Review: We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia

We Set the Dark on Fire (We Set the Dark on Fire, #1)
At the Medio School for Girls, distinguished young women are trained for one of two roles in their polarized society. Depending on her specialization, a graduate will one day run a husband’s household or raise his children, but both are promised a life of comfort and luxury, far from the frequent political uprisings of the lower class. Daniela Vargas is the school’s top student, but her bright future depends upon no one discovering her darkest secret—that her pedigree is a lie. Her parents sacrificed everything to obtain forged identification papers so Dani could rise above her station. Now that her marriage to an important politico’s son is fast approaching, she must keep the truth hidden or be sent back to the fringes of society, where famine and poverty rule supreme.

On her graduation night, Dani seems to be in the clear, despite the surprises that unfold. But nothing prepares her for all the difficult choices she must make, especially when she is asked to spy for a resistance group desperately fighting to bring equality to Medio. Will Dani cling to the privilege her parents fought to win for her, or to give up everything she’s strived for in pursuit of a free Medio—and a chance at a forbidden love?

Oh. My. Gosh. Lush worldbuilding and LatinX influence and LGBT and characters that I love love loved... where has this book been all of my life.

This was - admittedly - a slow build for me... the first few chapters where Dani is preparing to 'graduate' and before she gets into Mateo's house were slow going and I didn't get into it until afterwards, when the rebellion storyline came into swing and Dani's incedicision and the romance with Carmen.

But when all of that hit me... trust, I was sold.

Okay, lets take this bit by bit. There were parts which could have been a little more fleshed out for me. Mateo, for example, is a cookie cutter two-dimensional mean guy. This made it had for us to feel any loyalty to us and whilst this is probably what Mejia intended, it would have been a good arc to follow. It made Dani and Carmen's romance less challenged - I mean don't get me wrong, there were enough challenges along the way, but there could have been more! Still though, the fleshed out political storylines and the growth between Dani and Carmen to the point where they became the OTP of the year for me. Yes, it was great.

The ending left me gagging for more... so I can only say that it is a wonderful, wonderful spark of luck that I have an eArc for 'We Unleash the Merciless Storm' just waiting for me to get into.

I am so ready for it.



Book released 26th February 2019 by Katherine Tegen
Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review

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