Burn the Water

By Author / Illustrator

Billy Ray

Genre

Dystopian

Age range(s)

14+

Publisher

Scholastic

ISBN

9780702344862

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

12-03-2026

Synopsis

An immersive and breathtaking enemies-to-lovers epic romance about war, loyalty and the power that love has to save . . . or destroy, from the award-winning screenwriter of The Hunger Games movies Billy Ray.

The year is 2425 and London is underwater. 300 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. When mysterious foreigners appear on their shores, the warring factions may destroy each other, unless their two most ruthless soldiers can show their people a different way and save them all.

A thrilling, war-torn, enemies-to-lovers romance set in future London This is YA dystopian Romeo & Juliet as two rival soldiers risk everything they've ever known to fall in love. Perfect for fans of Shatter Me, the Delirium triology and Lightlark.

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Reviews

Clare

In a futuristic submerged London rival houses fight for the precious 'Dry Ten' - the ten percent of ground remaining above the water level. Rafe is a rising star of the Rogues, Jule the deadliest soldier of the Crown army. Both have been bred to absolutely believe in their respective causes - the rival gangs engaging in a daily deadly battle for supremacy. A lone figure, Jameson, shifts between the houses, seemingly alone in being able to herald uneasy truces. Death and humiliation seem inevitable when Rafe and Jule begin to acknowledge their feelings for each other, but unbeknownst to them and their houses, a far deadlier threat is about to appear. Mysterious machines, long dead tech and a whole new army are about to collapse the very shaky foundations of an emerging and hard fought for 'New London'.

Burn the Water is screen writer Billy Ray's first novel and it certainly feels film-like in its sweeping scale and imaginative world-building. London has become a waterlogged maze and the ensuing fighting is violent and bloody. The enemies-to lovers romance seems to emerge from nowhere but becomes more convincing as the story propels along.

I am not sure that this book is for everyone, and certainly the more gory elements may put some readers off, but for anyone looking for a blood-soaked, dystopian Romeo and Juliet - this is it!

368 pages / Reviewed by Clare Wilkins, school librarian