Review: So Let Them Burn, by Kamilah Cole

Faron Vincent can channel the power of the gods. Five years ago, she used her divine magic to liberate her island from its enemies, the dragon-riding Langley Empire. But now, at seventeen, Faron is all powered up with no wars to fight. She’s a legend to her people and a nuisance to her neighbors. When she’s forced to attend an international peace summit, Faron expects that she will perform tricks like a trained pet and then go home. She doesn’t expect her older sister, Elara, forming an unprecedented bond with an enemy dragon—or the gods claiming the only way to break that bond is to kill her sister.
As Faron’s desperation to find another solution takes her down a dark path, and Elara discovers the shocking secrets at the heart of the Langley Empire, both must make difficult choices that will shape each other’s lives, as well as the fate of their world.

"She'd been a liar longer than she'd been a saint."

Kamilah Cole's So Let Them Burn is a YA fantasy with dragons, set in a queenormative world. The two POVs follow two sisters, five years after a war against a colonizing empire wherein the younger sister was chosen by the gods of their small nation to protect themselves against the invasion. The choice to sidestep the big war and begin with five years later, as reconstruction is well under way and the young nation opens up peace talks, is a strong one, that translates into the author having to infodump frequently, but it's done deftly enough and the exposition isn't too clunky.

The crown jewel of the book is certainly the relationship between the two sisters. Their love for each other is what motivates them and pulls the plot in certain directions; it's what sets things in motion. Twists and turns abound as the two of them are separated and drawn to harsh choices that might change the world, but the execution isn't strong and the choices, the twists, the revelations, feel unearned. We don't have time to get attached, to feel the sense of betrayal and the outrage, because the characters go from one situation to the other without letting the tale settle properly. The dragon school isn't explored, save from off-hand remarks and off-screen development that means one thing that was plainly meant to be an emotional beat towards the end falls flat.

The romantic relationships feel unearned, too, at least Faron's sudden attachment to a boy she's mistrusted for most of the book. Elara's slow burn with an enemy is handled better, with the two girls growing closer as circumstances force proximity and an alliance forming out of necessity.

The magic system was intriguing, as were the glimpses of the supernatural and the way they were linked to Jewish folklore; we have demons and angels and the name of God. There are horror elements, in a sense, but the deepest horror is human depravity. The worldbuilding is interesting, with gods and dragons and a magic system that allows one to call upon the spirits of ancestors, and a darker magic being explored. The revelations about the past make for an intriguing lore, and the abrupt ending keeps the reader on their toes.

So Let Them Burn is a sweet YA debut, perfect for young readers.

✨ 3.5 stars