Singapore, 1972: Newly independent, a city of immigrants grappling for power in a fast-modernizing world. Here, gangsters are the last conduits of the gods their ancestors brought with them, and the back alleys where they fight are the last place where magic has not been assimilated and legislated away. Loner schoolgirl Adeline Siow has never needed more company than the flame she can summon at her fingertips. But when her mother dies in a house fire with a butterfly seared onto her skin and Adeline hunts down a girl she saw in a back-alley barfight—a girl with a butterfly tattoo–she discovers she’s far from alone.
Ang Tian is a Red Butterfly: one of a gang of girls who came from nothing, sworn to a fire goddess and empowered to wreak vengeance on the men that abuse and underestimate them. Adeline’s mother led a double life as their elusive patron, Madam Butterfly. Now that she’s dead, Adeline’s bloodline is the sole thing sustaining the goddess. Between her search for her mother’s killer and the gang’s succession crisis, Adeline becomes quickly entangled with the girls’ dangerous world, and even more so with the charismatic Tian. But no home lasts long around here.
"Transformation was artistry until it was put upon you."
Wen-yi Lee's When They Burned the Butterfly is a surprisingly mature YA historical fantasy that details a gang war, doubling down as a blood-filled sapphic coming of age story and a love letter to the city of Singapore. The main character is a grief-stricken girl burning with rage and with the willpower to settle into a role and take on the reins, and it's refreshing to read about such an unlikable, sympathetic, competent character.
Taking inspiration from a real Singaporean women's gang in the Sixties, the author weaves a tale of sisterhood and the divine, grief and revenge, a tale about finding love and acceptance and letting it go, brimming with violence and tenderness and the jealousy of gods. It's a brutal novel, especially towards the end, and I hesitate to truly call it YA.
The worldbuilding is rich and complex, showing the many faces of Singapore and its postcolonial struggle as people scramble for power and meaning, drawing from old gods of the mainland. The gods, especially the titular Butterfly, are front and center, despite the more subdued beginning.
The characters are perhaps where the book falls a bit short, with so many and so different and so little focus on them, save for the love interest.
When They Burned the Butterfly is a rage-filled epic.
✨ 4 stars