21 upcoming YA book releases we can’t wait to read in 2021

We Are The Fire – Sam Taylor

Sam Taylor’s debut novel We Are the Fire hits shelves this February, and it seems set to fill the Ember in the Ashes-shaped void in your heart after that series concluded this month.

Oksana and Pran were not born fire-eating monsters. But the Vesimaan Empire made them into them anyway.

In this kingdom, certain children are taken from their families and forced to undergo a dangerous transformation, one which turns them to creatures of flame, weapons to be used in the imperial army.

They must burn anyone who opposes the empire… or be incinerated themselves. Their only comforts are each another, and dreams of a life in freedom. But where one wants to achieve that dream through rebellion and overthrowing the empire, the other only desires to go home, and live in peace. As the empire’s attempts at tyranny expand, neither may get what they want.

The official synopsis has more details about the story.

"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. Pran and Oksana―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, Pran and Oksana 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."

We Are The Fire is available on February 16.