Review: “We Unleash the Merciless Storm” by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Release Date:  February 25, 2020
Publisher: Katherine Tegen
Series: We Set the Dark on Fire #2
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian

Description

“Being a part of the resistance group La Voz is an act of devotion and desperation. On the other side of Medio’s border wall, the oppressed class fights for freedom and liberty, sacrificing what little they have to become defenders of the cause.

Carmen Santos is one of La Voz’s best soldiers, taken in when she was an orphaned child and trained to be a cunning spy. She spent years undercover at the Medio School for Girls, but now, with her identity exposed and the island on the brink of civil war, Carmen returns to the only real home she’s ever known: La Voz’s headquarters.

There she must reckon with her beloved leader, who is under the influence of an aggressive new recruit, and with the devastating news that her true love might be the target of an assassination plot. Will Carmen break with her community and save the girl who stole her heart—or fully embrace the ruthless rebel she was always meant to be?”

My Thoughts

Both girls challenge the arrogant, cowardly, and selfish men who failed upward into power and who would spite the nose on their face in order to keep it. And in that challenge Dani and Carmen come to understand that neither side is entirely right or entirely wrong. Revolution is messy but it doesn’t have to be cruel or heedless. A rebellion cannot be won without suffering, but what kind of nation can you hope to build when rebels are turned into cannon fodder and chess pieces? Mejia offers no concrete answers because there are none, or none that will satisfy everyone equally. The answer is yes and no, both and neither, right and wrong, why and why not. The only thing we know for certain is that we must act in a way we believe to be just. A revolution cannot be won only on blood and bullets, and whatever is left after the fight is over cannot stand on a grave of lies and greed…

Read the rest of my review at Tor.com.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.