The Ones We Burn

Teenage blood-witch Ranka has been chosen to marry the human prince of Isodal in accordance with a treaty meant to protect witch lands throughout the kingdom. Despite the treaty, however, humans have been ravaging the witches’ homes. But when Ranka’s coven, driven by vengeance, encourages her to go through with the marriage and kill the prince, she refuses. After Isodal’s rulers begin abducting witches, and a sudden mysterious illness fells many of her fellow magical kin, Ranka decides to keep up her end of the treaty to save her people. At the palace, she meets the royal Sunra twins—her soft-spoken and fearful betrothed, Prince Galen, and his calculating, beautiful sister, Princess Aramis. As the twins teach Ranka how to control her blood-magic and help her investigate the mysterious disease, she must reckon with her mission to betray the prince she’s befriended and the princess she’s fallen for. A fully fleshed, nuanced cast driven by the need for acceptance, a desire for justice, and a thirst for power propel this adrenaline-fueled debut. Mix’s striking prose skillfully layers the characters’ emotional vulnerabilities without reading as saccharine or sacrificing momentum. Ranka is white; the twins are Black. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Nov.)