We Set the Dark on Fire

by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Overview

In this daring and romantic fantasy debut perfect for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale and Latinx authors Zoraida Córdova and Anna-Marie McLemore, society wife-in-training Dani has a great awakening after being recruited by rebel spies and falling for her biggest rival.

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. Both paths promise 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 pedigree is a lie. She must keep the truth hidden or be sent back to the fringes of society.

And school couldn’t prepare her for the difficult choices she must make after graduation, 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 will she give up everything she’s strived for in pursuit of a free Medio—and a chance at a forbidden love?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062691316
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/26/2019
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.21(d)
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Tehlor Kay Mejia is an author and Oregon native in love with the alpine meadows and evergreen forests of her home state, where she lives with her daughter. We Set the Dark on Fire is her first novel. You can follow her on Twitter @tehlorkay.

Editorial Reviews

Tehlor Kay Mejia has fashioned a gripping tale of romance and rebellion. Dani captivated me and held my heart in a vice grip all the way to this book’s stunning conclusion.

Tochi Onyebuchi

We Set the Dark on Fire simmers with political revolution and forbidden love between two powerful young women—I couldn’t put it down.

Audrey Coulthurst

A vivid tale of political intrigue, power, and resistance that will thrill the hearts of readers.

New York Times bestselling author Traci Chee

With its achingly slow-burn romance and incisive examination of power structures, this is a masterfully constructed novel, made all the more impressive as it’s a debut.

ALA Booklist (starred review)

★ 11/01/2018
Gr 8 Up—As the top Primera of the Medio School for Girls, Dani has spent the last five years trying to forget the world her parents fought hard to leave behind—the world beyond the border wall, where people are dying of hunger and illness. Dani has learned to check her emotions and prepare to be her husband's equal, a partner who will help him in all things political. Then she is paired with longtime enemy Carmen Santos, a Segunda who, with her beauty and grace, completes the third side of the marriage triangle to Mateo. When Sota, a member of La Voz—a group seeking to bring down the government that keeps people like Dani's family in the margins—saves Dani by providing her with legitimate documents to keep the government from discovering her true origins, Dani becomes entwined in the group's goals, using her role as Mateo's wife to pass on his plans to the rebellion. As Dani becomes more involved with La Voz, she struggles to keep her feelings for Carmen at bay—emotions that, in Medio, are forbidden. Intricate mythology sets the scene for a cast of characters full of complex motivations. Readers will find themselves drawn to a richly constructed world full of fantasy and diversity, with a mystery that will keep them guessing until the very end. VERDICT A must-have fantasy filled with action and political intrigue.—Selenia Paz, Harris County Public Library, Houston, TX

School Library Journal

★ 2018-11-12

Power, truth, and lies intertwine dangerously in Mejia's debut novel about oppression and resistance with a cunning Latinx teenage heroine.

Medio, an island nation divided by a wall, is literally in between extremes: "On one side there was the might of a nation. On the other, desperation." Clear parallels to Mexico in imagery and themes abound. Born on the wrong side of the wall without legal papers, 17-year-old brown-skinned Daniela "Dani" Vargas graduates after 5 years of diligent training at an elite finishing school to join the powerful Garcia family as their son's Primera. In this well-constructed world, an ancient mythology forms the basis for a practice in which husbands have two wives each: Primeras are quick-witted and emotionally restrained while Segundas are brave and passionate. When Dani's Primera training falters in the face of her ruthless, power-hungry husband, her past overwhelms her present, and she is recruited to spy for the resistance. Excerpts from the Medio School for Girls rulebook precede each chapter, a juxtaposition that effectively reveals Dani's conflicted self-awakening. An action-packed third-person narrative, smart dialogue, and lush descriptions offer readers a fresh and steely heroine in a contemporary coming-of-age story. This well-crafted fantasy offers a mirror that reflects themes in our own difficult world, namely privilege, immigration, and individualism versus the common good. A queer subplot with sensual tenderness adds rich complexity to the story.

Thrilling and timely. (Fantasy. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews

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