# What was this YA scifi novel?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-ya-scifi-novel/636143>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 28, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-ya-scifi-novel/636143 "2012-09-28T15:20:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-ya-scifi-novel/636143/1 "2012-09-28T15:20:15Z")

</div>

I’ve got another one of those puzzlers for y’all.

I would have read it in the nineties, but I think it was a bit older than that. The protagonist was a teenage girl. The whole thing was set in fantasy-ish world where I think there was no sun; I think it was blocked out by smog. The protagonist was part of an undercaste that I think mined coal. She had some sort of power that could generate heat or fire or something like that and she was picked up by some male noble who noticed. I think he was about her age. The main thing I remember is that her family’s symbol was a stylized lion head, but we find out in the end it was really a sun disc.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-ya-scifi-novel/636143/2 "2012-09-28T20:26:25Z")

</div>

[Winter of Fire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_Fire) by Sherryl Jordan. I was always sad that she never wrote anything else set in that particular world - I thought it was a very interesting twist on the whole “fantasy world” trope.

Hope you like it as much this time around!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-ya-scifi-novel/636143/3 "2012-10-02T22:50:22Z")

</div>

I totally forgot about this thread, but you got it in one **Lasciel.** Thanks!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-ya-scifi-novel/636143/4 "2012-10-02T23:28:54Z")

</div>

No worries - like I said, it made an impact on me also. I especially remember thinking how odd it was that a “mythological animal” like a lion would be remembered by oppressed people, but that the sun itself would be utterly forgotten about.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-ya-scifi-novel/636143/5 "2012-10-02T23:39:42Z")

</div>

I dunno. Five hours.

We’re slipping.