Reviews with content warning for Grief - So Let Them Burn

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole

17 reviews

clockworkstars's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

"Faron Vincent avait été une menteuse bien avant d'être une sainte"

3☆|5

Tout d'abord, je tiens à remercier Netgalley france et hachette romans pour l'envoi du service presse numérique du premier tome de cette duologie :)

Avant de commencer le roman, il m'attirait beaucoup. En effet, vous me dites dragons, relation entre deux sœurs, fantasy d'inspiration jamaïcaine et un roman qui se passe 5 ans après la guerre ? Vous m'avez dans la poche, je suis intriguée et je veux en savoir plus (bon okay, j'étais surtout convaincue après avoir entendu le mot dragon). Je me suis donc lancée dans ce roman avec des attentes, pas forcément élevées, mais des attentes malgré tout. Et malheureusement, là où ma lecture n'a pas été trop désagréable, elle n'a pas été formidable non plus.

On suit ici Faron et Elara Vincent, cinq ans après la guerre gagné par leur pays. La plus jeune est une héroïne de guerre et peut entrer en contact direct avec les divinités de son peuple, pendant que la seconde veut se démarquer de l'ombre de sa sœur et planifie de s'engager dans l'armée du Ciel, pour piloter un "drake" une machine volante et continuer à servir sa reine. Seulement, la maigre paix est bousculée lorsqu'une nouvelle guerre menace. En effet, Elara se retrouve liée à un dragon du peuple ennemi. Nous suivons alors en alternance les deux sœurs, alors qu'elles tentent de rompre le lien et d'empêcher une autre guerre.

Les idées de ce roman étaient honnêtement bien, l'autrice avait ici de bons concepts, et a réussi à en exploiter correctement certains. En effet, le world building m'a semblé intéressant et j'ai apprécié le système de magie et d'invocation utilisée par les sœurs Vincent et le peuple de Saint-Irie de manière plus générale. De plus, j'ai particulièrement apprécié les dragons, et les informations fournies par le roman quant à leur existence au sein du peuple Langlois.

Cependant, lorsque l'on passe à la pratique… et bien cela se complique. En effet, j'ai tout d'abord mis un très long moment à rentrer dans le roman. Cela est sans doute partiellement dû à des raisons personnelles et non purement au roman, mais il m'a fallu un bon 40 % avant d'être réellement investie dans l'histoire. Je n'ai pas particulièrement accroché à la plume, cela ne m'a donc pas aidé à me raccrocher au fil de l'histoire. Cependant, je me dois de reconnaître que cela était dynamique, et que l'alternance de point de vue a son charme.

Ensuite, une fois dedans, j'ai pu apprécier l'écriture des deux sœurs. Je n'ai pas grand-chose à redire dessus, elles étaient bien développées et leur relation était intéressante. Également, j'ai apprécié leur différence ! De plus, si Faron a pu m'agacer par moment, son personnage fait tout à fait sens. Mon problème vient du fait qu'en-dehors des deux sœurs, et bien, je ne me suis pas vraiment attachée. En effet, les autres personnages m'ont semblé léviter autour d'elles, mais nous en apprenant fort peu sur eux, j'aurais aimé les voir être un peu plus développés. Quant aux deux relations amoureuses, je n'ai pas accroché. Elles sont certes à l'arrière-plan, mais m'ont semblées un peu rapides ? Cela manquait de profondeur à mon goût.

Mon dernier problème avec ce roman provient de la fin. En effet, j'ai évoqué plus tôt que l'exécution des idées laissait légèrement à désirer, et bien cela se ressent dans cette fin. En effet, cela était brouillon, un peu précipité ? C'est le premier roman de l'autrice et malheureusement cela s'est beaucoup ressenti. Cela semblait un peu comme si l'autrice ne savait pas comment conclure son premier tome, par conséquent tout est allé très vite avec une exécution qui m'a semblée brouillonne. Les idées étaient là, mais ne sont pas bien ressorties.

Quant à l'inspiration jamaïcaine du roman, je ne peux personnellement pas m'exprimer. Cependant bookishrealm sur Goodread a pu souligner que les inspirations jamaïcaines du roman restaient fortement à la surface et que l'autrice aurait pu aller plus en profondeur. Si vous comprenez l'anglais, je vous invite à aller lire son avis sur Goodreads (il est parmi les premiers.) ou regarder la partie de vidéo où elle en parle sur sa chaîne YouTube (Worst & Best Books of 2024 | Quarter #1 par Bookish Realm, à partir de 7 minutes). D'autres avis que j'ai pu lire ont également souligné que l'inspiration restait à la surface.

En somme, une lecture qui reste agréable, mais qui n'est pas transcendante, on m'avait promis des dragons et je repars satisfaite de mes dragons. C'est un roman de fantasy qui peut par conséquent tout à fait plaire, si l'on ne place pas la barre trop haut ou que l'on découvre la fantasy. Si l'on arrive à rentrer dedans, il se lit assez bien et la fin est suffisante que pour donner envie de découvrir le second tome.

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likeagilmoregirl's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

So Let Them Burn is everything I look for in a fantasy novel; complex characters, stunning world building, slow-burn romance, and dragons. Lots and lots of dragons.

I loved every page of this book. Following alternating points of view between sisters Elara and Faron, the story dives into the aftermath of a war they both fought in at very young ages. Faron, playing to the Chosen One trope as the Childe Empyrean, continues her life post-war with the ability to channel the gods. Meanwhile, Elara desires to step out of her sister’s shadow to help people in her own way. But when a summons from their queen leads to Elara being bound to a dragon and rider from their war enemy, chaos ensues.

This story, in many ways, was a true coming of age for Elara. She has my whole heart. Seeing her change and grow throughout the book had me cheering and crying. She was a truly refreshing character, while Faron was frustratingly arrogant (and maybe a little too relatable lol).

And the dragons!? I had so much fun reading the chapters where the riders and dragons interacted with each other. It was so cool to see the bonds between the dragons and riders.

I cannot say enough good things about the magic system and world building inspired by Jamaican culture either. It’s so good. The author’s talent really shines in the details of the pages in between major plot points. Every paragraph felt carefully crafted, progressing the story, but also planting seeds to grow the understanding of identity and motives of the people within the pages.

I cannot wait to read more by this author. Meanwhile, I’ll be recommending this book to everyone I know.

*Huge thanks to Kamilah Cole, Little, Brown Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of the ebook So Let Them Burn for review.*

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bucketsjen's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

It was alright, but not as good as I'd been hoping. It's YA and feels like it.

There's some cool mythology, an interesting story, and it does some things in a way I haven't seen before (picking up the story of a child Chosen One as they're moving into an adult, dealing with PTSD and being a former savior who now uses her powers to cheat at footraces against other teenagers). There's themes of anticolonialism and the importance of connection. All of that was good.

Some other things are predictable (the romance setups most particularly, but I didn't mind that).

There's multiple instances where the writer had things happen off page for reasons I didn't get. One chapter, a character is keeping a major secret from the others and stressing about their bad reactions if they found out. Next chapter, the other POV character is reflecting on being told the secret and how they'd been slightly concerned but otherwise didn't react. Why the build up if there wasn't going to be any explosion or fallout, and why have it happen off-page instead of being an actual scene?

There's also a lot of "how does that work?" moments - that dragon is way too powerful for anyone to have a hope of defeating but also now a character is basically solo-ing it and winning, there's a massive battle going on but two characters have the chance to completely catch each up on what's going on, stuff like that.

The ending isn't an ending, which was exasperating. It's a complete cliffhanger and none of the plotlines or character development got resolved - this very much was a "part one", but the second book isn't out yet. And really, a book should be able to stand on its own and have its own story even if it exists within a larger tale. This didn't - it felt like I only read half a book.

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

4.0

It took a little effort to get into this, but the story started to flow about 25 percent of the way in. I liked the characters quite a bit, especially Ilora. I think the book could have started stronger if it hadn't yada yada-ed the whole war that took place before the book. There was a lot of exposition that could have been more engaging in a show, not tell model.

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britreads's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was an okay start to this YA series. I don't have any strong feelings now that I've finished it, hence the 3 star rating.

Things I liked:

I liked the dragons in here. I wished we got more with the dragons actually. There are several different types of dragons and they have their own traits based on their type. I hope in the future book (or books since I'm unsure how long this series will be), I hope we learn more about the dragons and the history of dragons in this world.
I liked the characters individually, but I didn't have strong feelings about the different romantic pairing. I related most to Elara and Aveline. Like with the dragons, I hope we get more of Aveline in future books.
I want more depth from the magic systems, but I like the introduction we got here. Astral summoning is really cool and I think there are opportunities for complexity that were missed. (Like how do the summoned spirits feel since they can't rest and serve as a tool even after death?)

Things I didn't care for:

I wanted more of the dragon-riding school. So much of what we learn about Heartstone is shared after the fact. We never see Elara in her classes or interacting with her peers outside of her den. We also get so much of San Irie and so little of life in the Langley Empire.
This novel deals with war, imperialism and colonialism, yet I felt like it was a surface level approach. There are child soldiers in here and no one seems phased by that. What does it say that a country fighting for independence relied on and continues to rely on children and just turned 18 adults to fill out their military? The faces of the Langley Empire are the Warwicks and it feels like if they're removed, Langley won't be so bad. But that's not how empire works. There is no deeper wrestling with the many different systems and organizations that prop up a violent, colonial power.
As much as I liked Aveline...she has GOT to get some advisors in between this book and the next one. Some of her decisions were TERRIBLE. In fact, a lot of characters make poor decisions.
For some reason, the characters felt so young. Elara and Faron are 18 and 17 respectively, but they felt like they were closer to 14 and 13.

I will probably read the second book when it is released. And I hope the sequel dives deeper into its overall themes.

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cadence99's review

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4.25

I really enjoyed this book, and, having not realized it was a series, am now deeply upset I have to wait for a resolution.
The beautiful strong relationships between characters really stood out for me. I felt the connections between them drive their actions in such a way that kept me invested in their success. I can’t wait to see where this journey leads.

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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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natraf_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

WOW. A debut novel from Cole and an exceptional one at that!
I loved the sister relationship between Elara and Faron. These sisters have had to face SO much so young.
The trauma from war has greatly affected these girls as they fought to save their country as actual children!!
Still incredibly young, our sisters now find themselves at the forefront of the nations newest disaster. I loved watching Elara grow and become more confident in a world way different from her own. I loved seeing Faron forced to grow up and acknowledge that she has been selfish her whole life, and that being the empyrean is a much bigger commitment than just the title.

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metaphorsandmisc's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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cryosphinx's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

What a unique spin in the YA fantasy genre, I loved the magic system and it being ancestor based. It covers tough topics such as colonialism with grace and it's clear that Cole wrote about her background with such passion but incorporated it into magic so well. I loved the sisters and their dynamic and loved the take on"I will burn the world for her" being for a sibling.

A few things I was anticipating but didn't get was background if the previous war (touched upon but not in heavy detail of what exactly Faron did), the dragons (I wanted more, MORE dragon dialogue and more than one dragon talking).

It does end on a cliffhanger and it's such a cliff hanger I very much pulled a Zuni "That's it? Where's the rest of it?!" I want the next book yesterday.

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