Suitabook

So Let Them Burn

Kamilah Cole

Reading: If graphic violence may be difficult, agree a pause signal before reading. Afterwards, discuss whether power changes responsibility, how liberation affects different communities, and whether protecting family can conflict with public duty.
Themes: Family loyalty and public duty: Faron and Elara occupy opposing social positions after the war, and their relationship is tested by political danger and choices about protecting others. The conflict is presented as a serious moral tension rather than a simple choice, with both personal and collective obligations competing.
Colonial aftermath and freedom: Faron helped liberate her people from a colonising empire, while the story examines continuing loyalties and conflicts after that liberation. The fantasy setting functions as a metaphor for Jamaican colonisation and explores the complications faced by people living with that history.
Power, restraint and violence: The sisters possess supernatural abilities and are tested over how, and whether, to use power and violence in a dangerous conflict involving dragons. The story treats power as both necessary and morally risky, highlighting self-control and the consequences of violent choices.
Worth knowing: The main point to prepare for is violence: human and dragon combat, severe beatings, weapons, fire bombs, supernatural soul hijacking, mass-killing corpses and graphic blood imagery. Romance is limited to kissing and touching between two girls.