When They Burned the Butterfly (The Butterfly Duet #1), by Wen-yi Lee
7 Dec 2025The Book
Synopsis:
A fierce, glamorous sapphic fantasy reimagining the secret societies of postcolonial Singapore, for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Fonda Lee, and the feverish intensity of RF Kuang’s Poppy War trilogy.
Singapore, 1972: Newly independent and grappling for power in a fast-modernizing world. Here, gangsters in Chinese secret societies are the last conduits of their ancestors’ migrant gods, and the back alleys where they fight are the last place magic has not been assimilated and legislated away.
Loner schoolgirl Adeline Siow has never needed more company than the flame she can summon at her fingertips. But when her mother dies in a house fire with a butterfly seared onto her skin and Adeline hunts down a girl she saw in a back-alley barfight—a girl with a butterfly tattoo–she discovers she’s far from alone.
Ang Tian is a Red Butterfly: one of a gang of girls who came from nothing, sworn to a fire goddess and empowered to wreak vengeance on the men that abuse and underestimate them. Adeline’s mother led a double life as their elusive patron, Madam Butterfly. Now that she’s dead, Adeline’s bloodline is the sole thing sustaining the goddess. Between her search for her mother’s killer and the gang’s succession crisis, Adeline becomes quickly entangled with the girls’ dangerous world, and even more so with the charismatic Tian.
But no home lasts long around here. Ambitious and paranoid neighbor gangs hunt at the edges of Butterfly territory, and bodies are turning up in the red light district suffused with a strange new magic. Adeline may have found her place for once, but with the streets changing by the day, it may take everything she is to keep it.
My Review
When They Burned the Butterfly is the first novel in the historical inspired fantasy series The Butterfly Duet, written by Wen-yi Lee, published by TOR. A novel that serves as a love letter to Singapore, taking the reader to the 70s, just after the end of the colonization, portraying the growing pains of a nation and its people; a setting that serves as the perfect scenario to an intense story of sapphic romance, street gangs and a vast underworld of selfish gods giving their support to those gangs.
Adeline, a lone Singaporean schoolgirl, can summon flames to her fingertips; a power whose scope she doesn't realize until her mother is killed in a home blaze. Searching for revenge, she discovers her mother was the leader of a girl gang called Red Butterfly; she soon immerses herself in it, passing from the world of rules and homework that was school to the dangerous gang world of Singapore's red-light district. A tumultuous time, as the power equilibrium is changing, and the existence of many gangs is threatened; they must navigate it while trying to get revenge.
In terms of characterization, much of the weight is put on the own Adeline. I personally enjoyed how she becomes ruthless, adapting to a new life, and also hardening as it is needed; but there's also space for a more human Adeline, and that's partly related to her bond with Ang Tian. She quickly becomes close to her, and the romance arises quite naturally; it's not devoid of turbulent moments, but in the end, they complement each other quite well, resulting in a sapphic romance that ends being one of the highlights of the book.
It is true that the rest of the girls in the gang are not as fleshed as our duo, but Lee still gives them enough moments to make us care about them as part of the story.
This novel transports the reader to its setting, putting great effort into capturing post-colonial Singapore: a city experiencing fast change, a country with many nationalities, immigrants and languages; there are many descriptions capturing the culture and the historical details that give a sense of authenticity to the scenario. It is true that the gods behind the gangs are not as developed as I would have liked, but they still play a key role in the plot.
The pacing is kinda slow, as we have many scenes that could be defined as the everyday day of the gang, but from the half onwards, you don't have much time to breathe, as all the previous build up is used to finally unleash all the madness.
When They Burned the Butterfly is a great historical inspired fantasy novel, an intense plot against a backdrop of a Singapore changing; a love letter to Singapore that will be enjoyed if you like sapphic romance and grey characters. A novel that sets up everything for a second book in The Butterfly Duet that I can't wait for!
The Author/s
Wen-yi Lee
Wen-yi Lee is the author of When They Burned the Butterfly and The Dark We Know. Her work often speculates on troubling women, troubled history, bodies, and ghosts, and has appeared in short form in venues like Lightspeed, Uncanny, Strange Horizons, Reactor, and various anthologies. She has been supported by the Clarion West Octavia E Butler Scholarship, the National Arts Council of Singapore, and the National Centre for Writing in the UK. She is currently based in Singapore. Find her on socials @wenyilee_ and otherwise at wenyileewrites.com.