Following the hype of Wilder Girls, I think we should all know this would be a kind of difficult book read/write reviews for. In my opinion, the story falls short of its impressive premise. There's a lot of repetition in phrases, almost as much as our narrator, Margot, changes her mind. It's not an organic teenage indecisiveness either, which at times really got under my skin and made it hard to continue despite loving Power's amazing ability of writing such lush atmospheres. It might be a style choice so that Margot's character mirrors (haha) that of another character, which is kind of cool, but we maybe didn't need so much. But if you like that kind of hook, then here you go! It's still a good read, one I will recommend even if it wasn't entirely my cup of tea.

Margot lives with her mother, Jo, and has always wondered about her past, and her extended family. Only, she doesn't even know if she has an extended family, because her mother won't speak a word of it. Then Margot finds a glimmer of the past in the name of a town called Phalene, so she makes her way there to uncover a greater connection to her identity. She then learns she has a grandmother, who lives on a farm growing sickly corn. Then, a fire breaks out, and a girl is caught up in the blaze, one who looks just like Margot. Why does she look the same? What secrets is Gram hiding? What was Margot's mother so afraid of that she abandoned everything she knew to get away from it?⁣
⁣
This book is a doozy because it simultaneously examines the dynamics of complicated, abusive family relationships, and takes us down the rabbit hole of the sinister and strange in the form of secrets and the fantastical. Gram will keep you guessing until the end, and I really felt for Margot as she tried to make sense of her place in the world. Without giving anything away, this is a story about the dangers of the past, the pull of family, and the struggle to make sense of things so dark and twisted they're best left forgotten. It's time to Burn Our Bodies Down.⁣
⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
⭐⭐⭐.5 rounded to 4 stars!

I have conflicting feelings about this book, so I'll start with what I liked:

I was very intrigued by the initial plot hook - a teenage girl is living with an overbearing mother who has strange rules about fire. She doesn't know anyone in her family, until one day, she makes contact with her grandmother and decides to go find out why her mother refuses to talk about her past.

When Margot arrives in her grandmother's town, the sense of unease and mystery steadily increases. The tension was handled so beautifully in this book - I was torn between wanting Margot to solve her personal mystery and mentally begging her to escape before something awful happened.

This was a read I zoomed through - excited to get to the end and figure out what was actually going on with Margot's family and her hometown.

But this is where my feelings start to split between enjoyment and disappointment. The ultimate reveal felt confusing, and I didn't fully understand it. I almost wanted to google to see if there was a TL;DR explanation (forgetting this hadn't been published yet). While I always appreciate a thriller being willing to go the fantastic (aka not mundane or easily explained) route...the execution of the final twist was lacking because of how...weird it was. (That's really the only way I can describe it - it was really weird.)

Overall though, I'm glad I got the chance to read this, and maybe someone sharper than me can explain what actually was going on in the end. But four stars for the steadily increasing sense of dread and tension throughout! I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.

This might take the place of the weirdest book I've ever read.
I don't know how to categorize my feelings about this book, only that it was very weird.

I loved the gripping, unique voice in Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power (who also wrote Wilder Girls). The story was eccentric and eerie, and one of those odd tales where I wasn't really quite sure what sort of book it was until near the end, and that made the experience of reading it immersive and delightful.

I thoroughly enjoyed the complicated family relationships, blooming friendships, zero romance (other than a mentioned attraction), lesbian representation, and an ever-present sense of mystery and otherworldliness. There's also grief, and loss, and heartache. It was a solid 4 star read for me, and I'll be on the lookout for more books from Rory Power in the future.

A big thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's for a free eARC of the book.

(I will also share this on IG soon)

Initial thoughts after reading the book - WTF did I just read!! 🤯 This is some deep complex parallax that will mess with my brain for an unforeseen future!! I’ll post my review once I have absorbed the content.. But trust me, this book gave me a slam dunk 🥴

Final review - Do you remember Carrie’s mom? Remember how cringeworthy she was? How she rationalises idiocy? Margot’s mom Josephine is one such a character. Margot know she is in a complex dysfunctional relationship with her mom, but she never understood her mom’s need to pawn off random things from their home and buy them at a higher rate. She never understood why her mom never told anything about their family. She never understood why it is “only you & me forever”. But she loves her mother so much. Margot wants to do something lovely to her mother, so she decided to buy one of the pawned items to surprise her. But it was Margot who was surprised when she learns she has a living grandmother in Fairhaven.

Yes you guessed it right. Margot leaves her mom at Calhoun and runs off to her grandma, grams as she calls her, but this is only the beginning of the mind twisting narrative. The secrets, the lies, OMG OMG. This should have categorised as psychological thriller!! The corn field, the fire, the girl, the apricots, the family.. the story lives upto the title - Burn our bodies down

Move away people Rory Power powers through to destroy your normalcy and reroutes your neurones. But please don’t get into this book with a lot of expectations. Follow the flow, you’ll know the “surprise” when you read it. Also the entire story is said in a teenager’s perspective, so there are a lot of attention to detail and overthinking parts.

Overall, this book will be stuck with me for the rest of my life!!

Thank you Netgalley, Delacorte Press - Random House and Rory Power for the ARC. This review is my own and is not influenced in any way.

Burn Our Bodies Down is a triumph of unease, and I am waiting with bated breath to see what Rory Powers does next. She has made me a lifelong fan, and through the frightening stories she’s created, she’s made me a braver reader.

Find my full review here: https://www.tor.com/2020/07/08/book-reviews-rory-power-burn-our-bodies-down/

This book kept me guessing until the end. I was close a few times. I love Rory’s books because she always keeps the reader on their toes.

"I shouldn't have had to be strong. Not like that. I should have been able to break. Maybe one day all that strength can just be a gift my mother gave me, and not the tool I used to survive her. But I don't think it's today."


Margot only knows the family that is right in front of her. She lives a difficult life with her toxic mother in a run down apartment. Margot longs to know where she came from, and if there is a family out there that she belongs with that will wrap their arms around her in a way her mother has never been able to. She finds a picture of her mother in an old family Bible with a phone number and address. without much thought, she packs everything up and heads out to discover where she came from, but what she finds is not anything like she could have imagined.


You guys, Burn Our Bodies Down was a lot. That cute little description above does not speak to the unending weirdness and uncooked intensity of this story. I read a similar synopsis the publisher provided and requested a copy. What I was prepared for was complicated family dynamics and a theme of "to know where you're going you have to know where you came from." The things I prepared for were in the story, but not in the way I expected. From the first chapter my immediate thoughts were "oh, this is way more intense than I expected." I kept reading and at about the 15% mark, I felt something that I believe only gifted writers can produce. I felt dread. I read Burn Our Bodies Down with a clenched fist of dread in my stomach. There were little things here and there that might have hinted at what was to come, but when an author can create impending doom using few to no context clues you know that you are in the hands of an author that understands the way atmospheric writing is structured.

Reading Burn Our Bodies Down felt like the ascent to the tip-top of a rollercoaster. You know that pause when you realize you are at the top? That realization of "wow I can see everything from up here" and then the "Oh no, we're about to drop off!" The next thing you know your stomach is in your throat and you just have to grip the rails and close your eyes. That Was this book. It was uncomfortable. I didn't even know if I wanted to find out what was going on, I just wanted my stomach to come out of my throat for a second. I think it is important to note that the discomfort of this book did not let up after the final page. All day I have been staring around my house thinking about the conclusion of Burn Our Bodies Down and realizing slowly that the actual dread of this book is the way Margot gets the answers that she needs to move on, but those answers have left her worse off. I felt that all over. I got to the end and read the author's acknowledgments hoping to GOD Power's would tell readers how on earth Margot is supposed to live her life knowing what she knows now. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO LIVE MY LIFE KNOWING WHAT I KNOW NOW RORY POWER? TELL ME PLEASE BUT PLEASE DON'T WRITE A SEQUEL BECAUSE I CANNOT GO THROUGH THIS AGAIN.


This review might seem vague and that is because anything outside of the premise above is basically a spoiler. I don't want to spoil it for you, but also there are somethings you should know. This book is listed under the genre: Young Adult Mystery-Thriller and nope that is incorrect. I think because there is some graphic violence in here and because the ending is THE THINGS OF NIGHTMARES this should actually be listed under Young Adult Horror. Horror is not my jam. I don't read a lot of it because I do the brunt of my reading while either nursing a baby or tucked safely into my bed. I like sleeping at night and while I don't think this was too scary for me, I am glad I read the conclusion in the middle of the day surrounded by stuffed animals and my laughing children. If you decide to read this book let me know if you need a joyful child and a stuffed animal, I have plenty of both to loan out.


Reviewer's note: This book was given to me by Random House Children's in exchange for an honest review.


You can find Burn Our Bodies Down on shelves July 7th!

This is first horror that I've read. I started this on ebook and finished with an audiobook. It really helped to listen to the Nielsen story and not just read it. It is a family story and mystery I never saw coming, but one that was full of suspense and tension that I love to read every now and then. It made me want to read Wilder Girls even more than I already did from the reviews I've read.

Margot’s determination and the unraveling and reveal of secret after secret made me unable to put the book down once she got to Phalene. If you love mystery, suspense full of family secrets, pick up Burn Our Bodies Down and don't look back, but maybe behind you every once in awhile.

One word for this book: strange.
It's a unique story!
I recommend this one for Orphan Black fans and Lauren Oliver's Replica.

This book is easily consumable. I found it easy to pick up and would get through whole chunks in a sitting because I was interested in the mystery of the main character's family. However, the conclusion left me with a lot of questions, a lot of fuzzy science explanations, and little satisfaction (exactly the same way the author's debut did.) I also fail to get absorbed in the atmosphere that I feel like gets promised with this author's novels in particular.

This was everything I needed, everything I was expecting and dreamed. From the beginning I was hooked onto every single letter (words would be an understatement). I was thrilled, entertained and I just need more.

2.5

I was very excited to be given an opportunity to read Rory Power's new book. I have not read Wilder Girls, but loved the premise of Burn Our Bodies Down.

I initially was intrigued, but quickly became bored. However, I still wanted to see what the family secret was. This is such a slow burn book that I felt didn't give much in the end. I had seen some instances that this was classified as Horror and it is definitely not that. Other times it's advertised as a Thriller and I wouldn't call it that either. It's a simple YA mystery. And by the time I got to the reveal I was left unimpressed.

The writing is good. I was able to get through the entire book, but I was just overall disappointed.

If you read Wilder Girls, you’ll definitely want to pick up Rory Power’s latest, Burn Our Bodies Down. Seventeen year-old Margot is frustrated with her life. Her mother is distant and emotionally unavailable. They are always broke. Her past is a complete mystery that her mother refuses to reveal any details about. When she discovers an old bible of her mother’s with a mysterious note inside, she knows she must take any scrap of information and act on it. After discovering her grandmother lives not too far away, she hitchhikes to the family farm intent on learning her family’s history. All of those hopes go up in flames, literally, when she discovers the fields around her grandmother’s farm on fire. What is found in the flames will bring up old tragedies, unlock clues to the family’s tightly held secrets, and set Margot on a horrifying journey of self-discovery.
This is a dark and creepy story filled with odd occurrences, small town gossip, and neighborly feuds that are all happening alongside forced civility and barely tolerable politeness. Margot is understandably very frustrated throughout this entire novel. No one will answer any of her questions with a straightforward answer. No one will believe her that she has zero understanding of her family’s history or knowledge of any past events. Her hopes of finding answers about her mother’s behavior are completely dashed when her grandmother is just as closed-mouthed and cryptic as her mother.
This is one of the very tense and odd-feeling novels that just doesn’t feel right at any time. There’s that underlying feeling of uneasiness that makes you want to read faster and faster because you just have to know what’s coming next. I really enjoyed it and while I don’t think it lives up to Power’s first book, it’s still a solid horror story perfect for a YA audience.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book!

5 STARS!!!!! I loved this book. The atmosphere was everything I wanted it to be. I loved the plot and storyline in the book. I loved the characters in this story. It gave me all the feels I was looking for when I started reading this. I highly recommend this author. I loved the writing. I will be looking for other works in the future from this author.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. HOLY COW!!!! This book is so messed up, but in the best way possible. Margot knows her cold and distant mother is keeping secrets about their family and she wants to know why. So when she stumbles across her grandmother’s phone number she calls and ultimately flees to her. But she is no more forthcoming and weird things are happening. By the time Margot starts to figure it out her life is in danger. Crazy twists and turns. Kudos to Rory Power for her amazing imagination!

Burn Our Bodies Down is unlike any book I have read before. The characters, including secondary characters, were well developed and the story was unfolded in a deliciously creepy manner that kept me reading past bedtime.

It's always been Margot and her mother, with no mention of family or whatever came before their rundown apartment. When she finds a photo pointing her to the town of Phalene, Margot rushes there to discover what home is like. There are secrets in the town, and now she feels like she might never escape.

There's a lot of mystery at the beginning that doesn't lessen in the first half of the book. Margot and her mother Josephine speak in cutting words and implied meaning at each other, a shorthand between the two of them. Margot wants a sense of family and history, especially with everyone else in her small town in Nebraska having that family. Josephine forbids it, but Margot takes off on her own to Phalene to see where she comes from. The truth was far more than I thought it would be, and quite the revelation that haunted me long after I put the book down.

It's interesting to see how Margot, Josephine, and Gram Vera Nielsen are all portrayed. They're sharp edges and mistrust, guilt and need, wanting and isolating at the same time. These aren't necessarily fun or happy people to be around, but they're fascinating and I can't help but want to know the story behind them as badly as Margot does. The sharpness had to come from somewhere, and what they don't say speaks volumes as much as what they do say. Their story is in the margins of their actions, each generation leaving off to the next to fix their mistakes.

I devoured this book quickly and felt bad for all of the characters involved. They are all flawed and trying the best that they can to survive in a world of whispers and unspoken pain. Sometimes, it really is up to the children to change that world for good.

I was able to get an early copy of this book thanks to @netgalley
I was immediately drawn to this because of the gorgeous cover. I’m a sucker for a good cover!

I have to admit I was a bit confused with how I felt about the plot. It was very original and I honestly didn’t figure out the mystery like I normally do so it gets bonus points for that.

Goodreads has this under YA horror so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It definitely had a creepy vibe (think Stephen King) but not too bad that I couldn’t sleep.

I did like this book a lot! I think that if you love YA novels you need to pick this one up. I don’t want to give too much away and I suggest you just go in blind! It’s that good!