#Traci Chee

[transbookoftheday]

Kindling by Traci Chee

From bestselling and award-winning author Traci Chee comes a standalone fantasy set against a war-ravaged world where kindling warfare—the use of elite, magic-wielding teenage soldiers—has been outlawed. In this rich and evocative novel, seven kindlings search for purpose and identity as they prepare for one final battle. For fans of the classic films Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven.

Once, the war was fought with kindlings—elite, magic-wielding warriors whose devastating power comes at the cost of their own young lives.

Now the war is over, and kindlings have been cast adrift—their magic outlawed, their skills outdated, their formidable balar weapons prized only as relics and souvenirs.

Violence still plagues the countryside, and memories haunt those who remain. When a village comes under threat of siege, it offers an opportunity for seven kindlings to fight one last time. But war changed these warriors. And to reclaim who they once were, they will have to battle their pasts, their trauma, and their grim fates to come together again—or none of them will make it out alive.

From bestselling and award-winning author Traci Chee comes a gut-wrenching, introspective fantasy about seven lost soldiers searching for the peace they once fought for and the future in which they’re finally daring to believe.

[a-ramblinrose]

✨️The Birthday Book Haul!✨️

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[skrutskie]

Thrilled to share another glorious blurb for A LEGIONNAIRE'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND PEACE! It's an honor, a privilege, and an absolute delight to have my good friend @tracichee's generous endorsement!

[asexual-juliet]

s.e. hinton, the outsiders, 1967 // traci chee, we are not free, 2021

thinking now always and forever about how chapter one of we are not free is an homage to chapter one of the outsiders. using the actions, language, and dynamics of such a classic story about prejudice, found family & belonging as a springboard for a story about japanese american teenagers during world war ii is literally so smart holy shit. i have been deeply interested in the way the outsiders musical on broadway right now integrates race into their portrayal of that classic narrative and traci chee’s loose take on that premise makes my head go approximately one million miles an hour!!!

[tracichee]

Kindling is a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Young Adult Literature! I’m so thrilled to see this novel included in such a compelling line-up alongside titles like Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell, Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo, Shut up, This is Serious by Carolina Ixta, and The Color of a Lie by Kim Johnson. Congrats to all the finalists, and huge thanks to the LA Times and the panel of judges for this amazing honor! If you’re looking for more great reads, be sure to check out the full list of finalists. A limited number of tickets are available for the awards ceremony on April 25, but general admission to the LA Times Festival of Books April 26-27 is free, so mark your calendars if you’re in SoCal for a wonderful lineup of events!

[iespoke]

quick post-read jokey doodle of a thousand steps into night by @tracichee just to commend it for being the first book i've finished in ages lol

[aki-chan2014]

So I took out my sketchbook to work on a completely different project and discovered my Emara drawing, which I had done in...September, and forgotten to post. Oops.

Anyway, here she is! The idea here is that the shawl she is wearing is a special Chenyaran wrap, made in the colours of kindling fire, with the golden marks telling her story: This is the story of Emara, daughter of Emara, kindling and kin...

Anyway, I will probably be sidetracked by my other project for a while, but I do intend on coming back to trying to draw the remaining three kindlings at some point.

[hyperfixating-rn-brb]

art for the most heartbreaking book I've ever read.

[snarkiestchicken]

decided i needed to contribute some fanart to the WANF fandom because they're starving enough already—here's frankie and bette!

@asexual-juliet @igizzz

everyone else who sees this: GO READ WE ARE NOT FREE I PROMISE IT'S GOOD

[draconiclore]

30 days of Pride books (with @miraclerizuin)

Day 6: Kindling by Traci Chee

A fantasy, all-girls retelling of Akira Kurisawa's The Seven Samurai told in the second person. I definitely cried while reading this book.

[kaytheday]

We Are Not Free, Traci Chee

[ezool]

for anyone curious what A Thousand Steps Into Night by Traci Chee is about

and i cannot recommend it enough

[medusasembrace12]

This is a book, and a book is a world, and words are the seeds in which meanings are curled. Pages of oceans and margins of land are civilizations you hold in the palm or your hand.

But look at your world and your life seems to shrink, to cities of paper and seas made of ink. Do you know who you are, or have you been misled? Are you the reader, or are you the read?

This is a word, and a word is a spell - a promise to keep or a secret to tell. Controlling the word means the power to frame how the ages of history remember you name.

Are you hero or villain? A savior or spy? Some titles are lovely. Some titles are lies. You can claim who you are, now that you've found your voice. But those who are chosen will not have a choice.

This is a story as vast as the sea, but on its waters, you'll never be free. No matter your course, your future is set, and destiny laughs as she tightens the net.

Words to Kelannans are breath on a glass, but if it is written, it will come to pass. Is your sight growing clearer, the closer you look? The Book is a world, for the world is a book.

[asexual-juliet]

A RIOT OF COLOR IN A WORLD OF GRAPHITE: songs referenced in traci chee's "we are not free"

"Those blazing trumpets. Those syrupy saxophones. They're a riot of color in a world of graphite, like everything for years has been dull, dull, dull, rendered in grays, and all of a sudden I'm remembering rainbows, sunsets, forests, reds." —Chapter XVI: Home

Harbor Lights - Bing Crosby (1950) "[Joe's] favorite song is 'Harbor Lights' by Frances Langford, and when he sings a few bars under his breath, I think I might die of happiness."

Chattanooga Choo Choo - Glenn Miller Orchestra (1941) "Aiko traipses ahead, belting out the words to 'Chattanooga Choo Choo.' Her voice is sweet and clear in the cold, and beside me, I can hear Tommy humming under his breath, smooth and dark as syrup."

Bésame Mucho - Jimmy Dorsey (1943) "The song on the radio changes. Jimmy Dorsey croons 'Bésame Mucho' from the speakers, and you wonder if, whenever you all hear it again, wherever you are, when Twitchy's in some little French hamlet or Shig pops open his suitcases in a dank Chicago hostel, you'll still be bound together."

Over the Rainbow - Judy Garland (1939) "Frisco, 1939: I was singing 'Over the Rainbow to get baby Fumi to sleep. I know it's stupid, but I wanted to believe if I kept singing, I'd fill her dreams with bluebirds, stars and lemon drops."

Pennies from Heaven & One O'Clock Jump - Count Basie (1937) "That night, Stan takes me out to see Count Basie at the Golden Gate... The band plays hits like 'Pennies from Heaven' and 'One O'Clock Jump,' and the crowd goes wild over every solo, every bright note, every swinging beat."

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - Cab Calloway (1931) "As Stan and I turn toward Japantown, he starts singing, 'Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,' swinging around streetlights like he's in a Hollywood musical, even though he's got a voice like a raven."

[tracichee]

Want to gift one of my books to a reader in your life? ⭐ Take a look at this handy-dandy gift guide to all my novels! Find them at your favorite local retailer or at the links here: KINDLING, 1000 STEPS, WE ARE NOT FREE, THE READER TRILOGY. 🎁