Burn the Water
-
- Pre-Order
-
- Expected Mar 3, 2026
-
- $12.99
Publisher Description
From award-winning screenwriter of The Hunger Games Billy Ray comes an immersive and breathtaking enemies-to-lovers epic romance about war, loyalty, and the power that love has to save... or destroy.
The year is 2425 and London is underwater.
Three hundred years ago, rising oceans drowned a vast majority of the English Isle. London is now a jungle of dead skyscrapers and submerged streets.
Fighting over the scraps of a world none can remember, two Houses -- the Crowns and the Rogues -- have been at war for three centuries.
Rafe is the Rogue army's fiercest captain. Jule is the Crown army's deadliest soldier. They are vicious and merciless, courageous and beloved by their Houses. They are sworn enemies.
And then they fall in love.
It's a death sentence. But their love is all-consuming. As Rafe and Jule try to keep each other alive in their war-torn world, they are forced to confront new, horrifying threats to their loved ones while the hatred between their Houses only grows.
When mysterious foreigners appear on their shores, the warring factions may destroy each other, unless their two most ruthless soldiers can become beacons of peace and possibility, showing their people a different way, and save them all.
From the award-winning screenwriter of The Hunger Games comes a visceral and breathless forbidden romance about sacrifice, the neverending cycle of violence, and fiery, all-powerful love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Screenwriter Ray debuts with this overwrought postapocalyptic take on Romeo and Juliet. In 2425, centuries after rising sea levels flooded the world, London is mostly underwater. Two factions—the Crowns and the Rogues—fight over the remaining 10% of dry land, seeking control of the beech trees that produce a treatment for the Yellowing, a disease that reduces lung capacity and inhibits motor function. Eighteen-year-old Jules is one of the Crown's most renowned, ruthless warriors; Rafe, also 18, is a notorious Rogue strategist. Though their loyalties would dictate they be mortal enemies, when they meet for the first time, their instant connection prompts the teens to seek an end to the centuries-long feud. But neither the Crowns nor Rogues are willing to consider compromise for the sake of peace, and when a cure is found for the Yellowing, the groups' clamoring for ownership of the discovery sparks a disastrous battle. In the process, Rafe and Jules's illicit romance is revealed, spelling fatal consequences for them both. Characters are hollowly rendered, and florid narration somewhat diminishes the impact of the grisly happenings. Still, Ray deftly examines the brutality of war across an evocatively depicted vision of a future drowned metropolis. Main characters read as white. Ages 12–up.
