When Water Burns

When Water Burns – Lani Wendt Young

In the second installment of the Telesa series, Leila is just starting to get familiar with things just in time for the rest of her world to fall apart. She understands more about her gift of fire, and is getting familiar with the life of fa’a Samoa, but nothing else stays the same. Her grandmother passes away, revealing a secret about Leila’s father on her deathbed which shatters Leila’s tenuous understanding of her family background. Back in Samoa, her recently deceased mother leaves Leila everything in her will, and although Leila would rather leave it alone, she has to fight for it against one of her mother’s “sisters.” On top of all that, she’s starting school at the National University of Samoa, failing miserably at cooking her own food while living with a roommate, and struggling through relationship problems and miscommunications with her boyfriend. New boys and friends enter the scene, creating more relationships, more complications, and more threats. Leila struggles to control her own situation while also trying to protect all those she cares about, who are put in danger by her mere existence.

In many ways, “When Water Burns” was much better than “Telesa,” and in many ways, there was no improvement. “When Water Burns” still holds strongly to the teen angst that has Leila constantly questioning herself and whether she is worthy of her boyfriend. The foreshadowing is about as subtle as a neon sign. And the overall plot feels like an exact copy of young adult series’ everywhere, complete with the temporary separation, temptation of some other person, and beautiful reunion of the protagonist and their significant other. Nothing new in terms of the genre, but the second book felt more mature and developed than the first. It tackles tougher issues – domestic abuse, rape – and it expands on the Samoan and Telesa myths, giving more information that makes the story more interesting in its differences.

My recommendation remains the same as the first book. The writing isn’t the best, the story is horribly predictable, and the girl is annoyingly whiny. But I love it because it is real to life. It talks about real things and locations (I don’t even know what instagram is, but I know it’s a recent pop culture development and most fiction books avoid referencing real things. I like that this obviously incorporates real life). And it’s set in Samoa. I would say it’s worth all the annoyances to read these books. Despite it all, it still closely resembles Twilight, and Twilight sucks you in, you can’t deny that.