Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - The Theft of Sunlight

Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani

6 reviews

josisteacup's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The best books are those you finish in only one or two days and you stay up until 1pm, not thinking about having to get up early and when you fall asleep you continue the plot in your dreams. This is one of those books. I immediately ordered the sequel. It's supposed to arrive tomorrow and I'll probably finish it very fast.

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silver_valkyrie_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

If I didn't LOVE this book quite as much as the first, it's just because I didn't personally connect with the deeper themes of this story quite as well. The excellent writing, characterization and story crafting are all still there. Can't wait for the next book!

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young_adult_bookshelf's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Premise:

Snatchers have been taking children from all around the country for years, but when they strike close to home Rae decides she must do something. After joining her cousin in court and making a few unlikely friends, Rae starts a dangerous investigation into the secrets of the snatchers. But what she finds might just be too big a conspiracy for her to handle.

Review:

I just loved this book, from the character to the plot everything just kept me engaged and wanting to read more. Every time I put the book down I was already looking forward to when I could pick it back up again. Just marvellous.

The main character, Rae, was such a strong, bold and powerful character and personality. She knew what she wanted and stuck to it, always stopping to help people whenever they needed it. I also loved how she interacted with her disability and how she reacted to other peoples reaction to it. Do what she could do with her disability, working with it and not against it, accepting it as a part of who she is.

I need to know what happened to Rae and how this amazing story is resolved, for Intisar Khanani is an evil genius for that cliff-hanger. The second I can buy the next book in this series I will for this story and Khanani’s writing is amazing.

If you are looking for a story that is adventurous, emotional, mysterious, sad, tense and has a cliff-hanger that will make you curse the author, Theft of Sunlight is for you.

Favourite Quote:

“Sometimes, when you think things are finished, they are only just beginning.”

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lacunaboo's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I really appreciate Rae as a character and the themes of this story. I did enjoy reading it but for two things for which I am partially to blame: I failed to read the author's comments here on Goodreads, so went into this having no idea it wasn't going to be a complete story in and of itself, with a cliffhanger ending; and I think it would have been a good idea for me to have reread the companion novel (and even the companion short story) before diving into this one. You don't need to read those first to understand this book, but I had managed to forget some plot details that would have been helpful to know. But mostly, I remember being really into the idea of a romance with a certain thief after reading "Thorn", and it turns out I should have rekindled that before jumping in, because here I was just not that into it. A reminder of why I had wanted to see that happen might have helped.

Looking forward to the next part of Rae's story!

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readingtheend's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

The Theft of Sunlight is the first wholly new Intisar Khanani book I’ve read in what feels like a thousand years, and it felt like coming home.

The Theft of Sunlight is a companion novel to Thorn that doesn’t (in my opinion) require prior knowledge of Thorn in order to read it. It follows Rae, a country girl who comes to the royal court and becomes handmaiden to the new queen, Alyrra (Thorn from Thorn!). There she begins to learn how to navigate the treacherous world of the monarchy and aristocracy, all while trying to discover who or what is behind the epidemic of child-snatching that has been plaguing Menaiya. Determined to recover the lost children, or at least find answers for their families, Rae faces the dangers and intrigues the city has to offer — and the confusing, irritating charms of a thief called Bren.

Intisar Khanani’s trademark as a writer is “good girls trying their best.” I felt such affection for Rae almost immediately — she’s spent much of her life being told that she’s not good enough because of her clubfoot, and she is fiercely protective of her sister, who can do magic. (It is important that nobody finds this out, because Rae’s family doesn’t trust the Circle of Mages and doesn’t want them anywhere near Niya.) When she goes to court — initially to visit her cousin Melly, who has married up — she hopes to have the chance to push more powerful people into doing something about the child snatchers. She emphatically does not want to be the queen’s attendant. Like, at all. But she can’t pass up the opportunity to gain the ear of the queen, who (presumably) can pursue the child snatcher problem in a more organized way; so she agrees to this life that she knows will be hostile and unfamiliar to her. She is a good girl. I want the best for this good girl.

Like her past novels, The Theft of Sunlight has its fair share of darkness and moral ambiguity: not just the ever-present threat of the child-snatchers, but Rae’s own feeling that she is becoming morally compromised by staying at the court, by spending time with Bren and other members of the city’s underworld, by spending time following the queen around rather than pursuing the child snatchers. But there’s something tremendously comforting about Khanani’s writing, despite the darkness, and I think it has to do with her careful, weighty articulation of values.

“Bren. Would it have been all right if I angered you and you punched me instead?”

“No.” His voice is suddenly hard, brooking no argument.

“Then why is it fine if I punch you?”

He looks at me, and the silence spreads out between us until I feel like I’m drowning.

“You see,” I say, my voice hoarse in my throat.

“No,” he says again. “Rae, there are certainly times when a woman punching a man is an irredeemable act of violence. When she is stronger, or more vicious, and she uses her actions to abuse him. But that wasn’t what happened…. In a fight between you and me, I would always win. We both know that. So your hitting me — it’s a sign of trust, in its way, that you could lash out and know that I wouldn’t hurt you back. It wasn’t abuse.”

“You’re right. I knew you wouldn’t hurt me back.” It hadn’t even occurred to me. “That doesn’t change the fact that I wanted to hurt you.”

“And you’d do it again?”

“No.”

“Then it is not all that you are, and it doesn’t have to define you. It’s something you did, which you regret. It’s not actually you.”

I look at him, his words clicking together in my mind: that this is the difference between me and [spoiler character], for his is a practiced violence, and mine was a single act, regretted. That I am not the same as him, for all that I was willing to let my anger ride me as it does him. I am and can and will be different; I do not have to let this break me.

I’ve seen plenty of books where a female protagonist hits a guy character who’s not specifically her enemy, but rarely have I seen the characters exploring the moral implications of the act afterward. I just appreciated this conversation so much! Rae knows that hitting someone in anger isn’t in line with her values, and the book gives her the time to explore what that action does and doesn’t mean about her.

Trust and truth are major themes in The Theft of Sunlight. Along a vast number of axes, Rae doesn’t know whom she can trust: Who will reliably accommodate her disability? Who will tell her what she needs to know in order to be Alyrra’s attendant? Who can share information about the child snatchers without placing Rae or themselves in danger? Who will tell her the truth, and who will lie? And the answers are, nearly always, complicated. Coming from a background where she has been able — most of the time — to speak the truth herself and trust the truth of what others tell her, Rae struggles to adapt to her new environment, where everyone around her is keeping some secrets, and she is, too.

I would like, also, to shout out the fact that a big piece of solving the mystery is TAX RECORDS. This is going to sound like a joke, but I am genuinely so high on this fact. Like, that’s so real! Financial records genuinely and truly answer questions, and point up new avenues for exploration. The fact that Rae acquires a friend and ally in the tax office just made my heart sing.

The presence of enslavers looms large in this book, so I do want to address how that’s handled (as the presence of enslaved people in fantasy novels tends to make me nervous). Khanani notes in an endnote that what’s being depicted here is inspired by, and draws from the experiences of, modern-day human trafficking, rather than historical instances of slavery. Because this book is the first part of a duology, Rae doesn’t come out of it with all the answers, but it’s clear that the problem of child theft depends on … drumroll please… corporate greed! While I tend to get nervous about depictions of fantasy slavery, I really appreciated that the book and its protagonist never lose sight of the horror of what’s happening. Any time another (upper-class) character casts doubt on what’s happening, someone else is there to insist on the urgency of the problem.

As a small warning, The Theft of Sunlight ends on a hell of a cliffhanger! I was forewarned about this by Legal Sister, and I was glad to know in advance what to expect. It’s a wonderful book that made me feel warm inside, a classic YA adventure that will leave you wanting more.

Note: I received a review copy of The Theft of Sunlight from the publisher, for review consideration. This has not impacted my review.

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ballgownsandbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Theft of Sunlight is the first in a companion duology to Intisar Khanani’s Thorn, a continuation of her short story The Bone Knife, originally published in 2012. We follow Rae, a country horse farmer’s daughter who visits her cousin at court and gets embroiled in various plots and mysteries.

Though Thorn dealt with some important issues, the driving force of the story was really Alyrra’s internal growth, and the story overall really revolved around her. But while this is also first-person from Rae’s POV, and her emotional arc is a big part of the story, it’s somehow so much more expansive, with a much bigger and more fully-developed world. I wouldn’t call it political fantasy as such, but we do get to see so much more of the mechanics of power and control, which I loved, as well as themes of injustice, greed, inequality, and freedom.

It’s subtle, but if you know what you’re looking for, you can definitely see Khanani’s South Asian influences coming out in the worldbuilding details too, from the clothes to the wedding traditions! (And I have to say, it was very satisfying to see the European-inspired country be awed and intimidated by the much more powerful South Asian-inspired one!)

I absolutely loved Rae! She’s clever and determined and resourceful and so brave, and fiercely loyal and protective towards the people she cares about. At the same time, the near-constant ableism she faces due to her clubfoot has left her just full of anger, and automatically distrustful. A big part of her emotional arc is learning to be kind to herself and comfortable in her own body, and I loved that, though I can’t speak to the disability representation. Her resentment has made her particularly wary of conventionally beautiful people, and I also found the thread of her having to learn not to judge people based on their beauty, in the same way she wants them not to judge her for her disability, so interesting.

The side characters were also lovely, especially Rae’s family, who are so close and loving (with both parents alive!) – I was disappointed that we don’t see much of them once Rae comes to court, but certain plot threads make me certain that we’ll get more of them in the next book, and I can’t wait!

Alyrra and Kestrin are also prominent characters, and quite a lot of references are made to their backstory, so though this is technically a companion novel, it would definitely help to have read Thorn. Although this is Rae’s story, it’s also a satisfying continuation of theirs – I really liked seeing how their relationship has progressed and how Alyrra is settling into her place as princess.

I will say that this book absolutely does not stand alone: the cliffhanger at the end is BRUTAL, and there are a lot of plot threads, not all of which seem to be too connected at the moment – though I assume they will be tied together eventually, and I’m so excited to see how!

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