We Set the Dark on Fire

Originally reviewed on Cyn's Workshop

What an incredible novel. The most impactful aspect of this novel is the powerful allegory. The novel focuses on high society keeping a wall at the border to keep the poor in poverty and rich, well, rich. This wall prevents people from trying to get a better life. It sends a powerful message to the reader regarding the argument about the wall in the United States of America. This wall isolates, it keeps the wealthy blind to the needs of others, and in this high society, the rich have two wives to maintain the household, functioning similarly to A Handmaid’s Tale. This novel challenges the ideas presented in this novel; it opens the readers’ minds with a compelling narrative and argumentative plot.

Mejia challenges the reader with her storytelling and plot. Furthermore, by using Dani, the story opens the eyes. Dani’s family saved her from poverty by risking everything and spent everything they had in order to give their daughter the best chance at the best life. However, Dani sees the injustices around her, she stops becoming selfish and opens her eyes, seeing a chance to fight against the hierarchy.

It is a powerful message to readers, inspiring them to think about the world and everything in it. It is an inspiring novel made more exceptional by character development and dynamics. The friendship, the romance, and he LGBTQ representation give the novel depth. To see Dani grow from a scared girl to one willing to fight for others at the risk of her life makes an impact on the reader. Then there is the development in her friendship with Carmen. To see the friendship blossom and grow into something more throughout the progression of the novel is beautiful. We Set the Dark on Fire moves at a beautiful pace and brings to life the struggle these women face in trying to conform to social standards and their inner fight to dismantle the corrupt system.

We Set the Dark on Fire is a thoughtful and provoking novel with an incredible message to inspire readers and activists alike. (✮✮✮✮✮)

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“Some girls were worth more than others, some families willing to pay more for the best. But the real winner here was the Medio School for Girls, who sent a dowry to each girl’s family and took a cut for themselves…They tell us the story of the Salt God” that “had started thousands of years ago during a falling-out between two brother-gods…because it’s a simple story…a fanciful story, perpetuated to give people an easy answer…but I don’t think it’s the real story” or the real answer. “I think the real story is greed, and money, and politics. Privilege and prejudice. A system that was created thousands of years ago by people” who believed “That being born with a certain name, and certain privileges, make you inherently higher quality…who wanted to reward those like them and punish everyone else…The real answer was harder. Prejudice. Privilege. Hatred…This was politics. This was humanity, and refusal to recognize it.” Dani wants “to live in a world where love doesn’t mean fear. Where we can survive without forgetting who we are…I want to help build that world…Even if it means I’m not safe or special. Even if I don’t…survive…That’s what it means to fight. It means believing in the movement, and doing whatever it takes to further it, no matter what the consequences may be…My name is Daniela Garcia…You can’t kill me.” “Dani’s father had always told her that secrets made her strong. Her maestras had told her restraint made her strong. But Dani knew now that to crack open what you thought you knew, to allow it to scar with truth, that was what made you truly strong. And it was time now to be stronger than she’d ever been…Dani wasn’t a lone wolf anymore. She had faith. In the girl next to her. In the power they had claimed together.” As a voracious reader, I am a strong advocate of judging a book by its cover. A book’s cover is the first thing people see when they pick up a story and it should take away the reader’s breath at first glance. Thank you Cristina Pagnoncelli for a magical cover to beckon readers into this fantasy duology.