We Set the Dark on Fire

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A dystopian fantasy story set into a world that entirely takes place on a large island. The island itself divides into the “Haves” and “Have-nots.” The “Haves” are those that live inside the wall at the center of the island. The “Have-nots” are those that live outside of the wall. We never understand exactly why those that live at the center of the island are considered better. There is some general allusion to a story about gods, but it didn't seem fleshed out enough for me as a reader. From a practical standard, this idea was challenging for me and threw me out of the story a bit. In the real-world, you would need access to the sea for food purposes. Commerce would need to move across the wall in one fashion or another. But, commerce is not directly talked about, but maybe that should be assumed by the reader.

Men of stature get two wives. One that is a Marylyn Monroe type, she is used for child breeding purposes. The other is a Jackie Kennedy type, that is a helpmate and schooled on assisting her husband in his career. One wife to attend to her husband's physical needs while the other attends to her husband's mind and intellect. The division of the two wives responsibilities again hearken back to the legend of the god with two wives.

It is a bleak picture of a world where women are trained and schooled as a commodity and bought by the highest bidder. I feel as a reader; this world could have been more fleshed out more. How did women, in general, think about this system. Was it present in the lower classes of societal hierarchy? I would love to learn more about these relationships.

The heroine of the story is a woman named Daniela. She has trained in the art of being a Primera. All brains and coldness. While her counterpart, the Segunda is all passion and vibrancy. I enjoyed Daniela's perspective and her inner voice. She was a strong character with enough weakness that she is believable.

The issue I had with the story is the romance that comes out of nowhere. It felt shoehorned in. There was no build-up to it, no hinting in previous chapters. BAM romance. I don't want to say more and give away spoilers. Same goes for the ending. I wasn't prepared for it, and it leaves the reader on quite the cliff hanger.

Even with the instant-romance, this is an engaging story, and I enjoyed it. I look forward to the next installment and the continued world-building. It seems like there are quite a few places for this story to go.