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| Plot Summary of To Burn |
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Leisure, Apr 2002, 384 pp.
ISBN: 0843949856
In Ancient Britannia, Saxon chieftain Wulfred vows to destroy every aspect of the hated Romans that he finds on his beloved island. When he locates a remote Roman villa, he leads warriors on a destructive assault like none that the inhabitants have ever seen before. However, Wulfred is stopped in his tracks when he sees what he believes is the beautiful abomination that represent the Roman woman, the intrepid Melania, whose father just died in battle with the Saxons. She reciprocates his deepest feelings of loathing except hers target the Saxons.
She considers him a murdering barbarian. while he deems her an invading scrounger. He makes her his slave, but quickly wonders who is the master (or mistress) in this relationship as love blossoms between Wulfred and Melania. However, neither trusts the other as sleeping with the enemy goes against their respective value system.
This ancient historical romance between star-crossed lovers contains an intriguing character twist. The lead protagonists fall in love and respect the principles of their beloved, but neither overcomes their bias towards the other's people. The religious debate between the lead characters and the prejudicial stereotyping make TO BURN more realistic than the usual sub-genre novel, but a bit slower of a plot because the historical authenticity needs time to develop. Paradoxically, because the plot feels so genuine, readers will wonder why Wulfred allows Melania to live. Still Claudia Dain writes an insightful tale that entertains the reader while enabling fans to taste a past over two millenniums ago.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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"Melania is a Roman woman at the time of Roman withdrawal from England, who detests the loathsome Saxon Wulfred. She calls him Oaf, he calls her snake and they utterly HATE each other.
But he finds breaking her spirit an impossible task. She is constantly provoking him with diatribes against him and all things Saxon, she scratches, kick and bites anytime he gets near, deliberately trying to provoke his temper into murdering her. She continually tries to kill herself. Not as a Ophelia whiner I-cannot-face-life, but as a strong warrior wanting life and death on her own terms, and if she cannot have life as she knows it, then will faces death with open arms. So Wulfred spend more time tries to stop her, than breaking her spirit.
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DeborahAnne MacGillivray, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of To Burn |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of story
- Distant past/middle ages
Forbidden/mismatched love?
Yes
How mismatched?
- loving someone from historic enemy
Seduction/coercion/force
Yes
How seduced/forced?
- loving persuasion
Captor, in love with
Yes
Who seduces whom?
- man seducing woman
Main Male Character
Profession/status:
- Prince/Nobleman/King
- warrior/knight
Age/status:
- 20's-30's
How sexual is this person?
- very picky
- somewhat promiscuious
How romantic is this person?
- somewhat romantic
Sex makes him
- more demanding
- angry
- guilty
Sex has good effect on him
Yes
Sex makes him
- confident
- blissful
- sensitive
- a better lover
Sex has bad effect on him
Yes
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- bulging muscles
- average physique
Main Female Character
Age/status:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- slave
- wealthy
How sexual is this person?
- very picky
- naive virgin
How romantic is this person?
- somewhat romantic
- as romantic as a root canal
effect of sexing
- confused
- wild
- more bitchy/arrogant
- demanding
- angry
- unhappy for sexing the guy
- scared
- guilty
Sex has bad effect on her
Yes
Sex has good effect on her
Yes
Effect of sexing
- a better lover
- blissful
- mature
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- very athletic
- average physique
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
Misc setting
- Fancy Mansion
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
- moderately detailed references to deaths
What % of story is romance related?
- 70%
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- descript of kissing
- touching of anatomy
- licking
- descript. of female anatomy (the big B's)
Focus of story
- equally on him and her
How much dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
How much sexing?
- 3-4 sex acts
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