There is a wide variety of interesting characters in this book as well as a wide range of social and moral issues. Characters include illegal immigrants, graffiti artists (writers), are transgender, have HIV/AIDS, and are prostitutes, drug addicts or sellers. Some are stereotypes and flat, while Artemis spends most of the book developing Jasmine. Artemis takes Jasmine from her background of being a prostitute to running a bail bonds company to discovering she is HIV positive. Her lifestyle changes as a result, and she explores the social issues involved with lifestyle choices.

This book was difficult to read for me due to the use of strong, obscene language and subject matter. Another aspect that made the book difficult to understand is Artemis’ use of acronyms. There were no clues as to what they meant, except for legal.

The book is not meant for a quick late night read, but to stimulate and challenge your way of thinking. Jasmine challenges the system and questions what is right and wrong and what to do with her own conflicts as well as her belief system and the world around her. This is Artemis’ third novel and it will be interesting to read the previous ones and contrast them with Burn. Artemis definitely has a social agenda, and this reminds me of Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff.