Review: The Ones We Burn by Rebecca Mix

Hey, everyone! I hope you’re all doing well. The review for today is going to be a little bit different than most. The Ones We Burn by Rebecca Mix has a lot of controversy on Goodreads. It’s been accused of being a reverse racism story and being antisemitic. This review is going to be less of “what I liked vs. what I disliked” and more of a discussion stating my opinion on the controversy.

Title: The Ones We Burn
Author: Rebecca Mix
Genre: YA Fantasy Romance
Series: None
Page Count: 462 (hardcover)

Monster. Butcher. Bloodwinn.

Ranka is tired of death. All she wants now is to be left alone, living out her days in Witchik’s wild north with the coven that raised her, attempting to forget the horrors of her past. But when she is named Bloodwinn, the next treaty bride to the human kingdom of Isodal, her coven sends her south with a single directive: kill him. Easy enough, for a blood-witch whose magic compels her to kill.

Except the prince is gentle, kind, and terrified of her. He doesn’t want to marry Ranka; he doesn’t want to be king at all. And it’s his sister—the wickedly smart, infuriatingly beautiful Princess Aramis—who seems to be the real threat.

But when witches start turning up dead, murdered by a mysterious, magical plague, Aramis makes Ranka an offer: help her develop a cure, and in return, she’ll help Ranka learn to contain her deadly magic. As the coup draws nearer and the plague spreads, Ranka is forced to question everything she thought she knew about her power, her past, and who she’s meant to fight for. Soon, she will have to decide between the coven that raised her and the princess who sees beyond the monster they shaped her to be.

But as the bodies pile up, a monster may be exactly what they need.

Content Warnings

violence – body horror – light cannibalism (off page, implied) – animal death – emotional and physical abuse (from parent and sibling) – death by burning – biological warfare – child death

There are no spoilers in this review.

Disclaimer: I am not Black, nor am I Jewish, so I can not fully understand/speak to the things that they have gone through. I do not mean to offend anyone with this review, I am just stating my opinion on this.

The Ones We Burn follows Ranka, a (white) witch who lives in the north. She has a pretty traumatic past and just wants to live her life with the coven who raised her. But she’s named the Bloodwinn, and it’s her duty to be the treaty bride to the human kingdom of Isodal. She gets sent with one mission: to kill the (black) prince. But when she gets there, things aren’t how she expected and she discovers that the royalty aren’t the villains. There is a deadly plague aimed at witches that is spreading around the city and Ranka must decide between her coven or the prince and princess whom she has grown to be fond of.

The main argument that a lot of people have against this book is that is a reverse racism. They say that the powerful black people are oppressing the poor white people. I disagree. When we first meet Prince Galen and Princess Aramis, the Sunra twins who are nearly eighteen, they aren’t what Ranka expected. Galen is kind and respectful; he greets all of the staff by name and asks them how their family is doing. I like that Galen is portrayed as a kind and gentle man. Ranka later discovers that Galen does not want to be king. He doesn’t want the responsibility of the kingdom on his shoulders.

Princess Amaris is the one with the bite. She’s the one that seems to give Ranka trouble. Though she may not have magic like her brother, she’s strong and makes up for it with her knowledge and wit.

The main reason as to why I don’t think this is a reverse racism book is that Galen and Amaris have no control over their kingdom. Both of their parents are dead and the responsibility of the kingdom has been dumped on them. They have no access to their family’s wealth or military. Much of what they do throughout the book is try to stop the plague that’s damaging the country. They are willing to go into the city and face the horrors of the plague themselves. Throughout all of this, there’s no use of their military or any other royal resources. It doesn’t seem appropriate to call Galen and Amaris oppressors. They’ve been handed a situation that is totally out of control, and they’re trying to help stop it.

There are brief mentions of the twins’ (presumably black) father, who was a powerful Skybreaker and had weather powers that he passed on to Galen. He was known to use those powers for good, like ending droughts or quell storms. But there is also a mention that he once drowned a village because the citizens refused to pay taxes. Some people use this as an example of black people oppressing white people. However, any ruler, no matter their race, could/probably would do this. Rulers aren’t flawless; they do things they think are necessary, even if they may not be morally correct.

Throughout the story, the race of the characters isn’t really relevant. It’s not a major aspect that’s focused on. If the race of the characters hadn’t been mentioned, this book would likely not be said to be a reverse racism.

The Ones We Burn is also said to be antisemitic, surrounding blood libel, which I disagree with as well. Blood libel is the false accusation that Jews murder non-Jewish children and use their blood for their rituals and holidays. Ranka is a blood witch, but it has nothing to do with blood. At certain times, she has an insatiable hunger to kill. That’s it. A more accurate name for her kind would be a death witch.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. If one were looking at the book through a racial lens, I could see why they think it’s a reverse racism situation. However, I don’t think Rebecca Mix intended for the book to come across that way. With The Ones We Burn, you have to look deeper to discover that there’s more to the story than just powerful black royalty and poor white people.

My Rating: 4/5 dragons

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Have you read The Ones We Burn? Is it on your TBR?
What are some fantasy romances you recommend?