So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole | Book Review

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So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole
Series: Divine Traitors #1
Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on January 16, 2024
Genres: YA Fantasy, LGBT, BIPOC
Pages: 400
Format: Hardback
Source: Purchased

Content Warnings: War, Racism, PTSD, Death
Rating:

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.

So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole was the first of many pre-orders to arrive this year. As many of you may be aware, at the end of 2023, another debut (white) author left a slew of negative reviews on several BIPOC authors' upcoming books, essentially review-bombing them to prevent sales and competition. Needless to say, she was quickly caught and dealt with appropriately. In response, many readers, myself included, pre-ordered the negatively impacted books to show our support. The first of those was So Let Them Burn.

So Let Them Burn is a dual-perspective story that follows Faron and her sister Elara as they navigate post-war life, the struggles of sustained liberation post-colonization, and the continuous threats to their country's independence while simultaneously growing up into their own. It's obvious this book is loosely based on Britain's occupation of Jamaica. Cole does an amazing job addressing tough issues like anti-colonization, anti-imperialism, collective liberation, anti-racism, PTSD, and the stress associated with perfectionism (a symptom of white supremacy) using a fantasy setting and teen characters to appeal to younger audiences. I saw some reviewers criticize the characters for making impulsive or stupid choices, saying they couldn't connect to them, but that is the point. The characters are children, whose frontal lobes have not fully developed, and therefore are impulsive and reckless. This book is specifically written with teens and young adults in mind, not 30-somethings like myself, to introduce the aforementioned topics. Cole should be commended for presenting such concepts in an easily accessible way, while also including topics of intersectionality and white accompliceship. 

Elara is a lesbian, struggling with her attraction to her co-rider, while her best friend Reeve, a Langlish (white) traitor, struggles with his place in a world that hates him. Reeve is the picture of a good accomplice, one who uses his privilege to challenge oppressive systems even at his own expense. He listens instead of speaking, understands the rage of the San Irie natives, and takes responsibility for his mistakes. I loved that Cole included Reeve's character, not as a white savior but as an accomplice. He continuously uplifts and supports Elara and Faron, even when it puts his life in danger. It is so important that our youth have multiple role models to draw from, including white accomplices like Reeve.

There are dragons and dragon riding, epic world-building, a diverse magic system, an unbreakable bond between sisters, a morally gray villain, and cute romantic relationships all wrapped into one tale. While I enjoyed that this book took place after San Irie's war for independence, it would have been nice to have more background information to put the current story into perspective. We receive flashbacks through Faron and sometimes through Elara, and some short history lessons while Elara attends the dragon riding academy, but it provides a very disjointed version of the past and the events of the war. This makes it difficult for the reader to have a good understanding of the characters' personalities and motivations.

Overall, I loved So Let Them Burn, and devoured it in a matter of days. It was slow at times, especially in the beginning, but it quickly picked up and left on a huge cliffhanger. It was clever and complex, fun and exciting. If that sounds like something you would like, I highly encourage you to pick up So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole.