So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole is a Jamaican-inspired YA fantasy. I would like to thank the publisher Little, Brown Young Readers for sending the Lesbrary a review copy. I enjoyed this book a lot, and think it’s a great addition to the genre.

There’s a whole unseen YA novel that happens before So Let Them Burn even starts. The island of San Irie is fighting the Langley Empire for it’s freedom, a chance prayer makes a child the Chosen One of the gods, and there’s a quest to restore the rightful queen – raised in the countryside unknowing of her real identity – to the throne. So Let Them Burn starts after the war is over and San Irie has won independence, and it looks at what happens afterwards, when you have an overpowered teenaged hero and a young queen and no more war to focus on.

Faron Vincent is overpowered, short-tempered, and, most of all, bored. She’s back at home with her family and back in school because no one wants to give a child, even a gods-touched one, a position in the government. And they shouldn’t, because she’s still a child, with a child’s self-centered outlook. During the war, when there was short term goals and fighting to focus on, Faron excelled and was needed as the only weapon against the Langley Empire’s dragon riders. But now, with no battles left to fight, she’s too impatient to learn diplomacy but she’s seen too much to slot back into her old life.

When the Queen decides to hold a diplomatic conference to show their neighbors how well things are going and rub the Langley Empire’s nose in its defeat, she summons Faron and her sister to the capital as part of a show of strength. I found Faron to be not very likeable but still hugely interesting. She’s a character out of place, as her powers, temper, and arrogance probably served her well during a war time situation but now lead to her crashing about like a bull in a china shop. She doesn’t understand any political subtleties and feels that her presence at the conference is like being a show pony doing tricks, but she’s also the type of person to summon her god power to help her win a school yard race. She’s truly a girl who grew up during a war and has the trauma and combat experience to go with it, but she has literally no other life experience to balance that out, leaving her off balance and out of place in this new world she helped create. It was extremely interesting to me to see this take on a “Chosen One” experience after the fact; I thought it was clever and very well done.

Meanwhile, the diplomatic conference goes sideways as Faron’s sister Elara inadvertently bonds with a Langlish dragon and is forced to return to Langley for training. Stuck in Langlish Dragon School, Elara is surrounded by people who hate her and what she represents. She is also walking a tightrope between learning useful intelligence to send back to San Irie and figuring out why exactly Dragon Rider command seemed to especially want her there. She’s also learning to be a dragon rider until her sister back home can figure out how to break the bond. Langlish dragons have two riders, and as time goes on, Elara and her other rider Signey have to figure out how to deal with their growing feelings for each other.

I found Elara’s chapters the most interesting part of the story, because she goes to the school determined to hate everyone, and there’s a lot of people that hate and look down on her, but she slowly finds other people she can sympathize with, because San Irie wasn’t the only country that the Langlish had colonized. Signey also opens up about her own family history, and the two girls slowly realize they have more in common than they think. Signey slowly changes from the enemy to a friend and maybe more. Just as Faron turns the Chosen One trope into a new angle, Elara’s dragon school training takes a common YA conceit and looks at it from a different, and queerer, viewpoint.

In conclusion, So Let Them Burn is a YA fantasy novel with a lot to offer. Not only does it start at a different point in the story than a more typical novel might have started, it takes several YA tropes and gives them a fresh viewpoint. If you’re looking for queer YA fantasy with something new to say, this is a good book to put on your list.

If it has dragons, I can basically assume I'm going to read it. I love what Cole did with the addition of mechanical dragons. The snapshot of a world post war was also something that I really loved reading about because it's not something often featured.

Thanks to Little Brown Young Readers for gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions below are my own.

Looking for more dragon fantasy that is not Fourth Wing? Look no further. Faron and Elara are sisters living on a Jamaican inspired island recently freed from colonizers. One sister dreams of being a dragon rider and the other is a conduit to the gods. They have the power to save to world, but it will cost them dearly.

This one has it all: dragons, strong female characters, political intrigue, battles with the gods and even romance (including queer). (No spice though, pass this one over if you need that.)

Be aware though… there is not a strong conclusion it’s not a cliffhanger but more a nudge of where book 2 will go.

So Let Them Burn is everything I look for in a fantasy novel; complex characters, stunning world building, slow-burn romance, and dragons. Lots and lots of dragons.

I loved every page of this book. Following alternating points of view between sisters Elara and Faron, the story dives into the aftermath of a war they both fought in at very young ages. Faron, playing to the Chosen One trope as the Childe Empyrean, continues her life post-war with the ability to channel the gods. Meanwhile, Elara desires to step out of her sister’s shadow to help people in her own way. But when a summons from their queen leads to Elara being bound to a dragon and rider from their war enemy, chaos ensues.

This story, in many ways, was a true coming of age for Elara. She has my whole heart. Seeing her change and grow throughout the book had me cheering and crying. She was a truly refreshing character, while Faron was frustratingly arrogant (and maybe a little too relatable lol).

And the dragons!? I had so much fun reading the chapters where the riders and dragons interacted with each other. It was so cool to see the bonds between the dragons and riders.

I cannot say enough good things about the magic system and world building inspired by Jamaican culture either. It’s so good. The author’s talent really shines in the details of the pages in between major plot points. Every paragraph felt carefully crafted, progressing the story, but also planting seeds to grow the understanding of identity and motives of the people within the pages.

I cannot wait to read more by this author. Meanwhile, I’ll be recommending this book to everyone I know.

*Huge thanks to Kamilah Cole, Little, Brown Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of the ebook So Let Them Burn for review.*

I really enjoyed So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole! The magic system and its ties to the characters ancestors was compelling. There were a few twists throughout the story that were a bit surprising. I really liked Faron and Reeve's relationship and appreciated the aspec representation (and the queer rep in general). It was nice that Reeve was also Elara's friend, as I think a lot of stories focus too much on romantic relationships as opposed to other forms of love. The layering of conflict was well done and many fantastical elements of the story felt plausible. The only thing I didn't like was that the pacing was pretty slow for a good portion of the book. Regardless, I think it's definitely worth reading, and I'll be anxiously awaiting the sequel!

“So Let Them Burn,” is a great addition to the dragon riding canon. It starts a little slow, but once Elara bonds with an enemy dragon, the story really gets moving along. Her sister Faron can channel the magic of the gods and she is searching desperately for a way to break that bond. Elara finds out information about the Langley Empire and both face difficult choices. Great debut to a new fantasy series.

I really enjoyed this! An intense fantasy with dragons and a strong sister relationship?? I was there for all of it. Literally my only criticism is that I needed a little fleshing out of the conflict and end! But honestly such a great debut!

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for this ARC!

So Let Them Burn is about these sisters, Faron and Elara. Faron is the "chosen one" or "Childe Empyrean" and she was crucial to her country to help win the war against their colonizers, meanwhile she was 12 years old. Elara, her older sister, fought in the war but 5 years later is now unsure of what she wants todo. At a peace summit something happens to Elara that changes her future and Faron must use her chosen one status to help her.

This book completely shocked me with how amazing it is. From the world building, which was pretty extensive but done in a gradual way that didn't info dump the reader. All of the characters are complex and developed that I was stressing for and loved them all. I enjoyed getting both Faron and Elara's POVs, considering they weren't always together. The romances for both sisters was very slow burn but not super obvious.
I honestly don't have any critiques other than we were left with a cliffhanger UGH! Now onto waiting for the next book to come out.

The genre is very much so Young Adult but if you want dragons, magic and just funny banter this is for you!

Really excellent. You know a real downside of reading NetGalley/ARC books is that when you find an amazing one, and it’s the first in a series, now you have to wait EVEN LONGER to discover the rest of the story. I am going to have to wait to find out how the love stories develop between our two sisters and their…loves? I may have to wait a year or longer to know if this is a tragedy or an epic redemption arc for a tragic hero/heroine. What does it mean when two people with the same souls fall in love? What’s gonna happen to global politics????

Let’s be honest, it’s gonna be awesome. I LOVED the beautiful and lyrical way Kamilah Cole described the food, the villages, the sweltering heat and the ice pops of San Irie. The dull waters, roasted nuts, and grey castles of (what I can only assume to be) Europe and Langley (England? Jamaica was an English colony…). She is a fabulous writer and this is quite a clean book! I was worried the very young ages of the main characters would make it too immature for a woman like me in her mid-thirties to enjoy, but it wasn’t true at all. I recommend it to anyone who loves a little fantasy wrapped in with a lot of culture and history all woven into a fantastic story! Enjoy! And maybe actually wait for the sequels to come out.

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown Young Readers for an advanced copy in exchange for an unbiased review!

This is one of the best fantasy novels I've read in the last year and one of the best debuts I've ever read. Kamilah Cole has written a story unlike anything else on the market; I say that as the highest of compliments. I haven't stopped thinking about this book and cannot wait to see what comes next.

I really wanted to like this, but it just can’t catch my attention. I’ve put it down & picked it up and tried again a few times, but I just can’t make myself care about the story. So, sadly I couldn’t finish. I was almost 40 pages into the book and nothing had happened. No character development, no plot development, nothing. I was hoping that after we got all the background information and history of the world out of the way it would pick up, but I can’t keep reading.

Thank you Little Brown Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for this arc. All opinions are my own.

ARC Review

Well this book is my entire personality now and I’m in desperate need of the next book.
All of the relationships in this book were so well done (blood family, found family, romantic, All. Of. Them).
The ‘build as you go’ world building is my personal fave and I loved the folklore of the world. Easy to follow, fun, engaging, and the best kind of dramatic.

This was absolutely amazing. I loved the dual POV of the two sisters' perspectives. The sister connection was really special and I loved how their relationship was portrayed as supportive when it could've easily been competitive and hurtful.

The world-building was the best-paced world-building I've read in a long time. No info dumping. Information was given when it was needed but it didn't feel like it was just added to be convenient. The map contained the perfect amount of information to be useful but not overwhelming.

The characters were sooo easy to root for! I love Faron and Elara and I want the world for them. It was super intriguing to read from the perspective of a "chosen one" character after they've saved the world. What happens to them? What do they do with their fame and fortune? I just loved the whole premise.

Book 2 cannot come soon enough!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Rep: black lesbian mc, black demisexual mc

What happens after the revolution? How do the heroes fare after it’s all over? This is where the book picks up, five years after San Irie, a Jamaican inspired island, has freed itself from its colonial oppressors, the Langlish empire. Faron is a child soldier, a child saint, chosen by the gods to free San Irie. She’s seen so much war all while still being a child. A child that was granted the power of the gods and the responsibility of a country’s fate. Elara is Faron’s older sister, and she’s tired of being responsible for her sister, and she’s tired of living in her shadow. She wants to do something outside of being the Child Empyrean’s sister. Everything changes when Elara accidentally bonds with a Langlish dragon and its rider.
I really enjoyed this book! I found the beginning to be rather slow, but around the 50% mark it picked up and I couldn’t put it down. Faron and Elara are fantastic characters, and I loved their sisterly bond. Both romances were very sweet and I’m excited to see where they go in future books. Something I wish we’d could’ve seen more of was San Irie, I felt like we learned so much about the Langlish and not enough about San Irie. I also felt like that as magic system didn’t seem to have defined limitations, the characters could just do anything and everything. This made the stakes of the final conflict feel not as high to me. The writing however was good and easy to read, and after that cliff hanger I’m very excited to see what happens next! While I really enjoyed it, it didn’t blow me away. 4/5 stars.

Spoiler alert - I loved, loved, LOVED this. Magic, dragons, and sapphic romance? Please, I was kicking my little feet. I made this book my entire personality after reading it and I have no regrets. Cannot WAIT to read more.

It took less than half a page for me to determine that I was going to love this book, and I was so right. Every time I had to put it down, I was just a little bit resentful that I couldn't keep reading.

Something that I thought was really fun is that while I knew this book follows a chosen one five years after the war is over, Faron is not the only one who fits into a popular fantasy archetype. One dynamic I was particularly fascinated by is the one between chosen one Faron and Queen Aveline, who spent the first seventeen years of her life on a farm with no knowledge of her true identity and now resents Faron a little bit for the fact that when the war ended, Faron got to go home and Aveline didn't.

Literally all of the relationships were wonderful, though. The romantic relationships had me hooked, as did the friendships, but the central relationship between the two sisters just felt so real. I loved them both, and I am terrified for what the next book will bring for them.

I also really enjoyed the narrative voice, which was the first thing to win me over. It made me laugh throughout, though it never detracted from the more serious themes. Since this was third-person, I'm much less inclined to be annoying about how distinct the perspectives felt from each other, but there was at least enough difference that I never forgot which sister's head I was in, even when they were in a scene together, so I'm satisfied there.

I already know I'm going to miss these characters when the series is done, but fortunately I've got some time until then (less fortunately, it also means I have to somehow survive that cliffhanger until then), and even more fortunately, this series is not the only thing I have to look forward to from Kamilah Cole. Not every book that sounds amazing ends up living up to my expectations, but this one definitely exceeded them.

Honestly, I don't think that this book was bad in any way and there were a lot of elements I do love about the book. But ultimately, the reason why I gave this 3 stars instead of 4 was because I couldn't fully get into it. The premise, the characters and the world building were so well done but what really dragged the rating down was the plot. It took quite a while for the plot to pick up and then it really just fell flat around the middle, and nothing was happening for half the book. While the end DID pick up, I just skimmed a lot of it because I wanted the book to be done.

On a more positive note though, I DO really love the way the author wrote her characters. Characters can be especially difficult to nail down, but she did such an incredible job writing Faron and Elara. They were so well fleshed out and my GOD could I relate to them. Especially Elara this poor girl needs a hug. It's the elder sister complex.

Anyway, although I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped I would I'm happy to give this a 3 star rating! Thank you to the publisher for eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Everything I never knew I wanted in a YA Fantasy. Complex sister dynamics, post-war chosen ones, fantastic worldbuilding, dragons, ace rep--I'm very much looking forward to the sequel!

So Let Them Burn follows two sisters, Faron, the blessed child of the gods, and Elara, her older sister whose only goal in life is to become a part of an elite part of the military. Faron hates being the Empyrean. The only thing useful from her blessing is to use it in foot races against other children now that the revolution/war is over. Elara wishes to do anything but stand in the shadow of her younger sister. Both sisters have close bonds with the queen and are invited to a Peace Summit the queen is hosting. This would be the first time the Langley Empire will enter their homeland in peace rather than war. During the Summit, Elara is spiritually called to a dragon and unintentionally becomes bonded to her. Now named the wing leader, she must go to Langley and be separated from all that she knows. Faron’s only goal is to get her back, but at what cost?

I really enjoyed this story! The magic system is super interesting. From what I understand, there’s multiple ways people have magic but the most common is ancestral magic. The Iryan people can call upon their ancestors to give them power to use in many different ways. Faron being the Childe Empyrean is blessed to pull magic directly from the gods. It’s very “Avatar: the Last Airbender” status. Elara is only able to pull magic from their direct lineage but is very strong in her abilities.

The story was a lot of fun and there is a dash of romance as well. It is not the main driver of the story so don’t expect much from it. I recently read To Shape A Dragon’s Breath and it has very similar vibes for Elara as it does for Anequs. The story lags slightly during parts where the two main characters are basically having a phone call with each other and exchanging information. Other than that, I thought it was good! Overall, I’m giving it 4/5 stars. I’m ready for the next book in the series!

This book is really amazing—great prose, incredible world building. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to read through the whole thing; I have a terrible memory for fantasy vocabulary, and it’s definitely my fault for picking it up knowing I would struggle to know what was going on. But I know that I would have loved it if my brain wasn’t so fried from years of only reading contemporary and historical fiction!