I recently delved into So Let Them Burn, a captivating debut by Kamilah Cole, and found it to be a compelling read.

Cole's writing vividly brings to life themes of family, identity, and the lingering impacts of colonization. The alternating perspectives between the sisters offer a deep and nuanced understanding of their individual struggles and growth.

While the narrative is immersive and the character development strong, I felt that certain plot points could have been explored in greater depth. Nonetheless, the novel's strengths far outweigh these minor shortcomings.

Overall, So Let Them Burn is a thought-provoking and engaging read that I would rate four out of five stars. It's a promising start to what I anticipate will be an impactful series.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

This book is fantasy at its best. The characters are full of depth and I enjoyed the relationships between them thoughout the book. I flew through this and almost didn’t want it to end. I’m looking forward to reading the next book

A captivating new voice in YA fantasy is born! Cheers to K. Cole for this breathtaking debut bringing back sensible and feared dragons to the age group along with intriguing characters that you have no choice but to root for, a plot that will leave you gasping and intricate and lush world building!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Overall, I liked this book. It fits in two enemies-to-lovers (though the "enemies" part is maybe a bit of a stretch) and juggles what is essentially two story lines at the same time while keeping a narrative balance. It's YA, so don't expect more from it than it can give. If you read it knowing it's for a younger audience, great! If you expect some sweeping adult fantasy or romance, you'll be disappointed. But that's fine, because that's not what this is supposed to be.

The setting is interesting, but also could probably be expanded on a bit. I get that it's Jamaica(ish) after colonialism, but there's also magic and dragons. The language was pretty modern and a lot of the setting seemed modern (considering they can use some magic similar to a telephone, etc), but at the same time, sometimes stuff is said that feels disjointed. Is it modern or no? Is it steampunk? It melds genre boundaries in a way I didn't quite like because I don't think it was on purpose. What I'm trying to say is that the setting felt inconsistent at times.

This is the first book in the series, which I knew before reading, but within the first few pages I really felt like I was supposed to have read another book or series first (I wasn't). I appreciate jumping straight into the action and the story you want to tell, but all the exposition and summary of the past felt like a "what you missed last time" episode recap. Except... there's not an episode to miss. That was the most jarring part for me.

The characters can be infuriatingly stupid at times, but that's YA. Some things were said point blank that would have worked from a more subtle place, but that's also YA.

I would probably read the next book.

I ended up putting this book down, mostly I don't think I was in the right mood for it and the pacing was not keeping me hooked, therefore I will not be giving feedback on this title. Thank you for the opportunity!

3.5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this ARC! This book caught my eye because the magic system sounded so unique and I have never read a book based on Jamaican lore.

The plot was excellent and the story progressed at a good pace. The magic system was so interesting and I liked that this whole book is a commentary on colonialism and exploitation of power. It is heartbreaking that so many cultures have been lost due to colonisation and the enslaving of people and their land. While being a fantasy, the book also addresses these real life horrors.

The world building wasn’t too info dumpy and was easy to understand while being complex enough to be interesting. I loved Elara, Signey and Reeve as characters and I wasn’t aware that there was going to be a sapphic element to the book before reading so that was an amazing surprise!

The reason my rating is a 3.5 is because I could not STAND Faron and she was a main character so I couldn’t really look past it. She’s selfish, rude, arrogant and spoilt. We’re supposed to be rooting for her but she was constantly making everything harder for the people around her. I understand that she was under a lot of pressure and fought in a bloody and violent war but a lot of her behaviour seemed unrelated to that trauma.

I still enjoyed my time reading this though and I will definitely read the next book when it comes out. I recommend this for fantasy readers looking for a unique magic system and DRAGONS (loved the dragons). This would be perfect for someone who wants to progress to high fantasy books as I think this one would bridge the gap with its complex world building and magic system. This was released on 16th January.

I was reading that in the plane and I remember thinking that it was the best choice ever.
I was flying over 10 hours and I have just read that book in one sit. And then... have some time to think.
Because this book is not gonna leave you without second thoughts.

After the title, I expected something different, but the final effect was even better I expected.
YA book, fantasy and two great, strong, independent characters.
Faron and her sister are standing in front of huge challangers, decisions to make and people who are depending on them.

Beside that, we have dragons, community with unique rituals and new world to discover.
It was worth the hype!

Ich weiß ehrlich gesagt nicht, wie ich dieses Buch bewerten soll, da ich es aufgrund relativ kurzer Ausleihdauer (ohne Verlängerung) nicht lesen konnte.

Firstly thank you so much to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book, I really appreciate it.

I appreciate that my review is rather late and apologise for this but the truth is that I thought this book sounded great and was excited to read it - as such, I started it straight away but unfortunately found that the writing style just wasn't for me and I had to DNF without getting very far. However, I fully intended on trying it again at another time because I really wanted to leave a proper review, hence leaving it on my Netgalley Shelf.

However, having now tried it for the third time and again stopped fairly quickly, I have to concede that this book just isn't for me. If I am buying a book I always read the first page or two to check I like the author's writing style as well as the sound of the story, but unfortunately that isn't possible on Netgalley and honestly I wouldn't have bought this one. It's rare that I DNF a book.

It seems very teen rather than the older YA I am more used to reading and reviewing and whilst I am sure the plot ends up being as fantastic as it sounds and hopefully the writing style improves, it's sadly a no from me. But I do very much hope that other readers love it and that the series does really well - we are all different after all.

I cannot really give a true star rating as I DNF and as such will not be reviewing anywhere else, but as I have to give one on Netgalley to be able to submit these comments, I am giving it 2 stars: 1 for what I read and 1 for the potential the rest of the book has. It's wonderful cover design will undoubtedly help it to reach the right audience.

Okay so this was one of my most anticipated reads as it sounds like exactly my type of book and it has dragons! While i did enjoy the book I still feel a little let down. I have some mixed feelings as I enjoyed some parts but other parts felt bored. I think the main issue for me was pacing. Everything seemed to happen at once then long periods where nothing really happened and made me lose interest. I did like how the story ended so i am interested to know what will happen next.

This book is so good y’all.

A major thing that this book explores is the question of what happens to chosen ones and new teenage monarchs after their stories are done? When the revolution has been won, the colonial power has been expelled, and the people of a nation are finally free to live their lives on their own terms, what happens next? When this book starts it’s been five years since Faron helped save the day. Winning that war was undoubtedly a good thing, but it wasn’t an uncomplicated happily ever after. There’s still a country to run, there are still international relations issues to be mindful of, and everyone involved in running the country is deeply aware that, back then, they almost didn’t win that war, and the cost in terms of both money and lives was incredibly high. If the fighting were to reignite it would be nothing short of a disaster. I really enjoy it when common story tropes, such as in this case the chosen one and the overthrowing of an evil empire, are investigated deeper and deconstructed in this way, and I think this book did a great job of it!

I love love LOVED the relationship between Faron and Elara! Complicated/tragic siblings are fun as well, but it was also super refreshing to see the trust that these two had in each other and kept in each other throughout despite the circumstances meaning that distrusting each other would’ve been both easy and understandable. Faron and Elara’s first priority is keeping each other safe and, for the most part, they’re both on the same page about that. They actually communicate with each other. It’s wild.

The gods in this book really do not understand humans At All, and I really enjoyed seeing their dismissive attitudes clash against a protagonist who isn’t going to bend to their will just because they’re gods. It’s their deep misunderstanding of human nature that causes a Lot of the problems for the main characters. No wonder Faron had to look elsewhere for help.

This bit is so incredibly subjective, but. I really love stories that involve possession, and I also really enjoy it when there are kind of psychic links / soul bonds where the people involved can hear each other’s thoughts, are basically unable to hide anything from each other, and as a result are in some form always with one another. This book had both of these things and, in my opinion, handled them beautifully. The latter is a lot more specific than the former, but I am a sucker for both <3

Also, there are dragons. And lesbians. And demisexual rep. Literally what more could you want? If you haven’t checked out this book yet you are so sorely missing out.

This is my absolute favourite book of the year!!! Everything about this book is absolutely incredible, it was so enthralling and so beautifully written. I loved the characters so much, and I loved their dynamics. The dynamics between the two sisters, the building Love between Elara and Signey, the subtle building change of relationship between Reeve and Faron !! That ending was so tense and I’m going to be losing my mind waiitng for book 2 to see where it goes !!!

This book was fun. The idea behind it wasn't something entirely new, I've read a few fantasies with the gods gifted/Devine One struggling to come to terms with their powers, duties responsibilities and torn between family and love. What makes this one unique is how the author added her own take on this trope. The setting made it fun, and the bond between the chosen one and her sister was lovely. The magic and the world building were well explained without info dumping, the story telling well written and compelling. Twists and turns and really makes the reader care about the characters. Looking forward to the next one,

One thing I will say is what an environment! The world building is phenomenal, and so immersive throughout the novel. Also might I add dragons to the mix?!
Following two sisters, we see their story in which they deal with their struggles, expectations and emotions, but prevailing through it all with love.
It was a slower pace in the beginning, but soon picked up and I wasn’t able to put it down!

Thank you Netgalley and Publishers

So Let Them Burn was a story of two sisters and their powerful bond. This story I felt was deep and I'm not surprised this is being described as a Jamaican Joan of Arc story. The characters were really fleshed out and the writing style was captivating.
The story pulled me in and I really enjoyed it unfolding as I was dragged into the story.

Faron Vincent, five years ago when she was twelve, had become a legend, “a living saint” when she liberated her people of the island nation from a dragon-riding colonising empire. All by being a host to the gods of San Irie, being a medium for their powers and using it as a weapon to be wielded in the service of the nation—which she did when fighting against the humongous fire-wielding creatures, the dragons. But now, with the battle left behind and the victory rejoiced, she uses her power to win bets or trivial things, and be a troublemaker, widely contrasting to the image of a ‘holy child’ she has been burdened with.

It is this post-war, post-revolution, and recent liberation that first pulls the reader into the world. The height of danger is clear from the dragons, despite the powerful drakes and Faron, the Childe Empyrean, “an internationally recognisable symbol of divine retribution”. But it’s the aftermath of years of colonisation and the collective strength that a revolutionary struggle demands that establishes San Irie as a small nation facing a post-war wrestle, entangled in deeper politics. And this sets a heavier weight on Faron’s ability, pushing her to an exploration of her purpose.

The focus on war, especially one fought with a colonising power, shows both a brutal present and a shaken aftermath through frequent remembrance of the war Iryans fought five years ago (*”Dragons would often burst over the peaks flame-first, killing the land with their blazing breath and blowing wooden shacks across the plains with their wings.”*) or the reminders still visible: “blackened patches of land that had been ravaged by dragonfire, charred soil that could never again yield new life”.

In addition, it explores the emotional trauma ingrained in a once-colonised populace, and also presents a poignant look into the sharp gravel of colonised bridges through the son of the current ruler of the Langlish Empire, Reeve. His decision, five years ago, to side with San Irie carries a significant arc that intrigues throughout and gives way to a certain tension between him and Faron.

Her older sister, Elara Vincent, had followed her little sister into the war but is growing to despise the shadow of her renowned sister, often endlessly teased by Faron for being docile. Now, at eighteen, she’s determined to become a soldier in the Iryan Military Forces by proving her skill of ‘combat summoning’: calling on an ancestral spirit to be supported in a fight, and testing to be a Drake pilot, a revered soldier who bonds with a semisentient giant flying metal war machine, only if the Drake chooses the pilot too.

Their different pathways and outlooks are merged again when Queen Aveline —a young leader who had taken the shattered country to war at just sixteen years of age— after five years of liberation and the debilitating resources, decides to go down a diplomatic path: organising a peace summit to host neighbouring nations, including the colonial empire, the Langlish. The Queen needs both the sisters to be on the port, alongside her, as a relief to the island’s population worried with the presence of the giant being, the dragons, seated at the shore due to the Langlish Empire’s arrival.

But when Elara bonds with a Langlish dragon, linked intricately enough to *feel* everything that happens to the dragon and thereby leaving her sister and other soldiers powerless as the dragons flies around, an undercurrent begins, diverging the destinies of the sisters. The many lingering effects of colonialism is hard to miss, from the oppressor’s language to the lack of respect for traditional strengths of colonised nations: “Langley has never understood or respected San Irie’s magic or its gods.” It is this magic that opens doors to someone revered as a god, someone who had taught the founders of the Langlish Empire how to bond with dragons and ride them.

Cole lets you be intrigued, as political power plays fuelled by the insidious nature of colonial empires unravel, a “Chosen One” slowly loses faith in herself, and an older sister who “wanted to matter, too” finally gets a miracle of her own but must step off San Irie and into the Langlish lands to train as a dragon co-rider. And Cole does this while painting a queernormative world with grandiose mythology and striking, rich details.

Whether it’s Faron’s summoning abilities as she “skimmed the contours of the dragon’s soul, and it felt as if she’d leashed herself to a comet” or surprisingly alluring scenes like a dragon “nuzzling its scaled head against the drake’s metal one” to display a startling affection, “an olive branch of peace”. The extensive detailing wonderfully extends to the characters, conjuring vivid paths for all yet entangling their destinies with precision. At the end, *So Let Them Burn* will feel otherworldly and enormous, just like its dragons.

Review will be posted on the blog on March 8, 2024. Link will be shared then.

Two amazing sisters with a lovely bond are involved in this fantasy, so good and captivating. So recommended

I adored this. It’s rare i read a YA novel that feels new and fresh and this managed it. Its Jamaican inspired world building was phenomenal, and i was immediately drawn into the characters and the plot. It tackles some big world issues, anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism and what happens after war, and it does them all with great skill and tact. It demonstrates PTSD incredibly well, and how war affects everyone involved, and has far-reaching effects, long past it’s end.

The magic system felt very unique in this, and yet made complete sense in the concept of the plot. Faron wielded it so well it was as if it was made and desgined for her, and her fiery, take-no-nonsense character. I really grew to love her attitude, and why she what she fought for. We even got a different take on the chosen one trope and I for one, am always open to a twist on a trope!
I already cannot wait for the sequel, the ending of this was so amazing, and yet perfectly sets up the next book and I already need answers!!

So Let Them Burn is a fun, action-packed YA fantasy that has been pitched as Jamaican Joan of Arc. The book was honestly a fun, trope-y romp that had everything: Magic! Spies! Dragons! I had a blast reading it.

The story follows two sisters, Faron and Elara. Five years ago, Faron, blessed by the Gods, saved her home island from the invasion of the Langlish Empire who have the might of dragons at their disposal. Now, a peace summit is being held on the island, but things go sideways when Faron's sister develops a bond with an enemy dragon.

This books biggest draw for me was Faron, its flawed, charismatic MC who's grappling with the responsibility of being a chosen one. Overall, I enjoyed Faron's POV far more than I did Elara's, because I found her struggle more interesting. Nevertheless, Elara's POV had a fun magic school for dragon riders, sapphic romance and spying for the enemy kingdom.

I loved the themes in this and how it dealt with the decades long scars war and colonisation leave on a country and on individuals. It didn't shy away from showing both sisters' PTSD while dealing with those topics in a sensitive manner. As such, the book is firmly anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist in its message.

My one complaint would be the pacing. Despite me being intrigued with the worldbuilding, there was quite a bit of infodumping in the first few chapters. Moreover, I felt the pace lulled a bit around the middle only to go at a break-neck speed towards the end. Still, these were only minor faults to me and I highly enjoyed reading this book.

All in all, I gave the book 4/5 stars and can't wait for the sequel!

So this was a really interesting book for many reasons. For one, it dealt with characters who had been chosen ones in their backstories. It showed a main character who had been chosen by the gods, gone to war and then come home along with a hidden queen who had discovered her heritage and been pushed onto the throne at a young age. It was really interesting that the author decided to have these things in the past and gave me echoings of a gifted child to disaster teenager storyline.

It also felt at times very much like a queer Forth Wing. Which was fantastic because Queer and dragons is definitely the genre for me. I really enjoyed the complexity of Elara’s relationship considering the bond that ties her to both the dragon and her love interest and I’m really looking forward to seeing how it develops in future books.

This book was also such an easy read. I got caught up in the story so fast and both Elara and Faron’s voices were easy to relate to. The politics was interesting and exciting and didn’t bog down the plot one bit and I just really enjoyed the story as a whole.