost Light Series!
REVIEW
The World We Burn has it’s own great cover that fits well with the rest of the series. I bet these books look amazing alongside of each other on a bookstore shelf.
This one picks up right where The Hope We Keep left off. Shiloh has harangued and beaten down Eli into allowing her to take part in sentry duty but only as an observer. However, when things go awry and her “Pope spidey sense” warns her something isn’t right about the one of the refugees in front of her, her training is put the test and her instincts kick in. Shiloh ends up having to break her promise of only observing and steps up and does what is necessary.
The Cote Cartel, led by Louis Gault are slowly picking off the smaller unprotected settlements. The Cartel are coming for everyone at the Northwoods Inn. Eli, Jackson & friends took from the Cartel and they don’t forget or forgive. It turns out the wife of the leader of the Cartel is diabetic. So for Louis Gault, it’s personal, it’s life and death and he isn’t about to compromise or share anything, never mind the precious insulin supplies also needed by Lena Easton and Keegan Tilton. Jackson Cross and Eli Pope know they have a few great soldiers and try to set up a trap in an effort to keep their own losses to a minimum, but their best laid plans go awry. Eli & Jackson are desperate and though they have a solution, they have to present it to those living at the Northwoods Inn and put it to a vote. A meeting is called to deal with the impending doom along with other day to day issues of the settlement.
Whilst the larger issues of the Cartel are being dealt with there’s plenty more going on in The World We Burn. Shiloh is growing up, in fact she has quite a surprising birthday as she becomes 14 years old which she has to deal with the aftermath from. Shiloh has her friend Ruby but still prefers weapons and fighting to gardening and cooking. You can see Shiloh is still uncertain and scared of losing someone else she loves. Shiloh does still have a lot of people giving her the parental care as well as Eli, and Lena she still has Jackson too who loves her as if she is his family. Jackson’s father makes an appearance in this book again, near the helm of the Cartel. It seems that Horatio Cross has someone on the inside feeding him information somehow as he knows about the deaths of his wife, and his daughter Astrid. In fact, he takes great delight in letting Jackson know he is aware of how Astrid died.
The community living at Northwoods Inn know they need to work hard to put away supplies and food stuff for over winter. They start foraging more, and hunting and fishing to supplement their food stores. When they have to share their already meagre supplies of food with fighters brought in to help them against the Cartel, they have even harder decisions to take. Those fighting need nourishment for energy to be able to fight, but the community still needs to plan for the future, and keep resources for their own people and their future too. It’s a fine balancing act, not helped with the attitude of the extra fighters who just take what they want without consideration of anyone else.
I loved the feeling of family between Eli, Lena, Shiloh & Jackson and then the wider family of the Northwoods Inn community. The banter between hardened fighters Antoine and Nyx is funny even in the most, grim, dire situations. Eli, and Jackson really get their original friendship/brotherhood back in this book. Though at one point in the series I thought Jackson had romantic feelings towards Lena he seems to have moved on and finally admits his love for someone else he has grown closer too during the apocalyptic conditions they are coping in.
So many fantastic characters, good guys, former bad guys and bad guys stepped up to the plate to fight, some great characters died, but their fighting to their death was so believable for them to do. The World We Burn certainly had me on a rollercoaster of emotions whilst reading it. Talk about edge of your seat stuff!! I really, truly loved this book and the series!
Whilst there is some fantastic fighting action, there are also some heroic, tear jerking moments where characters give their lives for others. I don’t want to give spoilers out but two characters really had me with a lump in my throat and tear prickling my eyes! You honestly do become attached to the characters and how their loss affects the others left behind.
My immediate thought when I finished reading The World We Burn were wow, talk about action packed!!
Summing up, all the loose ends are tied up in an amazing end to a fantastic series.
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