A review by ariereads
The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan

4.0

“...the child of a wolf may not feel like she has fangs until she finds herself facing the moon, but they are still there the whole time regardless.”

There is absolutely no question: the writing here is stunning. Stella is also a fantastic, engaging character - I just wish the others had the same depth. There's a little manic-pixie-dream syndrome going on here, along with a good solid case of insta-love, and on reflection I found I had very little attachment to either Dylan or Constance.

To be fair, we only ever see Constance through the eyes of those around her, while Stella and Dylan let us into their deepest thoughts - almost. There's always that hint of a wall up, barred against the reader and maybe even their own minds.

But oh the words are so gorgeous - a whole extra star simply for the images, the silent, frozen word Fagan conjures up, the stunning, haunting turns of phrase.

One last thing - and this is not related to the book so much as the reviews of it: an apocalypse is not automatically a dystopia, and vice versa. The Sunlight Pilgrims is set in an apocalyptic world (or on the edge of it), not a dystopian one. Google has some pretty succinct explanations of the differences here and yes I am indeed a petty grammar-freak, no apologies.