We Set the Dark on Fire

Bookseller recommendation

“Pacing and timing set this alternate-world story apart: tension rises as political factions conflict and family trust dissolves, empowerment is hard to find and much, much harder to navigate, religion unwillingly provides narratives used to excuse economic injustice, a border wall looms higher in imagination (and fear) than in reality, and in the middle of it all, Daniela might - might - be falling in love, but is constantly confused by loyalties hiding behind other loyalties. The setting includes an apparently Latin American nation (not real), a religion (also not real), and queer teens (very real). But the stereotypes and glib fantasizing of popular dystopias are absent. The supposedly obligatory pointed allegory isn't there. The pressure to build a world like other worlds must have been enormous for newcomer Mejia, but the author doesn't cave to that pressure. That gives the book an exceptional power. It's a believable, frightening nail-biter of a coming of age story set in a time like our own, when the desire for justice and the desire for love conflict in the minds of young people everywhere.”

— Nialle • The Haunted Bookshop

Bookseller recommendation

“Filled with lore, rebellion, and intricate world building- 'We Set The Dark On Fire' waves between exciting, beautiful, and intense. The writing is simple but not repetitive, it pulls a cultural backdrop with new values stacked around it, and the story in itself makes you continue to question how this will move forward. The relationships are all complex and multifaceted and there is no right or wrong perfection but tense navigation.”

— Riley • Next Chapter Booksellers

Bookseller recommendation

“Tehlor Kay Mejia's imaginative LGBTQ YA debut fantasy starts in mythology and ends in open rebellion. In between she builds a culture we know deeply without knowing at all, and characters trapped in consequences of old choices and trying to invent new ones. While the latter speaks to the novel's appeal to YA readers, the former also pulls in adult fantasy fans. That the story's fantasy world is Latinx adds to its complexity - for some readers this will make the world more haunting in its strangeness while for others it will be more haunting in its familiarity. Kyle Garcia's narration is exactly right. A great summer road trip listen!”

— Elliott • Big Blue Marble Bookstore