Otherworldly - A Burned Heart – alloralee

A Companion to 'A Shadowed Awakening'

This book is placed in the same world as “A Shadowed Awakening”, and works best set against its predecessor. In ASA, the protagonist is taken from a good life and finds herself replacing an eight-year-old girl from a horrid family. She rejects that girl and that family, and works to redefine herself. “A Burned Heart” is a mirror image: The protagonist is taken from a violent life and a horrid family and finds herself replacing an eight-year-old girl from a kind and loving family. She leans into her new identify.

In the absence of the emotional conflicts that structure the first book, ABH is closer to traditional LitRPG: We spend more time watching the protagonist get into fights and improve her statistics.

“A Burned Heart” is stronger for its contrast with “A Shadowed Awakening”. In isolation, it has less to distinguish it from other books that use similar tropes.