Burn Our Bodies Down

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Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for my DRC in exchange for my honest review.

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rating: ★★★★★
title: Burn Our Bodies Down
author: Rory Power
release date: July 7, 2020
publisher: Delacorte Press
genres: YA sci fi, YA mystery thriller, lgbtq

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Blurb

Ever since Margot was born, it’s been just her and her mother. No answers to Margot’s questions about what came before. No history to hold on to. No relative to speak of. Just the two of them, stuck in their run-down apartment, struggling to get along.

But that’s not enough for Margot. She wants family. She wants a past. And she just found the key she needs to get it: A photograph, pointing her to a town called Phalene. Pointing her home. Only, when Margot gets there, it’s not what she bargained for.

Margot’s mother left for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what’s still there?

The only thing Margot knows for sure is there’s poison in their family tree, and their roots are dug so deeply into Phalene that now that she’s there, she might never escape.

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Okay, this was something… something awesome! I admit that I requested this blindly on the fact that Rory Power had a new book. I went into it totally blind and It. Was. Amazing!

Rory Power has the ability to paint you into a world that is so vivid and dark, yet totally whimsical at the same time. We meet young Margot, alone with her single mother, loved but in a way that doesn’t seem tangible. Without any information about who she is and where they come from, Margot starts to search for her roots. And find them she does in a hidden away book in storage of sorts. With only a small bit of information to go on, she leaves to find the family that her mother never told her about… The family and the history that her mother REFUSED to tell her about.

One thing that I assumed for most of this book, was that Margot was dumped into this world absolutely nobody on her side. Even a friend she makes along the way is more interested in Margot’s life as entertainment. But as the story progresses, and you peel layer upon layer of the story away like husking an ear of corn, you learn that the rot runs deep.

I truly love the science fictional elements in Power’s books. The story in here is creepy and strange and I loved it. This small town vibe was the perfect backdrop, too. Odd things always happen in small towns, where everyone knows everyone and secrets are kept hidden. I know this is one I will be happy to read again and again!

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