Songlight by Moira Buffini is book one in the Torch Trilogy. If you like fantasy, dystopian, YA, romance, told in multiple POV’s then you will love this book!!

The story follows 2 young women who are Songlights Elsa (Lark) and Kaira (Nightingale), who can communicate telepathically. Unfortunately, they have to hide their identity because it is forbidden to be a Songlight or unhuman as they are also called, they are either enslaved or used as Sirens. Elsa is in love with Rye who is also a Songlight. Rye gets found out by Elsa’s brother Rye, but to protect her he lies and pays the price. I thought Piper was a coward! Swan was captured Kite and he is AWFUL to her. She is so strong but also broken from being held against her will.

I thought the storyline and plot were really good. I liked the world building and thought the story was different from anything I’ve read. This takes place in a dystopian world where women are expected to be married, you are not allowed to who you want to love, you are expected to hate the enemy even though they are amongst you. It’s hard to believe that this is a YA it was so good. There is so much to this book, I read it and then went and listened to the audiobook. Listening to them sing was so beautiful!! I don’t want to say too much but you should go read this book because it is so worth the read and a listen. I cannot wait for book two since this one left us on a cliffhanger. Thank you to NegGalley and Harper Collins for letting me read this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions.

This book made me feel a lot of things and I loved every minute of it. The magic of songlight is so fun and I feel like we have not even begun to learn what all can be done with songlight. There always are drawbacks to magic use and in this case, all songlight users, or Torches, are persecuted for having their powers in Brightland.

While the world reads like a separate fantasy world, it is set thousands of years in the future after the fall of The Light People (current day people), in a dystopian future. There are many POVs, with Lark and Nightingale AKA Elsa and Keira being the two prominent ones with them communicating via songlight across the land of their nation. There are a lot of secrets hidden from the people of Brightland and because of this, they remain subjugated and stuck in a cycle of war and hero worship.

The last 50 pages or so are going to gut you like a bayonet and leave you crying. At the same time the ending is so beautiful and so empowering and I am going to hate this wait until book 2 releases.

Thank you to @epicreads for sending me a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

I'm not one to actively choose a dystopian book despite having a pretty good experience with every popular genre out there. So I want to thank Netgalley and Harper Collins for doing that "read now for 72 hours" promotion, it really is my chance to dive into genres and read books I'm not usually looking for.

I really enjoyed this book and am glad that this will be a trilogy. I really liked the harbor town setting that added to the overall atmosphere, the uniqueness of songlight as a telepathic ability, the intricate politics and quite enjoyed our protagonist Elsa. This dystopian world felt familiar to other books in the genre, yet it truly stands out amongst it appears for the writing, the characters, and the overall uniqueness of the story.

I typically don’t like books set in a dystopian period but I honestly couldn’t put Songlight down. I was drawn into the bio of two people who use Songlight, a form of telepathy trapped in a society who views their power as “Unhuman” but it’s also so much more than the bio lends off. It’s how propaganda can ‘mind twist’ the common people from the truth, how certain traditions leave us trapped in the archaic lifestyles with no room for growth, how prejudices shape our views and what happens when those prejudices are faced with the true facts of the world outside of what they have been taught. These are just plot points to the prodigious world building and superb character dynamics and development. One peculiar relationship had me lapping up the development that I was sharing the progress with my fellow book friends. I found this book fast paced but also detailed. At one point I remember being at 30% complete and when I blinked I was at 60%. Once I got to 75% a lot of the story was coming to head and I didn’t stop reading till I was finished. 5/5 stars.



Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers who provided me with an eARC copy of Songlight by Moira Buffini for an honest review. I feel incredibly lucky to be given the opportunity to read this book.

I loved this book. I enjoyed the characters and the plot and the detailed world that Buffini built. I love the various points of view and the history about the book’s world and the conflicts. I was so tense reading the last 20-30% as everything reached the climax. Buffini does such a good job of making it seem like everything is happening in the moment, and there’s nothing we can do about it but watch it unfold, just like the characters. I knew it was going to end on a cliffhanger, and now, I HAVE to read book 2.
I’m very grateful for the e-book provided by Net Galley and the publisher in exchange for a review. I strongly recommend this book if you enjoy fantasy and many different types of love stories from familial to platonic to romantic.

I want to read the sequel right now; I don’t want to wait for it to be written and published. What does the future hold for Lark, Nightingale, Kingfisher and the others? Will Rye survive? Is peace possible? Can Brother Kite be stopped? Can songlight forge a path to peace and reconciliation?

Overall, this was a cool YA post-apocalyptic dystopian with magic elements. I was excited to keep reading most of the way through. There was some interesting politics, discussions of war, prejudice, and revolution, and I am open to continuing the series.
more thoughts:
- I liked the harbor-town setting, and the vibes overall, but I wish there were more descriptive details. I felt like I was often filling in the world from my previous knowledge, but in a post-apocalyptic world, I don't really want to be doing that a lot, I want the world to be different because an apocalypse has happened.
- I liked the characters well enough, but some of the relationships felt underdeveloped, or more told than shown. I was especially not invested in the relationship between Rye and Lark/Elsa, but maybe that's just me.
- I don't mind the use of music-magic, but the music element didn't feel that well incorporated other than using music words to describe the magic sometimes. Much of the real effects of the magic was used to communicate just normal sentences, or to share memories/images which don't necessarily relate to magic
- this is probably just a pet peeve, but the amount of times Elsa/Lark planned an escape and then ended up back in her hometown was frustrating to me. When people build up to an escape I get so excited for them to escape!! Give me the escape!

Songlight is a telepathic power that lets people not just communicate, but also sort of astral project - you can see the other person depending on how deep into the songlight you go. The way that it was describe was absolutely beautiful, which made it all the more jarring when the characters described how "evil" it was. There is a lot of things in this book that have similar contrasts like this. Characters who seem weak physically are very strong in their songlight. Characters that you expect to be warmongers are actually trying to seek peace. I always worry in stories like this that there will be characters that are completely one dimensional, and that was definitely not the case here.

Elsa is a great character. She is stuck within the bounds of her culture and society's expectations, but she is also born with this power that has to stay hidden. Their world is very patriarchal, where women don't get to decide what they do or who they marry, but Elsa does everything she can to rebel within the system while trying to keep her family safe. Rye is the love of her life, but once he is taken away after being outed as an "unhuman," Elsa will do whatever she can to try and find him. Nightingale was also a beautiful character, another girl with songlight who finds herself deep within the heart of the enemy and also finds the extent of her powers.

There's also the Aylish - another country that Brightland is at war with. They embrace those with songlight, calling them Torches, and this makes them all the more abominable in the eyes of the people of Brightland. They are built up to be this evil entity, but again, nothing is quite what it seems and nothing should be taken for granted. Especially when the history that had always been taught may not be what actually happened.

I loved everything about this book. Buffini is a screenwriter and playwright, but this is her first novel. It was wonderful. The only thing I didn't like was that there is no information about when to expect book two. I need it now!

Review will be posted to blog on Monday, September 9th.

This was such a unique book! I loved the characters and felt they really were the driving force of the story! It is a little more mature than YA in my opinion but I think a lot of ages could enjoy this. Only thing stopping it from being 5 stars is the world building - I really wanted some more and to feel more immersed! I will be adding to our library though 100%

➸ 4 stars

“But we’re two songs joined. And there’s a word for that. A harmony.”

— thank you to netgalley, harpercollins and the author for the arc!

— before i start off this review, i’d like to give a warning to the younger readers out there, one of the generes in this book is said to be young adult. however, with the mature themes discussed in this book i would say this is better suited for reader 18 and above.

in this world there are people with telepathic gifts called songlight; but this world is an unforgiving one. a world ruled my men, filled with misogyny, homophobia, violence at every corner and in an ongoing war. people with songlight are forced to hide it, they’re seen as unhuman.

this book had me completely immersed since the very beginning, with five different povs, we see how each one views the world they live in. i found myself constantly rooting for our fmc, i felt infuriated for her, angry for her, for having to live in such a cruel world.

“Her love is the most precious thing in this whole sorry universe.”

“If I die now, I have loved her, and that has to be enough.”

“My whole body aches for everything we could have been.”

one thing i can’t wait to see more of is elsa and rye. their story was cut too short and i can’t wait to see how it continues in the upcoming books! i’ll patiently be waiting for book two and it’s definitely becoming one of my anticipated releases!

“It’s hard to talk, without condemning myself as a traitor because I’ve been taught my whole life that you’re my enemies.”

there was so much at stake, so much violence was constantly happening which still has me processing everything even now. everyone is taught these horrible things from day one, they see the wrong things as right which makes change difficult.

“I’m in a whirlwind of confusion because, for the first time in my life. I feel like I belong.”

the “enemies” in this book are painted as these horrible and cruel people but in reality they are the good ones. I can’t wait to see how this story progresses and i will be rooting for them and a free world every step of the way.

“Something extraordinary is happening. We are no longer powerless.”

While I enjoyed this book, I would have liked to see the world built out a little more. I felt like I was dropped in the middle of an already established story line.

I felt like I had to push through at first to oversee the lack of world building. But it paid off! The characters for sure carry this story. I loved all of the intersecting stories.

I would recommend this book and cannot wait for the sequel.

Thanks for NetGalley for an early eARC of this book.

This was so good! Songlight gave me 2010-YA vibes, which I adored. It's been a while since I've read a YA book - I tend to stay away from the genre because I often feel like I've outgrown it, but this is a perfect example of why I still love this genre. The dystopian vibe to this was something I have missed in recent years, but I thought it was done perfect. I loved the characters in this and really appreciated Elsa. I connected and rooted for her throughout the entire book. I also loved the side characters in, which doesn't always happen. I can see this getting big, and I hope it does. Bring on book 2!

This story was different than others. It is like Telepathy and in singing. Even able to "talk" to someone you have never met or lives miles away. How the world outcasts them and call them unhumans and is punishable.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ebook to review.

I’ve started and restarted this review multiple times. I’m just having a really hard time trying to decide how to describe this one. While Songlight has the feel of many dystopian YA books I’ve read over the years, it most definitely does NOT feel generic. This is something fresh and engaging. There is a small percentage of the world’s population that has a special ability, Songlight, it allows telepathic communication. And while this might sound incredible, it is an ability the government fears, tries to control. The people with this ability must keep it hidden. (Or work for the government as Sirens) They are considered unhuman. I loved the world building in this book. The society and politics of this world made for an engaging story. As with my YA books, it features strong female characters, and you can’t help but sympathize with this struggle against the rigged/controlling society. 4.5 stars. Bring on book 2! Thanks so much to HarperCollins Children's Books and NetGalley for the the chance to read an ARC of Moira Buffini’s Songlight.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/songlight-moira-buffini/1144213869?ean=9780063358218&bvnotificationId=83c0244a-6a2b-11ef-a668-0affdb6b2ef5&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/318014577

Songlight is a beautifully written story about finding the strength in yourself to stand up and do what is right despite your upbringing, despite the society expectations around, despite the possibility that you could very well lose everything. Moira Buffini’s writing paints vivid, and almost visceral imagery as we follow the characters in their different points of view through their lives and watch as everything they were taught and everything they believed shatters. Despite all odds we also watch them overcome.

I found this book challenging to read, not because it wasn’t interesting, but because I felt so deeply for the characters and the things they were going through. A lot of the time we like to think the world we live in is better than it actually is, and seeing that sentiment brought to life on the page had me reeling in thought. This was a great start to a trilogy and I cannot wait to see what comes next.

Songlight By Moira Buffini is the first in The Torch Trilogy. This series is a YA dystopian fantasy. My first thought when I was reading is that it reminded me of The Handmaid's Tale with a fantasy twist.
Elsa lives in a world that forces her to hide everything she is. She fell in love with a Rye and they bonded over their shared gift of songlight. If anyone finds out about their gifts they will hated and turned into lobotomized slaves and labeled unhuman. When the worst happens in a moment of anguish her songlight reaches another girl and they start communicating using their abilities..
What I enjoyed most about Songlight was the characters. Not just Elsa and Rye, but all the people she meets along the way and the villains as well; I could not put this book down. I'm excited to see what else happens in this series.
Thank you to Netgalley for this arc. All views expressed are my own.

Songlight is book one in The Torch Trilogy by Moira Buffini.
Such a captivating story. I was in awe here and loved every single second of this book.
A stunning YA debut novel.
The world building is phenomenal and written so well.
A page turner that sucked me in and held me captive.
A heartbreaking, thought-provoking and epic journey I did not want to end.

Recommended: yes!!
For a story where EVERY character is interesting, for telepathic powers that feel full of love and kindness, for painful failures and never-ending hope

Thoughts:
My first two observations about this book may sound negative at first but I promise they are not: the characters fail at their goals all the time, and everything happens in one small town for most of the book. And yet, I love seeing them fail because their responses to it show so much about who they are. It also cultivates an atmosphere I believe in, where things won't necessarily turn out okay just because I'm reading a story. Bad shit can and will actually happen in this book. Good people have terrible things done to them, and people doing evil things will come out on top over and over again. But what brings me heart is that the good people just keep getting back up with hope and love in their hearts, and in a time where I often feel overwhelmed by the pain and dread and hate in the world... I honestly really needed this.

Although the majority of the story takes place in one town for the first bulk of it, it does start to spread as we meet other characters into their pockets of the world. And of course, the connections they form through their songlight give it the feeling that we can be anywhere at anytime. The overall presentation of the songlight (not from the perspective of the bad folks anyway) is so full of love and connection and understanding that it made me feel lovely just reading about it. It made me have a sort of wistful feeling, hoping I could feel something similar in my life at some point.

And the characters? This is the most shocking part: I was fully interested in all of them, all the time. There are multiple perspectives, and characters come in and out throughout the book. I was never mad to leave someone's story line because I was equally as excited about whomever I was moving to. The fact that they were often connected literally via songlight helped as well to see from another angle of what had occurred. This is such an accomplishment because usually some character or story is less interesting than the others, especially with more than 2 perspectives used.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention: romance is a footnote in here. Friendship is the real winner in this, and I am all about it.

Overall I'm so pleased I read this one as it sounded right up my alley but also could have been handled in a generic way that would have made it just okay. Instead it was robust and hopeful and dark and gripping. I'm really excited for the next book as it feels like there's SO MUCH about to happen! I'm so nervous but also hyped because it has not let me down so far.

Thanks to Sparkpoint Studio for a free advanced copy. This is my honest review!

There's only so many ways for me to say something is mid, but I always try when it comes to these reviews.

I'll start with a positive: I like how telepathy is portrayed here. Songlight and the people who have it, called Torches, is very much X-Men-esque (I think it is implied it was a mutation/evolutionary trait, too), but Songlight felt more personable. I liked the connection Elsa and Kaira had because of it; them bonding through their powers and the admiration they had for each other's hometowns got kinda sweet at times.

Other than that, I genuinely don't have that much to say about Songlight.

I can really feel how passionate Buffini was about her worldbuilding and the story she wanted to tell, but the execution was just - less than stellar. Despite the things they had to go through under their country's patriarchy, Elsa and Kaira didn't pull any emotion from me on their own. In fact, I kind of found them stupid sometimes, and not in the 'oh, they're teenagers so it makes sense' sort of way. Kaira had a plan to run away for the second time, but instead of doing that, she literally slept on the perfect opportunity and got caught the next morning; even Elsa chided her for doing that in her POV. Elsa doesn't get a pass, though. She got to the enemy country but decided to go back with them because she wanted to friend Kaira and her boyfriend, but the "enemy" (They're really the good guys) wanted to go to attempt a peace talk. She then proceeded to get mad because she, a woman living a rigid patriarchal system, got mad when she got excluded from the politic talk. Like, girl, you chose this; you cannot get mad when you perfectly know women are treated as a subclass in your nation.

There are also three characters who also had a POV, two of which I found unnecessary and one I thought wasn't done as well as it could have. Elsa's brother and boyfriend have a POV, and while I do get that they're supposed to provide deeper insight of toxic masculinity, military propaganda, and the depth of prejudice against the other (Songlights, the gays, cheaters, thieves, etc.), I still found them boring or straight up annoying. Piper, the brother, particularly, because he caused so much problems for everyone else, and the exploration of homophobia in this world is so surface level that is feels so unnecessary. The last POV, Swan, is a Torch who's under control of a military general(?), aka a Siren, and though her story shows how even the spared, or "good", Torches are mistreated due to them being what they are, there wasn't much depth beyond 'She's a terrible person, but it's sad because she was forced to become that.' She still exploited (what is essentially) lobotomized women as slaves and, eventually, Kaira for her own needs. Again, her story should have been more interesting, but the writing just made her irritable to me.

The worldbuilding also felt uninspired to me. It's just dystopian Britain vs. Ireland again, and this time the patriarchy demands men to make two wives rather than one! The sexism of this world was shoved to much down your throat repeatedly without any subtly, and the only characters who question it are Elsa and Kaira because they're ~the main characters~. It got so old so fast; I started skimming after part three or so because I felt like I was wasting time reading this.

All in all, I just didn't care about this book, nor do I care to read the next one when it comes out. Reading this made me wish I devoted my time to other, and possibly much better, books I could have read, instead.

I got this as an eARC from NetGalley. I LOVED this book. It reminded me a lot of the YA dystopian novels from 10-15 years ago (think Hunger Games or Divergent) with fantasy themes. I’m giving it 4 stars and am seriously debating changing it to 5 stars. I love the way their power, Songlight, works and can’t wait to learn more about it. The history behind the book is interesting too! At this point the author could easily write a prequel to explain how things got to where they are. The only thing I don’t like about the book is that it ends on a cliffhanger and since I got it as an ARC I have to wait even longer for the sequels!