Review: Burning Bright by Chris Cannon

Burning Bright
(Going Down in Flames #5)
by Chris Cannon
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Publication date: June 4, 2018
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Rating:

Bryn is back for her senior year at the Institute for Excellence, also known as shape-shifting dragon school. She isn’t sure which is scarier, the life-force sucking dragons stalking campus or the fact that she’s officially betrothed to Jaxon, a guy who will never love her. Not that she could ever love him, either… That’s just ridiculous.

Senior year should be fun. Her parents are alive, she’s finally fitting in, and she’s learning how to be a Medic. But what’s with Jaxon giving her strange looks? He runs hot and cold, and he doesn’t even have the excuse of being a hybrid fire-and-ice-breathing dragon like her. One minute they’re having a great time and the next, she wants to blast a fireball at his head. The marriage contract of doom looms over them–unless this match not made in heaven kindles a flame…

Burning Bright is the conclusion to Bryn’s story. We’ve watched as she found out that she was not only a shape-shifting dragon, but a hybrid one at that. Which was not something anyone thought was in the realm of possibilities. We witnessed her make friends, enemies and fall in and out of love through out the series. It seemed like with this final installment, we were finally going to get some answers and see Bryn finally find her place in the world.

In Burning Bright we come across a new enemy to keep our eyes out for. Apparently there are dragons who go around stealing the life-force from other dragons… sort of like vampires. However, they can do it by simply brushing up against you and touching you for a second. You never even know it’s happening until it’s too late. So, with that being said, there was a lot of looking over your shoulder going on throughout this book. When students start popping up lethargic and dizzy, you know something is going down, but you never quite know who is responsible. Well, okay, I knew who it was but I suppose no one else in the story put it all together.

Ever since the start, Bryn has been destined to marry Jaxon. Their relationship started off rocky and with some hostility due to the family’s history together. However, we have slowly watched these two get to know each other and become more friendly towards each other. I knew we were finally going to see these two connect and prepare for their future, and I was really looking forward to seeing how it would all pan out. I have to say, I’m a bit disappointed in their romance. At first Jaxon is depressed and pushes Bryn away because he’s upset about the love of his life being killed recently. Which, is totally understandable. However, his wishy-washy attitude towards Bryn that went from friendly to hostile in the blink of an eye was a bit much. Not to mention that when they finally become a legit couple, it seemed to come out of nowhere. I never really saw Jaxon show any attention to Bryn to even hint that he was interested in her. He goes from ignoring her, being rude to her, to confessing his love for her. I just wish I could have seen more of a softer side to Jaxon that led on that his feelings for her had shifted instead of some switch randomly flicking on.

While I was let down by the romance aspect of this story, I enjoyed this story and the series as a whole. Over the course of five books we watched the characters create lasting bonds, fall in and out of love, mature into young adults, and survive some pretty horrendous tragedies. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to read this series from start to finish over the last handful of years. It’s not all that often that I actually read a series from start to finish, but what can I say? I’m a sucker for dragons.

Favorite quote…

“Nothing like running from a psychopath to make the Welcome Back to School party really special.”