Author: Isabel Ibañez
Published: 2022
Target audience: 13 - 18 years
My mother died screaming my name.
Dragon fighting, forbidden love, flamenco, and sabotage: ‘Together We Burn’ is an enthralling young adult fantasy novel of a dancer’s determination to save her ancestral home. Set in fantasy world inspired by medieval Spain and beset by dragons, ‘Together We Burn’ is a tale of personal adversity, cultural conflicts, and legacy.
Eighteen-year-old Zarela Zalvidar is a talent flamenco dancer and the daughter of the most famous dragon fighter in Hispalia. People come from far to watch his fights in the La Giralda arena. But during one show disaster strikes, and in the carnage Zarela’s life changes in an instant.
With her father injured, the public furious, and facing punishment from the Dragon Guild, Zarela must find a way to keep La Giralda - her home and future inheritance - safe from scheming hands. With options running out and the infuriatingly handsome dragon hunter Arturo refusing to help, Zarela can’t afford to take no for an answer.
But even if Arturo agrees, there’s someone out to ruin the Zalvidar family, and Zarela will have to do whatever it takes to protect her home and the lives of everyone around her.
Review:
‘Together We Burn’ is such an colourful and exciting story. Written by Bolivian-American author Isabel Ibañez, this book blends fantastical elements with grounded real life challenges in a relatable and wonderfully engrossing read. From the very beginning, we are introduced to Zarela at a pivotal point in her life. With her father being a famous dragon fighter and her deceased mother a beloved flamenco dancer, Zarela has legacy to uphold. She and her father are trying to adjust to life without her mother, and despite taking on the role of La Giralda’s dancer, she struggles with knowledge of that she is not wanted for who she is, but only because she reminds people of her mother. Then, disaster strikes.
The devastation forces Zarela to take charge as her father is dangerously injured and consequences land on her shoulders to fix. She must come up with funds to pay fines and compensation, figure out what happened, and find a way to save her family home, legacy, and the livelihoods of everyone at La Giralda. Her journey is powerfully sympathetic and explores many issues that reader may have experienced themselves. There are the personal struggles of having to take up responsibilities when you’re not ready, needing to sell keepsakes of lost loved ones to come up with money to survive, being socially shunned, and having to make decisions for others that will irreversibly change their life. It also depicts dangers to livelihood in the form of damage to reputation, loss of business and clients, financial insecurity, public disgrace, and corporate sabotage. These elements all work together in a driving tale that you won’t want to put down.
In addition to real life adversities, ‘Together We Burn’ is a story that discusses cultural inheritance, inspired by the author’s Spanish heritage. Through ‘Together We Burn’, Ibañez explores the difficulty in reconciling the three thousand year old tradition and art form of bullfighting with the reality of animal cruelty. Ibañez acknowledges that in the fictional land of Hispalia, dragons are a dangerous and active threat to humans in a way bulls are not, requiring people to defend themselves. Yet in using fantasy as a lens to explore reality, Ibañez asks how a society might move forward while still honouring their past; if traditions can be reinvented and art transformed without being lost.
Finally, ‘Together We Burn’ is a love story with a tantalising forbidden romance. Zarela and Arturo bicker and butt heads as they try to work together, navigating physical attraction and ideological differences as they slowly become closer. But there are secrets and split loyalties lurking below the surface, even as tensions simmer to a burning desire. This is not a slowburn or instalove, but instead a well-paced romance that is alluring and integrates well with the main plot. Readers who enjoy a balance of romance and plot-driven adventure will have an excellent time with this book.
Featuring a gripping, race-against-time mystery and Spanish language and touchstones, ‘Together We Burn’ is a vibrant YA story of identity, cultural inheritance, and love. I definitely recommend giving this one a read!
