First Impressions Review: Burning Kingdoms by Lauren Destefano

First Impression Reviews is a new feature here at Stories & Sweeties where I give my first thoughts at 50-100 pages into a book. For a details about this feature, go here!

where I'm at: pg 57

first impressions: So excited to be continuing this series.  Last year, I gave Perfect Ruin 4.5 cupcakes--but the funny thing was, I loved the beginning, almost DNFed at about 120 pages in, and then picked it back up, got sucked back in and ended up loving it.  So I'm curious to see how this one will be for me. As of right now--LOVING it. So that's good. lol

Burning Kingdoms picks up exactly where Perfect Ruin left off, down to the minute!  NOTE: Don't read past this point if you haven't read book 1!>>
Morgan and the rest of the crew have landed on the ground and are taken in by the family of the King's right hand man. They are all astounded by how different things are on the ground: the customs, the food, the weather,...not to mention, it seems they've landed in a world on the brink of war.  I love all the new characters---the family is made up of quite a few children (another thing that shocks them since the population is under such tight control on Internment) and the oldest two are right around Morgan's age. I can tell already the eldest boy, Nimble and the oldest girl, Birdie, are going to add some fun twists to this story. Morgan and friends are very wary of their father and the King's intentions for them, though, so the tension is very high!

This is starting out really well, I tend to love stories that take a look at the earthly world from an outsider perspective---there's something wondrous about seeing a character in awe over snow and the ocean and even eggs for breakfast, things we take so much for granted. Plus, it seems there are a few fantastical things happening as well on this version of "earth". 

Once again, Lauren Destano takes our world and adds her own creative and compelling spin to it. I can't wait to see what else is in store!!