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From School Library Journal

September 1, 2024

Gr 10 Up-Debut author Buffini drops readers into a fantasy world where everyone has something at stake. Elsa is secretly a telepath, an "unhuman," and in her country where women are used as property, the men hold power. Unhumans are caged and tortured, and her very existence is at risk. After Elsa experiences a sudden trauma, she discovers the world isn't quite what her government made it out to be, making her fight for safety more important than ever. Perhaps Elsa isn't unhuman after all, but the linchpin to a revolution. The story takes place in a dystopian fantasy world similar to ours, though at times it feels more like an alternate reality with imagery of fighter planes in WWII and iron lungs for wasting diseases. The character-driven plot switches among at least five first-person perspectives that provide a well-rounded scope of this world. One drawback is that there are many secondary and tertiary characters that can be hard to keep track of, along with the usual fictional homonym terms that are relevant enough that readers need to remember them in order to understand the plot and world. Once oriented to the world, readers will want more of this fast-paced plot with each page turn. VERDICT A dynamic dystopic fantasy for fans of Sabaa Tahir's An Ember in the Ashes and Morgan Rhodes's Falling Kingdoms, and those who enjoy books with multiple points of view.-Hilary Tufo

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Booklist

September 1, 2024
Grades 9-12 In her debut, Buffini explores patriarchy and prejudice with Elsa, who is gifted--or cursed--with songlight, the ability to communicate across distances with others, at its center. Rich with tension, Songlight puts multiple perspectives to work as it explores the personal and political motivations behind each character's position. As Elsa faces the possibility of being found out by officials, she forges an unlikely friendship that could risk both herself and her companion. Meanwhile, a war rages on, impacting Elsa and her loved ones. Buffini weaves a setting plush with detail and world building as she adeptly moves characters in and out of each other's orbits. Readers will appreciate the variety of characters with whom they may connect, and the complex depictions of characters at war with both themselves and the people they hold in their hearts as ideals clash. Clearly inspired by threats that many communities face today, Songlight will appeal to readers who enjoyed Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and similar dystopian novels with patriarchy- and prejudice-driven narratives that marry action to political stories.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From Kirkus

Starred review from July 15, 2024
Thousands of years after the Light People destroyed Earth, two factions are at war in a racially diverse world: the Brightlings and the Aylish. Elsa and Rye, residents of Northaven, a pretty coastal town in Brightland, are in love. They also share a dangerous secret as Torches, those with the ability to use songlight, a form of telepathic communication. Torches are labeled unhumans; they're either lobotomized and made to do the most unpleasant and dangerous jobs or turned into Sirens and forced to hunt others with songlight. As terrible fates loom--Elsa will be married off to a stranger, and Rye will be shipped out to fight with other cadets--the young lovers make plans to run away. But before they can escape, Rye's abilities are discovered, and he's outed by Piper, Elsa's conformist brother. Rye is sentenced to be sent to the Chrysalid House for unhumans. In her anguish, Elsa goes down to the sea: "In songlight, I roar with white, inchoate pain." This emotional release connects her with Nightingale, a powerful fellow Torch. Meanwhile, patriotic darling Sister Swan, the Flower of Brightland, is harboring a secret with serious political implications. The multiple immersive perspectives and the anticipation this narrative will create in readers make this first installment in a planned trilogy unputdownable. In her debut novel, award-winning playwright Buffini captures the human spirit and all its messy and beautifully complex emotions. A brilliant character study that examines the effects of war, genocide, and misogyny.(Dystopian. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From Publisher's Weekly

Starred review from July 8, 2024
In the oppressive patriarchal theocracy of Brightland, which is at war, officials intend to exterminate unhumans, who have access to powerful telepathic abilities called songlight. Eighteen-year-old Elsa and her secret boyfriend Rye live in coastal moorland village Northaven, constantly fearing being outed as unhuman. Rye’s looming deployment to the war front and Elsa’s impending marriage to a returning veteran complicate matters further. After Rye is jailed by Elsa’s older brother, Elsa makes chance contact through songlight with 17-year-old Kaira, who lives in the capital city of Brightlinghelm. Though the girls find solace in each other’s company, their burgeoning power attracts the attention of human supremacist faction leaders, who seek to escalate the war using forbidden technology and manipulative songlight abilities. In this stunning YA debut, play- and screenwriter Buffini expertly juggles a complex plot via five distinct perspectives. By playing off conflicting internal motivations to explore weighty topics of reproductive freedom, internalized homo-
phobia, and state oppression, Buffini crafts a nuanced adventure, all the while dropping tantalizing hints of further conflict and hidden history broiling under the surface of this dystopian trilogy opener. Characters are described as having varying skin tones. Ages 13–up.