So Let Them Burn

This was too YA for me and didn't hold my attention at all. 

This debut novel, the first in a duology by Kamilah Cole is a Jamaican mythos inspired sapphic young adult fantasy that delivered from beginning to end.

I signed up for this book as a pre-order after one of my favourites authors Xiran Jay Zhao revealed that Cait Corrain author whose debut fantasy novel Crown of Starlight was scheduled to be publish in 2024 had created multiple fake accounts on Goodreads to review bomb other authors of colour. Kamilah Cole's (So Let Them Burn), Bethany Baptiste's (The Poisons We Drink), Frances White (Voyage of the Damned), and K.M. Enright (Mistress of Lies). So I immediately pre-ordered these novels.

Natalie from the Lesbrary summaries the story bits well "…book switches between the POVs of two sisters Faron and Elara Vincent. Faron can channel the power of the gods, which made her the secret weapon of her country’s revolution against the dragon-riding Langley Empire. Faron is fiery, mischievous, and unwilling to play the part of wise and composed chosen-one. Elara is calm, diplomatic, and has felt like she’s been both living in her sister’s shadow while also being charged with “managing” Faron’s hot-headed emotions. At what was supposed to be an international peace summit, Elara ends up bonding with a Langley Empire dragon and the dragon’s other rider, Signey. Elara must then go to the dragon riding academy on enemy ground, both as a spy for her country and to try to figure out if there’s a way to reverse the bond so she can return home to sister. Among battles of gods and dragons, bubbling rage (against colonizers, the gods, the situation), and impossible choices, Elara and Signey find themselves falling for each other. Two badass dragon riders discovering enemy secrets, plotting revenge, and falling in love?"

I also liked the focus on the relationships a moment when the romantasy genre is taking off, I appreciated how in this book, the friendships were treated as equally important. 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. There’s a whole unseen YA novel that happens before So Let Them Burn even starts. Where the island of San Irie is fighting the Langley Empire for it’s freedom. This story YA tropes and gives them a fresh viewpoint. If you’re looking for queer YA fantasy with something new to say then I would suggest this book.

Did I mention there are dragons.

Brilliant! Picked up just because I thought it was pretty but ended up loving the story.
I found Faron a bit whiney to begin with but she grew as a character and began to see her own faults (unfortunately too late

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. 

I am in love with the characters from this book! Faron and Elara work so hard to do the right thing for their nation as well as for each other. It is the driving force in this book.
I love that this starts after the war where the hidden princess becomes queen and the chosen one does their thing to save the nation. Seeing how the chosen one and the queen are working to live after this war was a refreshing spin on a fantasy trope.
The world building was sometimes confusing because I wasn't sure how technologically advanced they were supposed to be. The world felt vaguely Caribbean, but I did not feel that there was a strong Jamaican feeling in the book. There were dragons and they were important, but I would have liked just a little more of them.
To me these complaints are minor compared to the characters. I have to know what is going to happen to them! But now I have to wait until 2025. :(

As per usual – all you have to tell me is there's dragons in a book and I'm there. This was a good amount of dragons, they felt like proper characters and not just plot devices or there for the sake of saying “hey there's dragons in here”. I do prefer it when the dragons are able to talk to the humans – like they do in here.

I always like it (and I mention it often) when a book is atmospheric – in its writing and description and that was the case here so I was glad to see that. I want to read a book and not want to stop reading because I'm so invested in the story. I want to feel like I'm in the story myself – experiencing the plot alongside the characters. This is Cole's debut so we'll see how she fares either in this sequel or another book she puts out. I am definitely interested in seeing them both (as she has both scheduled).

It's a dual pov as the book follows 2 sisters as they end up in different places facing different issues. That way we got to experience separate locations and get to know them separately. I think I liked Elara (she bonded with a dragon) more at the start and then Faron more at the end so I definitely want to see how that changes, and how they change, in the sequel. They're both strong and independent characters but they remain close to each other but physically apart. They felt like they were sisters and not just written to be sisters, something I'm always happy to see, as I've said it multiple times.

Faron and Elara use different kinds of magic and they're both explored and explained in their respective chapters. I do think the magic system could have been explained a bit more/better but seeing as it's the first in a duology, plus Cole's debut, I'm fine with being a bit confused. But I am hoping I'll understand more in the second book (and hoping it gets explained more/better).

The plot was full and rich and thankfully didn't fall apart when moving from one sister's chapter to the other. I think it helped that most of their plot points linked to each other so that made it easier to understand the plot. I suppose that made it okay for the magic system to be confusing if I understood the characters and plot (does that makes sense? Only for me, I think). The plot's also very linked to the sisters' magic – how it works, how they used their magic to further the plot.

Jamaicans and dragons just make so much sense together.

The first thing that peaked my interest about this book was that we were entering at the end/ recovery stages of a war. Normally with fantasy we are either thrown into the thick of the war or the beginning, and I was immediately interested how things would play out.

From the start of the book I was immediately invested in Faron and Elara, then eventually Reeve and Signey.

Faron is literally Ikenna (from The Blood Trials and The Blood Gift) but Jamaican and a teenager, hard headed, and combative. My love for her as a character is so strong. She went into a kind of tunnel vision to solely save her sister, and I was here for it. Faron wants to go against the Gods and find a way to save her sister on her own? I'm seated.

Faron gave off the IDGAF attitude, but she really and truly cared about every damn thing. And it was executed so well in the writing.

Elara captivated me just the same. Being the older sister, she wants the best for her act now, think later sister. While also trying to be the best spy to the queen!

From the representation of a demisexual, and lesbian character, dual POVs between the sisters, to the concepts of Drakes and Dragons I loved every part of this story. I cannot stress enough how much I loved this story, and I ready for what comes next!

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