Title: Those That Burned
Author: S.Y. Farmer
Publication date: September 16, 2025
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- M/F
- Romantasy
- 1st person POV
- Spice
- Shorter book
- Forbidden Magic
- Dragons
- Forced Allies To Lovers
- Found Family
- Secret Past
- Unjust Exile
- Touch her and die
First Thoughts
It’s a very interesting story. I was pretty hooked right away. I didn’t really want to put it down, so I finished it quickly. The world the author has created is so unique. The FMC is not used to magic and has to essentially step into a new world and learn how to use it. As interesting as this story was, I couldn’t love it. As a fantasy, yes. Definitely. But as a romance, I think it struggled, so I took off a star. Aside from that, and an ending I wasn’t completely in love with, the story was fantastic. But as a romance girl, I needed more.
Minor spoilers ahead.
The Story
I loved the idea of this secret place that seemingly nobody survives exile to actually being this whole community with leadership and families. I didn’t guess where this was heading when I started reading Those That Burned for sure. Vitalina is being unjustly sentenced to exile on Zaro, a land that acts as a prison for the worst kinds of criminals – and a place nobody really knows anything about. But what do we actually find on Zaro? Honestly, a pretty chill place. It has magic and dragons and cool people. Yes, it’s dangerous, and also full of the unknown and people who keep secrets, but compared to what I imagined? Pretty nice.
“This is the calm, Vitalina, and you are the storm,”
The Silpera were super cool. I would’ve liked to have learned more about them, honestly. Dragons and dragon-like creatures are always a favorite of mine. And Ceartas’ protectiveness of Vitalina was awesome. I definitely wouldn’t cross her! I have a feeling the author will expand more on them in the next book. We actually get some of Ceartas’ POV toward the end, which was very exciting!
“There’s something about the way it’s watching me, like it wants to see past my flesh and into my soul. ”
I’m not a huge fan of the FMC. She has this hero complex I just couldn’t get behind. She is this seemingly normal girl who has (for whatever reason) a great amount of power once she steps foot in Zaro. But through the whole book she is demanding information from Zaro’s leadership as if she has earned it just because she has a connection to the Silpera. She gets angry when the counsel meets without her. Like girl, YOU JUST SHOWED UP. These people have lived here their whole lives! Okay, that’s my rant.
“I am the one who has been chosen, and therefore, I am the one who holds the power here. ”
The Romance
Kian only encourages that side of her, which I guess is sweet in a way, but ultimately just felt frustrating. Their romance wasn’t exactly what I was anticipating. I feel like Those That Burned had all of the right ingredients for a great epic love story, but the execution just fell flat. It should’ve been a great enemies to reluctant allies to lovers slow burn. But instead, it was an enemies to lovers to enemies to reluctant allies to… burn the world down for each other? The pacing of it all was weird.
“Now that I know what your skin feels like against mine, there’s nowhere on this earth that would put enough distance between us for me to forget what it is to touch you”
The first sexual encounter came out of literal nowhere. No lead up. This guy is mean as hell to her and then takes her into a room and they just attack each other. Way too abrupt for my taste. Then their “romance” is just lust pretty much. They know nothing about each other, make no effort to get to know each other, and the only time they spend together is when they are training or bedding each other. And we don’t even get any good training flirting. No banter really. No yearning. Definitely not a slow burn. Then just as suddenly, they love each other and would “burn the world down” for each other. It was just so unbelievable that I couldn’t get into it at all.
“Do you know what I would do for you, Vitalina?”
“His lips brush my ear as he whispers, “I’d let this fucking city burn.”
Final Thoughts
I’m not mad I read Those That Burned. It was very enjoyable. There are things I would’ve changed, sure, but I liked it enough to be hopeful for the next book. The ending left us with more questions than answers, and I am a curious person, so I’m excited to see what happens next. Thanks so much to the author for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this ARC!
