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A review by quillnqueer
Songlight by Moira Buffini
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Reading any YA Dystopia that isn't "chosen one saves the world" is so refreshing, and this story reminded me of a few 90s/00s dystopias that I loved, particularly [book:The Wind Singer|295169]. Like those, this has that rich fantasy feel, and with the use of multi-POV across it's world, it gave me a really strong picture of the environments.
We start in a brutal world, where Elsa is hiding her songlight - her ability to see and communicate with other Torches, among other abilities - from her village, and even her family and friends, as she among other girls are waiting for the men fighting the Aylish to come back from war to claim them as brides.
This has dark themes, without going too far with them, I felt it did a great job of showing us the government at the very top through the eyes of Sister Swan, a pawn in their game, the local villagers through the eyes of Elsa, and the city through Nightingale's, who connects the other two girls. I'm really happy I gave this story a chance.
We start in a brutal world, where Elsa is hiding her songlight - her ability to see and communicate with other Torches, among other abilities - from her village, and even her family and friends, as she among other girls are waiting for the men fighting the Aylish to come back from war to claim them as brides.
This has dark themes, without going too far with them, I felt it did a great job of showing us the government at the very top through the eyes of Sister Swan, a pawn in their game, the local villagers through the eyes of Elsa, and the city through Nightingale's, who connects the other two girls. I'm really happy I gave this story a chance.