We Set the Dark on Fire

by Tehlor Kay Mejia

[sarahjay]

At about 60% through this I started writing down my notes for a review so I'm just going to post those here.

- Pretty good first draft
- The second half of the book is semi-competent with moments of good writing here and there
- This book is trying to solve manifest destiny, classism, immigration policy, LGBTQ prejudice, and misogyny. The list of things about which it actually has anything new or interesting to say has nothing on it
- The romance is cute but I just wish everything around it was better
- Am I too cynical for YA suddenly
- I felt like I was reading The Belles, but slightly better, but still not good
- Sorry to drag The Belles again in an unrelated review
- There is next to no buildup for anything that happens. It feels like we started at the end of a series. Which by the way, it's a series, of course, because a YA dystopian-esque book can't just be one book, it has to be spread like the thinnest layer of butter across AT LEAST two books, whether there is enough material there for that or not (there is not with this one)
- There's a moment in the second half of the book where the protagonist is basically like "I think being greedy and prejudiced is bad, and people need to recognize their privilege, and I hope everyone can someday live in a world where people are allowed to love whomever they want," and then she came out of the book and stood in my living room asking me if I Got It, or if she needed to explain it some more
- I have got to stop falling for blurbs that say "this book is like The Handmaid's Tale" because no book that says that has ever been like The Handmaid's Tale, it does not in any way have that "vibe"
- I mean I guess read it if you want. The cover is cool.