So Let Them Burn

By: Kamilah Cole

Narrated by: Keylor Leigh, Kamali Minter

Whip-smart and immersive, this Jamaican-inspired fantasy follows a gods-blessed heroine who’s forced to choose between saving her sister or protecting her homeland—perfect for fans of Iron Widow and The Priory of the Orange Tree.

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.

"By turns hopeful and devastating, So Let Them Burn is a masterful debut with a blazing heart. I was captivated from beginning to end by Cole’s sharp, clever prose and by her protagonists—two remarkable sisters with an unforgettable bond."—Chelsea Abdullah, author of The Stardust Thief

©2024 Kamilah Cole (P)2024 Little, Brown Young Readers

Critic reviews

Morally ambiguous and absolutely magical Black girls take the fate of their world into their own hands in this action-packed, cleverly crafted fantasy that will leave readers clamoring to know what happens next.—Booklist

Via the sisters’ expertly balanced dual POVs, each imbued with a lushly wrought, moving, and action-packed narrative, Cole delivers a raucously enjoyable debut that provides an insightful look into the ways in which violence and colonization can affect a populace long after a war has ended.—Publishers Weekly

Cole’s astute prose brings the world and its characters, who are predominantly Black, to life in refreshing and complex ways as it highlights themes of family, patriotism, war, identity, and sacrifice. An engaging new voice and a Caribbean-inspired fantasy to savor.—Kirkus

BookTok led me here... I'm glad

As the headline suggests, I stumbled upon this book through BookTok drama. And this time, it did not disappoint me. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. The storytelling was excellent, although some parts were a bit slow for me. However, it's a slow-burn story, and when it picked up the pace, it really got exciting. The only thing that disappointed me was the lack of dragons in the book. Given the title of the book, I was expecting more dragons. In my opinion, the book should be called "Let Me Save My Sister" instead. If the author comes up with a sequel book, I will undoubtedly pick it up!

okay

It was good, but it'll be hard to like the main character. If that's a problem, don't read.

Jamaican culture and dragons that’s a first for me!

I love stories with dragons and being Jamaican myself found it cool that it had Jamaican cultural references sprinkled throughout the novel. However, i thought that voice actor could have made a better attempt to say the Jamaican words better and the description of the food was explained in a very white-washed way. Still a good book though.

The Ending Could’ve Been Solved With Open Communication

Not long enough. Powers could’ve been explored more. Dragons were kinda in the book. The whole ending could’ve have been averted with one simple conversation.

A fair start

A good start for a new author. I enjoyed many parts of this book, particularly the characters and the theme of forgiveness, how hard that can be. I did not like the ending, and that it seemed to take a while for the story to pick up. If i do read the second book, i hope the writer corrects this.

The love of two sisters

I enjoy the book, I didn’t like how it ended… but I would recommend it to others

Why are people mad?

The basis of the book is sending dragons from a different plane back to their realm by way of emotional and relatable narrations from two sisters while including subjects like colonialism, racism, and sexism.
Reasons I liked it:
1. Excellent world building
2. Caused self-reflection
3. Kept my distractible brain engaged
4. Story was deep with many layers
5. People mad about the lack of dragons need to re-read the book
6. Great narration with distinguishable voices for each character
7. Maintained universal laws (physics) and all deviations were explained/accounted for
8. Started in what felt like the middle of the story which accelerated the action to earlier in the text, not relying on half the book being background info
9. My pattern recognition wasn’t able to solve the mystery/there was an unexpected ending

Wow

A great book. I am so ready to read the next one! WOW
Was not expecting the ending