Everything That Burns is a disappointing follow-up to Enchantee

Gita Trelease’s Everything That Burns is technically a sequel to the 2019 YA fantasy novel Enchantee. Originally called Liberte, this novel has undergone a title change and suffered multiple publication delays over the course of the pandemic that’s rocked much of the publishing world. Enchantee itself has since been renamed All That Glitters. And those are probably the least shocking changes that occur between this sequel and its predecessor.

Enchantee/All That Glitters followed the story of Camille Durbonne, a young woman who was forced to use her magic to keep herself and her sister Sophie alive – sometimes turning random items like buttons into coins and spending them before the spell wore off and they become lumps of clay. Eventually, she uses her magic to pass as nobility in the Palace of Versailles, where she rapidly finds herself caught up in court intrigues even as she makes herself ill attempting to win big at the gambling tables in its famous salons.

The story was lush and exciting, as the French Revolution bears down upon an aristocracy literally dancing until the last possible moment. Unfortunately, Everything That Burns is not the follow-up that I wanted for Camille and friends.

To be fair, I should say straight out of the gate that this book isn’t bad. In fact, it’s a well put together story of resistance and the power of storytelling to sway hearts and mind. But other than featuring characters who share names with those that also appeared in All That Glitters, this book has almost nothing to do with the first installment. And I feel kind of ripped off about that as a reader.

In this sequel, Camille has survived poverty, escaped Versailles and managed to make something of a home for herself in Paris, in an intriguingly semi-magical house that I wish this story had spent more time on. Now, instead of life as a magician or a gambler, Camille longs to print pamphlets as her father once did, sharing stories of truth and philosophy with the wider world. But when she discovers “The Lost Girls”, a group of downtrodden Parisian women living in a destitute situation under a bridge, she decides to use her printing press to highlight the stories of the city’s marginalized and unfortunate souls that society looks down on. The flower sellers, the forgers, the pickpockets who struggle to get by and who are suffering as the city heaves in the early days of the revolution.

Though this story doesn’t spend much time on her magic, Camille is still a magician, and when the King outlaws her kind, she’ll have to find a way to keep herself, her friends, and the Lost Girls who are counting on her to help keep them safe.

Truthfully, this novel is a bit overstuffed in terms of plot, but it’s still a largely enjoyable read for what it is. The problem is what it is not. If you came into this sequel expecting more of what you liked about the first book – its sumptuous settings, glamourous air, and the constant thrum of magic throughout – you won’t find that here. Everything that Burns is much more realistic, features much less magic and focuses on the struggles of the oppressed rather than the opulence of the elites.

There’s nothing wrong with that, per se – but in this instance, it does feel like something of a bait and switch.

That said, Camille’s arc is an ultimately satisfying one, and it’s lovely to see her fully come into her own as a person first, rather than a magician. I just wish the story had remembered what made her adventures in the first book so magical.

Everything that Burns is available now in print, digital and audio formats. Let us know if you plan to give it a read!