After spending the last five years at the prestigious Medio School for Girls, 17-year-old Daniela Vargas is ready to graduate at the top of her class. But instead of heading to college, Dani's next step is becoming the Primera, or first wife, of the capital's most promising young politico.

Tehlor Kay Mejia's debut dystopian novel is set on an island where a border wall divides its citizens, and where ancient folklore prescribes two wives for the government's elite rulers: a logical Primera who runs the household and a more sensual Segunda who bears the children.

Dani's path should be straightforward, and she should enjoy the Latinx-inspired delicacies and life of luxury that come with being a Primera, but secrets from her past threaten to reveal her true (lower) social status and destroy her family, who are from the "wrong" side of the wall. Adding to the story's tension are revolutionaries who want Dani to join their cause as a spy, gather intel on the Medio School and secretly aid the impoverished and illegal border crossers. With blackmail, clandestine meetings between Dani and the resistance, riots, a rival Segunda and more smoldering intrigue to deal with, Dani's decisions aren't always clear-cut. Mistrust, red herrings and plenty of twists and turns color the path as the once no-nonsense, go-with-the-flow Dani tries to find strength, passion and perhaps even love.

Although this is a fantasy, Mejia's rich world building results in plenty of scorching, believable scenes. Reminiscent of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, We Set the Dark on Fire burns with parallels to today's biggest news headlines. Readers will walk away with thought-provoking questions to ponder, and the story's ending will ignite further fascination and hopes for a series.

In this debut starring Latina teens, Mejia spins a complicated tale of love, intrigue, moral compromise, and action, with a prescient sensibility that echoes current headlines and political issues. In an island nation divided by a wall, where tradition dictates that upper-class women marry out of duty and that every man has two wives, two school rivals are matched with the ambitious scion of a political family. Danielle Vargas, 17, has trained for years to be the perfect Primera, the ideal intellectual partner for her husband-to-be, while her friend-turned-foe, Carmen Santos, was born to be a Segunda, the passionate nurturer of the family. But the husband they must share, Mateo Garcia, is cold, domineering, secretive, and utterly uninterested in Danielle's desire to help. When a revolutionary group uncovers her greatest secret—she's from the impoverished side of the walled country and holds forged identity papers—they blackmail her into spying on the Garcia family. Even as Danielle becomes further embroiled in conspiracy and subversion, she and Carmen forge an unexpected and intense relationship. The first in a duology, this fierce, feminist novel throws memorable characters into a provocative set of circumstances, and the constant twists will leave readers yearning for the conclusion. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Feb.)

Gr 8 Up—As the top Primera of the Medio School for Girls, Dani has spent the last five years trying to forget the world her parents fought hard to leave behind—the world beyond the border wall, where people are dying of hunger and illness. Dani has learned to check her emotions and prepare to be her husband's equal, a partner who will help him in all things political. Then she is paired with longtime enemy Carmen Santos, a Segunda who, with her beauty and grace, completes the third side of the marriage triangle to Mateo. When Sota, a member of La Voz—a group seeking to bring down the government that keeps people like Dani's family in the margins—saves Dani by providing her with legitimate documents to keep the government from discovering her true origins, Dani becomes entwined in the group's goals, using her role as Mateo's wife to pass on his plans to the rebellion. As Dani becomes more involved with La Voz, she struggles to keep her feelings for Carmen at bay—emotions that, in Medio, are forbidden. Intricate mythology sets the scene for a cast of characters full of complex motivations. Readers will find themselves drawn to a richly constructed world full of fantasy and diversity, with a mystery that will keep them guessing until the very end. VERDICT A must-have fantasy filled with action and political intrigue.—Selenia Paz, Harris County Public Library, Houston, TX