Together We Burn by Isabel Ibañez

(Titan Books, 2022)

Reviewed by John Dodd

I have neither time not patience for matadors, I thought I understood the nature and pageantry of it, but now I see that there were so many things about it that I didn’t understand.

Now imagine if it were not bulls that they fought, but dragons…

Zarela lost her mother at a young age to a dragon that got loose, and she lives on with her father in Hispalia, where he continues to work as a Dragonodor for the delectation of a heartless crowd. Then comes the betrayal, when her house is struck down by a series of seemingly random events, her father is left crippled, and she must stand as her own woman against the tyranny of a patriarchal society.

She meets Arturo, a man with more to him that meets the eye, and through her own will, she sets out to become a Dragonodor herself to fight for her house and the honour of her family. What she does not know is that he holds his own secrets, as do most of the characters in this book, and as time unfolds, so do the secrets and with them, the truth of a betrayal most foul.

I had not known what to expect from this. I liked the idea of the book, of the concept as written, but I wasn’t expecting the passion that fills every part of this story. Zarela is a fierce creature, every bit as fiery as the dragons themselves, and her impetuous nature and refusal to back down from anything are a wonder to behold. The world is fully fleshed out, the dragons are vivid creatures of nightmare, not pets in any way, not domesticated, but wild and savage beasts.

And yet beauty may tame the savage heart.

I refer not to the beauty of the dragon, but to that of Arturo, who is never described in less than radiant tones, as a young girl might see a rugged man, come to her aid. This would, in any other book, have irritated me beyond reasonable recourse, but not here. Here, the descriptions serve only to flesh out the character of Zarela, of her clarity and purpose, but never forgetting her youth and the mistakes that youth makes.

What I liked most of all was that there were no perfect characters in this, and while the story races on at stunning pace, there are twists and turns enough to keep you wondering all the way to the end. When the truth of everything is revealed, friends become enemies, enemies turn out never to have had hate for each other in the first place, and what seemed malicious was only bureaucracy hard at work.

This was the beating heart of the book, the vivid characters and pacing, like a fight in the arena, the misdirection, the moves, the practise against the passion, and the need for right in a world where so much seems wrong. I have a basic understanding of Spanish, enough for me to understand the points where the book resorts to that language when English would not be sufficient, and the story was so much more alive as a result of that.

When I was younger, my little sister watched Dirty Dancing, she watched it so much that I know the plot backwards, and I couldn’t help but consider that film when I was reading through this, as there are so many parallels between the two. Maybe that’s the caution I have, because that film may not have been to everyone’s taste, but that film was two people in a bad holiday resort in the rain…

I tried to think of something that might be suitably witty to that extent, but what do we have here? Dirty Dragons? Dragon Dancing?

Whatever, this book is superb, amongst the best I’ve read this year, you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not reading it.

Review from BSFA Review 22 - Download your copy here.