Review: Burning Alive by Shannon K. Butcher

Burning Alive (The Sentinel Wars, book 1)
Shannon K. Butcher
Penguin Group
May 5, 2009
ISBN-10: 0451412710

They are the Sentinels...

Three races descended from ancient guardians of mankind, each possessing unique abilities in their battle to protect humanity against their eternal foes—the Synestryn. Now, one warrior must fight his own desire if he is to discover the power that lies within his one true love...

Helen Day is haunted by visions of herself surrounded by flames, as a dark-haired man watches her burn. So when she sees the man of her nightmares staring at her from across a diner, she attempts to flee—but instead ends up in the man's arms. There, she awakens a force more powerful and enticing than she could ever imagine. For the man is actually Theronai warrior Drake, whose own pain is driven away by Helen's presence.

Together, they may become more than lovers—they may become a weapon of light that could tip the balance of the war and save Drake's people...

For as long as she could remember, Helen Day has been hunted by visions of her death. In this vision, she's enveloped in flames as a dark-haired man just watches her burn to death without doing anything to help her. Helen lives in constant vigilance for him, knowing that when they finally meet, it will signal her death is coming soon. So when one day, while having lunch with one the old ladies whom she brings food to, she sees the same stranger from her vision and understandably, completely freaks out.

Drake notices this strange woman across the diner trying her best to hide from him behind her menu. He can't help but be intrigued and goes to approach her. When Helen sees the imposing man coming, the same man who in her vision watches her burn to death with a smile on his face, she tries to run. The instant that Drake touches Helen, all his pain evaporates. As a Theronai warrior, every year that passes, his power grows and grows and it has become unbearable. It's a constant pain and anguish but so far, he's managed to live with it. Touching Helen literally makes it go away, there's no trace of this horrible feeling that eats at his stomach every second of the day.

Now, more than ever, Drake is determined to get to know Helen and find out what it is about her that makes his powerful agony go away. What neither of them know is that the answers to their questions lie in each other and how their destinies are more than intertwined together, they could be the weapons that tips this secret war to their favor against an ancient evil.

Burning Alive is the first in the new series the Sentinel Wars by Shannon K. Butcher. The reader is thrown into the story much as Helen is. She doesn't know this scary, hidden world and we see how she has to come to term with it through her eyes. As the story progresses, Butcher does start to explain things and we start to find out more. Helen has been living for years in fear that one day, her vision will come to pass. She actually has sort of made her peace with it because she thinks its inevitable and there's nothing she can do to stop it from coming true. Drake has lived hundred of years waiting for the woman who would be his salvation and when he sees Helen, he immediately knows there's something special about her. His belief is only proved when he touches her and he’s painless for the first time in centuries. Their attraction to each other is undeniable.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Burning Alive. While, at the beginning, I was a little lost because there wasn't enough background for things to make sense, that was easily fixed as I continued reading and Mrs. Butcher started filling in the blanks. All-in-all, Burning Alive is a fast-paced story with lots action, really gross bad guys and two main characters who are explosive together.