We Are the Fire
Swoon Reads/Macmillan
Out Now!
As electrifying as it is heartbreaking, Sam Taylor's explosive fantasy debut We Are the Fire is perfect for fans of An Ember in the Ashes and the legend of Spartacus.
In the cold, treacherous land of Vesimaa, children are stolen from their families by a cruel emperor, forced to undergo a horrific transformative procedure, and serve in the army as magical fire-wielding soldiers. Oksana and Pran—both taken from their homeland at a young age—only have each other to hold onto in this heartless place.
Pran dreams of one day rebelling against their oppressors and destroying the empire; Oksana only dreams of returning home and creating a peaceful life for them both.
When they discover the emperor has a new, more terrible mission than ever for their kind, Oksana and Pran vow to escape his tyranny once and for all. But their methods and ideals differ drastically, driving a wedge between them. Worse still, they both soon find that the only way to defeat the monsters that subjugated them may be to become monsters themselves.
Content Warnings for We Are the Fire
We Are the Fire
Swoon Reads/Macmillan
Out Now!
Madsi the True
Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, Coming Fall 2024
MADSI’S 11TH TRUTH:
If you must knock on a neighbor’s door after dark,
knock three times so they know a person waits outside.
Only ghosts knock once.
Twelve-year-old Madsi is obsessed with truths. She loves adventure, but only in the stories her sister Lisbet told her late at night in their Norwegian cabin. Madsi never expected Lisbet to become one of those tales. But one year has passed since her sister snuck out to watch the treacherous Northern Lights, only to be snatched up in the sky, or so superstition says.
When the Lights reappear, Madsi insists that they free Lisbet, and someone does fall to earth: a girl, Torin, who demands to be returned. Though Madsi fears the unknown wilds, the girls journey together with a village boy named Espen, desperate for some adventures of his own, to find a witch who can help Torin... and bring Lisbet home.
Yet some creatures aren’t as horrible as the stories claim, including the Lights: a haven for girls who chose them. But the lights must choose you back. While crossing forests, mountains, and a Viking graveyard, Madsi relies on the folktales she grew up with and the truths she hangs onto, as well as her surprising new friendships, to fight for her sister and ultimately find herself.
Three friends. Two sisters. One wild landscape.
