A fantastic new fantasy with incredible worldbuilding, a unique magic system, and a rewarding romance. I found this book addictive right from the first chapter and that hook never let up. As the story progresses and we learn more about planes of existence and the people in them, how they use magic and the edges of death to manipulate the system of oppression they find themselves in - I couldn't put this book down, I was always hungry for more. And I don't want to spoil anything, but the romance in this book turned out very differently than I expected it to, but in the best way possible. And that ending????? That ending?????

I've already been recommending this book as often as I can and I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel to come out!

Special thanks to Orbit for an ARC!

I really liked this book! It’s a witchy dystopian dark fantasy that feels a bit more adult than YA. The story centers around Penny, a Thorn Witch, whose coven lives in captivity under the cruel and cunning High Warden. The High Warden forces one Thorn Witch to burn every night and enter the Veil, where they patrol the veil between life and death. One night, Penny’s sister doesn’t return from her patrol. Desperate, and with prompting from the High Warden’s pet seer, Alice, Penny breaks the rules and burns herself, entering the veil to find her sister. Instead, she meets a mysterious man named Lord Malin and makes a bargain for her sister’s life. As she unravels who Malin is and what he’s doing in the veil, Penny finds herself embroiled in dangerous games of deceit, rebellion and secrecy.

I thought the magic system was really interesting and the setup of the world pulled me in, though it did have some familiar aspects to it reminiscent of other dystopian fantasy novels (the cruel high warden, a rebellion brewing, holding magic hostage). I thought the bonds between Penny and her sisters were written well and realistically and were a big strength of the book.

Without spoiling too much, the two romantic interests really threw me. I liked that the relationships were representative of the LGBTQIA + community and thought the idea of multiple relationships was actually great, but I don’t think either one was developed enough to make the reader feel deeply for either love interest. They both seemed to come on fast and strong without Penny having a lot of time with either partner. My guess is that we will see the relationship(s) develop further in the coming books, so I’m looking forward to that.
Overall, strong debut novel for Katharine J. Adams! I’ll be tuning into the next book to see what happens!

Tonight, I Burn
by Katharine J. Adams
Fantasy
NetGalley ARC
Publication Date: November 3, 2023
Orbit Books
Ages: 16+

The five covens are bound to their tyrant ruler High Warden of Halstett. Penny and the rest of her Thorn coven are forced to patrol the veil between Life and Death and the only way to get there is to burn alive. They can come back by following their lifeline unless they don't follow the rules.

But when Ella, Penny's closest sister, doesn't return, Penny breaks the rules and burns for her first time by herself, and finds Ella and a secret that could help end the Warden's control.


While the plot is the norm for most fantasy stories, this world and its witches are creative, but sadly time wasn't taken to really explain this world and its history, let alone the covens. It was brushed upon but the author never went any deeper than general highlights, giving me not much to feel for this world or its inhabitants.

Don't get me wrong, this story was good, but because it lacked details, backstory, and a deep dive into the important aspects: the crystals, the covens, magic, the death realm, and the gilding, it fell short of being great!

And for the romance, it was lame. I did not see a connection between two of the characters, which makes me think that it was only added last minute, because, to me, it read as if it was intended to be a best friend relationship instead of romantic. And for the other relationship, while there was more building up their connection, it flattened really quickly.

Sadly, this failed to reach the potential it could have.

Will I read the next book in the series? Maybe, but I won't go out of my way to find it.

Because of violence and two scenes that I rolled my eyes and skimmed, I can only recommend this for readers 16 and older.

3 Stars

This is a strong debut! The characters are developed and the world is well-built. I found the plot very interesting and enjoyed my journey with this story.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for allowing me to read this advanced e copy.

I have a lot of mixed feelings and thoughts about this book. For one, I feel as though this could have been ONE rather epic novel versus multiple books. The beginning was difficult to get through. There were multiple places it was hard to read through. I got lost on who was in the scene, who was speaking, and the whole system of magic. And the love interest/dynamic? I’m kind of over the whole polyamory trope. A love triangle, sure. Can a person love multiple people at once? I guess. But it felt forced and not easy to digest with the flow of the story.

I felt that much of their world of magic was not explained well. The back story to why they are in the situation they are in are piece mealed together in a very choppy way. Yeah, I’m going to stick with that the flow wasn’t great.

What did I like? I’m not sure. A world of witches that have been taken over by a crazy dictator who tries to create a mindless/soulless army, and a handful of witches can overcome it? Sounds good. Not executed well. I’m not sure I will go out of my way to read book 2 to see how things turn out.

A solid 2.3 out of five.

I'm highly impressed that Tonight, I Burn is a debut novel. This is an author that I'll definitely be keeping on my radar.

A Thorn Witch with the power to walk through death, a society without color and oppressive rules, a bargain with a dark power, magic used to power the Warden. That's just a taste of what exists in these pages. Adams has a beautiful writing style filled with vivid world building, captivating prose and atmospheric gothic scenes. She not only created a narrative I found wholly unique, but brought to life the characters and their connections that went beyond friends and family.

I do think the romance aspects were not as fluid as the rest of the story until the end. I think having both grow more from the beginnig would have made it feel more solid. There is also a lot that is packed into this novel that's a little under 500 pages. It keeps you on your toes though and itching to know what's next. This dark fantasy ends on a cliffhanger of sorts and yes, I'm over here begging for book 2.

If you love darker witchy reads with dystopian vibes, you'll love where this story is headed. I absolutely recommend adding this to your shelves. I cannot wait for my physical copy to arrive to grace my shelves! It's that good folks!

Thank you Orbit Books for the gifted digital copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. You've yet again introduced me to a wonderful new author! True rating 4.5/5.

I received this book thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books in exchange for my honest review.

Tradition says that one witch of the Thorn coven must burn and patrol death each night for the greater good and soon it will be Penny's turn to join her sisters. But something is amiss in their already tumultuous world. Years before covens were forced out of their natural homes and brought together under the warden's eye and it is to him they all answer. Yet something is growing in the shadows.

The prologue to this first book in the Thorn Witch series and the small snippets of fairy tale or legend that are scattered throughout the story are very out of sync with they style of writing and world building as the rest of the story. This was very jarring to me and felt a bit put on. The story shifted back and forth from heavily poetic writing to matter of fact prose.

The world that Katharine J Adams is building in this series was very interesting and had unique elements to it that kept the story from feeling copy/paste. The ideology of the individual covens and the Thorn witches that we see intimately was fascinating. The cooperation of the witches to take turns burning each night to patrol the next stage of life to protect it for the land at large and being reborn each day, stealing a piece of themselves each day.

There elements to the plot that didn't feel necessary to me that I won't speak too specifically on to avoid spoilers, but parts of the romance in the story just didn't really add much to the story. We could have achieved the same points through close friendship without introducing new romantic relationships, but I'm a sucker for an enemy to lover's story so perhaps I'm biased!

Overall, I found this an enjoyable read once I got bought in (which did take a bit for me) and I will keep an eye out for further books in the series.

Wow! Blown away from this new and fresh take in fantasy. The writing is beautiful and evenly paced. I was pulled in right away and intrigued the whole time. Such a great read and easy for new people who are getting into fantasy.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Pub Date: November 7, 2023

3.5 stars
I loved the world, the magic system, the characters, and the story line but I really struggled with the writing style for most of the book (the end hooked me way more). There was A LOT that happened in the book, perhaps too much? And not enough description, especially emotional description, for me to feel really connected with the characters. Through most of the book something big would happen and I would find my reaction to be "huh...ok"

The ending has me wanting to keep reading the series to find out what happens next though!

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for this review.

A masterful debut by Katharine J. Adams! A sweeping fantasy with an immersive world and characters that leap off the page. Five stars!

I loved this book so much. I loved this unique story about witches.
I loved the characters but I struggled with the relationships, I wish we saw them grow instead of just happen.
The ending had me in tears completely.
What a great debut book though! I will definitely be on the look out for the second book and other KJA books!

I loved this book. As a debut book this was amazing. Fantasy? check. Witches? check. bad-assery? check! I was hooked right from the start and read this book quickly. I think that books written about witches in a fantasy setting that aren't just a side plot are few and far in-between, so I love being able to see them right up front and center. I think that this book was really well written and absolutely deserves the hype that its getting. I adored the romance element of Tonight, I Burn. It was refreshing and so enjoyable to read. I cant wait to read more from the author and recommend this book to my audience!

Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Tonight, I Burn is the story of a thorn witch named Penny. Being a thorn witch means patrolling the veil between life and death to keep the living safe from he dangers that lurk there. In addition to thorn witches, there are other covens with different elemental magic all living under the rule of a tyrannical Warden.

I’m very torn about this book. The writing was good, and the story was compelling, which led me to finish and consider the seqel when it’s released.

However, the worldbuilding is either severely lacking or incredibly unclear (or both). I’m not sure what the whole deal is with the Warden. I know he’s supposed to be scary, but I don’t really get why. A lot of things happened to Penny out of nowhere. Sometimes events happened with seemingly no buildup or transition and I couldn’t really figure out why.

I wanted to love the relationships Penny formed, but much like the story itself, there was no buildup into those relationships. There is a moment when one character asks Penny what they are, and she says something along the lines of “together of course!” Really, of course? I couldn’t tell.

The magic system in Tonight, I Burn is super cool, and I’m hoping that the sequel is more developed. I enjoyed my time reading it, but I was hoping to enjoy it more!

3.5/5 stars rounded up to 4

Tonight, I Burn is the fantasy debut by Katharine J. Adams set in the grim, rigidly controlled city of Halstett which is ruled over by the immortal tyrant High Warden. Our protagonist Penny Albright is the granddaughter of the former Thorn Queen whose coven is now under the Warden’s thumb, forced to artificially prolong his lifespan and shield him from Death. Sheltered within the walls of the Colligerate from the age of eight when her village was burned and her coven taken as the ‘honoured guests’ of the Warden, Penny has seen nothing outside the compound walls—but once she burns for the first time and crosses into Death, her world expands dramatically, leading her inexorably down a path of intrigue and rebellion, romance and heartbreak.

The author has created a unique magical system in which witchcraft comes in five forms—ember, ore, storm, tide and thorn. The first four are relatively self-explanatory with ember witches having power over fire, ore witches controlling earth, storm and tide witches commanding the wind, currents and sea. Silver-eyed Thorn witches are bound to Death and in this magical dystopia, the only two futures possible to death-walkers are being burned periodically on a pyre to patrol the veil between Life and Death or being added to the ranks of the Warden’s Gilded, his soulless mindless army whose free will have been torn away. Living in fear under a totalitarian regime is no kind of life, but Penny doesn’t dare dream of thwarting the Warden or her ferocious grandmother who now staunchly serves him…until the morning her beloved sister Ella fails to return from her burning and Penny is compelled to break the rules of Death to save her.

At the heart of this story is a strong theme of sisterhood which is examined between Penny and her sisters Ella and Mila as well as between the covens who have been forced into servitude. Under the Warden’s cruel reign, it’s easier to turn on one another at the first hint of rebellion in the interests of self-preservation and so witches remain aloof and indifferent to those outside their covens. Or so Penny thinks until she is brought into the Resistance and discovers a small community of witches across all covens working together to try and overthrow the Warden. Her unsanctioned forays into Death to bring Ella back have drawn unwanted attention and Penny must juggle evading the Gilded, striving to remain under the Warden’s radar, placating the Resistance and honouring the desperate bargain she made with the darkly alluring, mysterious stranger she met in Death in order to free her sister.

The romantic arc in Tonight, I Burn is refreshing; Penny is unabashedly queer with an attraction to both men and women, and at no point is this shown as problematic. In a world as gloomy and regimented as hers, any shred of happiness is cherished regardless of who it’s between and it makes sense that the characters are too busy just trying to survive their daily life to have hang-ups about sexual orientation. Her love interests are Malin, the enigmatic handsome man impossibly residing in Death, and Alice, the ethereal captive Spinner whose loom reveals secrets about the future. Penny’s attraction to each of these characters is a neat reflection of her dilemma being caught between Life and Death with one foot in each realm. The ultimate resolution is so much more satisfying than the usual cliché love triangle that has been done time and again in other novels, and the author’s approach shows a care and respect between all three characters that is enjoyable to witness.

Readers will be captivated by the beautiful, evocative prose that draws you into Penny’s chaotic world of burning witches, a Spinner weaving murky fates, nightly forays to the cool grey sands of Death and dangerous plots to oust a tyrant from power. With creative worldbuilding, tantalising mysteries and interesting, ever-shifting relationship dynamics, Tonight, I Burn is a delightful dark romantic fantasy that will enchant you from the first page.

Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for the free eARC. This is my honest opinion.

"History has a nasty habit of erasing lost people from its pages."

Wow, this is a very different story than I thought it was, but it was amazing. I loved that it blends together: magic, a library, and the idea of Death being a place. Penny is a Thorn witch with the powers of death walking, when her older sister doesn't come back after a night of death walking, she breaks rules to go into the veil to fund her and stumbles upon a huge mystery.

Highly recommend for lovers of Sorcery of Thorns, For The Wolf, Vespertine.

4.75 out of 5 stars, there are 2 steamy scenes, but nothing too descriptive. There are multiple side characters who are apparently part of the LGBQTIA community (no specific labels are ever mentioned).

Fast paced, high fantasy story surrounding a thorn witch who has the ability to walk between the realms of life and death. Unique coven based magic system and world building. Penny is the youngest daughter of the thorn coven who is responsible for patrolling the veil between life and death. Each night one thorn witch must cross the veil by being burned at the stake. After traveling through the veil the sacrificed witch will draw on her magic to return; but in order for this to be successful all rules must be followed.

This story shows the length one will go through for the one they love. When Penny's sister Ella didn't return from her sacrifice, Penny breaks all the rules in an effort to find her missing sister. In doing so Penny learns that things are as they appear to be and there is something sinister at play.

On her journey she meets secretive Malin who is a Lord who harbors many secrets, Alice a mysterious prophet who has been held captive, and a rebellion brewing just beneath the city. Penny's mission is more dire than she realized because not only does she need to save her sister but also save and protect the fate of all magic.

This fantasy has it all: Witches, Magic, Forbidden Romance, Rebellion, Angst, Plot twists and non stop action and suspense. Ending on a Cliffhanger that is the start of a upcoming battle.

I really enjoyed this story. I really enjoyed the different magics and magical covens, and I loved getting to see how all that worked. I also really enjoyed Penny as a character and I loved getting to see her and Malin interact. I think that the Thorn witches were a great one to focus on because I found their ability to be the coolest--I would definitely be summoning wraiths left and right. I wasn't overly fond of the romance, only because I think it swung too fast from hate to love--there were instances where it felt like we were from her being like ooo this dude is scary to lets rub our faces together in a matter of minutes. I think their connection really needed some more screen time/time to develop, so that it felt less intant-love (even though it wasn't quite that, but it was pretty close). Overall, though, I really enjoyed the world and the characters, and I was pretty captured by the magic system so I will absolutely be keeping my eye out for more from this author and more in this world!

Tonight I Burn is an upper YA/NA fantasy about covens that are bound in servitude to a tyrannical immortal leader, the Warden. Each coven has a special set of powers, and the coven our FL Penny belongs to is that of the Thorn Witches that cross over into Death to guard the veil. To save her sister who is trapped in Death, she enters a contract with a mysterious man living there to spy on the Warden and return nightly. Penny also becomes entangled with an equally mysterious Life Weaver that tells her of the future. Penny enters into increasingly dangerous territory as she gains the attention of the Warden in her quest to fulfill her contract.

Overall, I enjoyed this book- the writing is polished, the lore is well established throughout, and the plot beats were right up my alley. My only gripes were the slow pacing at times and the author's choice to have quantity over quality of characters. It took me forever to read this book because the pacing would slow down with redundant plot lines. I felt very little connection to the characters because there were so many and very few had much depth. If you're someone who prefers a plot driven book over character driven, you'll enjoy this more than I did. That said, I liked it enough that I am looking forward to the next book in the trilogy. 3.5/5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit books for the opportunity to review this book.

3.5 stars

Penny, Ella, and Mila are sisters. They're thorn witches, which means they burn at the stake, die, awaken in death, and patrol it before somehow coming back to life even though their bodies turn to ash when they die. This is never explained. Mila is the heir. Ella is the middle child. Penny is the youngest and the main character. The head of the thorn witch clan is their grandma who is a super bitch.

Thorn witches don't burn until they're 21, but before Penny's 21st birthday, Ella has an issue in death, and Penny goes in to find her. This breaks the burning before 21 rule, and it breaks the rule that only one witch can burn at a time.

In death, Penny meets Malin, our male love interest. However, in life, she also meets Alice, who is our female love interest. I found these romances to be the most disappointing part of the book. They aren't built up and established in a way the reader can absorb and grow with them. We're just kind of told.

The rest of the witch clans hate the thorn witches because they threw them all under the bus to become the bitches of the warden and help him make his gilded army (essentially brainwashed but with molten gold masks added in for dramatic effect). Penny's dad is gilded. They're thought of as essentially having no free will or mind of their own and all their memories are purged or unreachable.

This story was fucking long. Yet, for the most part, not a lot happens, certainly not on the page. There's no reason why the romance should have suffered when there were so many pages available to help it along. The book was relatively well-written and interesting for the most part, but there was too much that wasn't explained sufficiently and too many relationships and emotions that are told. It's not character-driven, nor is it plot-driven. There was a crux point at which I sort of felt inundated with information and change, and I struggled to keep my head in the story. It just seemed like the author was trying to shove too much shit in to do any of it to the best of their ability. The poly relationship in particular seemed like something that was written just to say it was in there and draw in people who might be looking for that, but it was lackluster and seemed like an afterthought. If you're looking for meaningful romance with suspense and build up, look elsewhere.

Do I want to read the next one? Not really. I don't care about anyone. I'm not invested.

Another amazing witchy read! I don’t want to go into the plot too much because I went into this blind and that really built the suspense for me.

This book has EVERYTHING! A strong FMC, queer representation, polyamorous romance, morally grey characters. There’s so much action and mystery from chapter one and it just keeps going! I loved it so much.

The world building is very intense. It took me a hot minute to wrap my head around everything and there are a lot of info dumps but it’s so intriguing and unique!

I didn’t think I would love this book as much as I did and I’m already dying for the next book in the trilogy. It’s amazingly well written and it had me feeling so many emotions. The plot just kept getting better and better and all of the reveals and twists and turns shocked me - I didn’t see any of them coming!

I ate this up and I know I will eat the next two books up as well!