*I received an e-arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

In this new standalone fantasy adventure, Bright takes us to secret cities hidden among the spheres of the heavens. It’s a beautiful story that is filled with amazing world building, magic, music, friendship, mystery, romance, and has fantastic anxiety and depression rep. Each turn of the page was an absolute delight!

Rora and Claudia are best friends that feel as though their lives have recently been spiraling out of control. They meet up at a concert one night and there they meet Major and Amir. Major and Amir are two boys from the secret cities of the spheres that are ruled by the magic of the astrological signs. The girls discover that they’re not the only ones feeling that their lives are out of control, as there is a disruption in the harmony between the spheres that’s been spreading.

Rora and Claudia agree to embark on a journey to find the source of the disharmony. Throughout their travels they discover secrets, romance, and powerful truths about themselves, each other, and two long ago explorers named Dante and Beatrice. Dante and Beatrice were among the first to chart this magical course to the stars. Will Rora and Claudia be able to help save each other and the spheres?

I really came to care for these characters and what happened to them. I loved Rora and Claudia’s friendship so much, and I loved the friendships they made along the way. Major and Amir were both amazing friends as well and I love how they looked out for each other. Each character has their own struggles and strengths they bring. This quote by an unknown author made me think of this story, “The darkest nights produce the brightest stars.”

I highly recommend this one! Great for anyone that loves ya and fantasy.

The Song That Moves the Sun by Anna Bright is an intriguing young adult fantasy with a hint of magic. This is a well-written, fast-paced read that I did not want to put down.

I read Bright’s The Beholder and enjoyed it, but I don’t think I enjoyed it enough to read the second one in a timely fashion. That said, I won’t rule out a reread, as I do know it was good enough for me to remember half a plot for it, which is more than I can say for many books I read. The Song that Moves the Sun, however, did not grab me like Bright’s debut. It took until about 15% of the way in for it to catch even the tiniest bit of my interest, and the opening scenes for Rora, Amir, Major, and Claudia did not feel very effective at drawing me into the story (or Claudia and Rora, for that matter).

Our story begins with Dante, who is based off of the historical figure and author of The Divine Comedy, who runs around every where with his newfound friend, Marco Polo, and together, they meet his childhood love, Beatrice—or Bice (bee cheh)—who is studying at university in secret because she’s a girl and it’s the 1200’s. These chapters alternate with our story of the four friends from modernity, though they don’t feel seamlessly integrated. I know there is supposed to be a juxtaposition between the two from the start, but it takes far too much mental effort to place anything in the beginning of this story. The segues are disjointed, making the switches back and forth extremely jarring.

By the end of the book, Dante’s and Beatrice’s story and how it is connected to that of our four protagonists is not compelling enough for me. The book tells the story from the 12-1300’s very briefly in scheduled spurts; I feel like there was an attempt here at something like what Cloud Cuckoo Land presents to its readers but falls flat. In Song, our characters move toward something like anti-establishment but do so in a way that confuses the reader, muddles the prose, and over complicates the plot with finely detailed astrological references I think may soar over the heads of many readers who are not that into reading horoscopes. Though I own a signed, first edition of one of the reference books for this novel, I don’t see the forest for the trees as to the point the plot and the characters try to make. The plot and characters really do suffer for the sake of the gimmick of the astrological setting. I feel it could have been better either as a duology that fleshes out the characters more or with less technical details in such a condensed format. As it is, the novel is nearly 500 pages long, and it dragged terribly for me.

Unfortunately, my experience with this book does not line up with the over 4-star-average rating on Goodreads. It bored me near to tears and made me dread reading for a couple of days. I don't really recommend it based off of the promised fantastical journey from the synopsis. My advice is to hold off purchasing and make sure it's a pick for you by possibly renting from the library first.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 3/5 stars.

I was really looking forward to this - especially since it seemed like a breath of fresh air in YA fantasy. I also feel like it's hard to do fantasy as a standalone, so I was curious how this was going to do + the addition of astrology and music and all these things where I was SO looking forward to it. It didn't necessarily fall flat...but as I kept reading...I just kept having more questions.

One of the things I was not expecting was for this book to deal so heavily with mental illness...but in a way that didn't directly say it was dealing with mental illness. I think part of the issue I had with it -- and to be fair, this was a part of the plot that gets semi-resolved by the end -- was Claudia's obsession with getting Rora help -- even though Rora wasn't in a space to get help....Claudia made it all about how she needed to help Rora yadda yadda yadda...but she was just obnoxious about it? I also think it would have been more powerful to be like yes, this is mental illness, this is pain, instead of skirting around it with figurative language and the plot of the book.

Now, there were some good parts. I do like the world and how it was built. I like how it ties in Dante and Marco Polo and historical expeditions. I like how it discusses how music can heal. I like how it comes to a consensus on how multiple parts are needed to make someone whole. There's also some REALLY beautiful prose.

But I have to give it 3 stars. The plot felt all over the place in some places and the mental illness rep -- while beautiful -- lost its appeal when overshadowed by Claudia and Rora's personalities. After about 40% into the book...I just felt like I was reading to finish the book. I also think people who don't know astrology that well will struggle with some of the concepts in this.

Thank you so much HarperCollins publishers and HarperTeen for providing me a digital ARC of this book.

This story revolves around the Ptolemic model of universe. The synopsis of the story indicates there is disruption in the harmony between two spheres. We're actually following two timelines. One more "current day" with Rora and Claudia along with Amir and Major. However we're also following a previous timeline story of Dante Aligheieri, Beatrice and Marco Polo. The story idea is truly unique and I wanted to love this book more. However I found the world building to be too drawn out and at times my mind wandered wondering when the story would pick up. It's definitely a slower paced novel . Characters explore various planets and we get all the explanation of eahc with their rhythm, weather, etc.

The publishers say that this novel is based on friendship and romance. I actually found it to be more friendship centered than anything else.


TRIGGER & WARNINGS:

Readers should be advised that this novel deals heavily with anxiety, depression, and other mental illnesses It also makes reference to suicide, disordered eating, and infertility, and contains content that may be triggering to readers with emetophobia.

I was so intrigued by the premise, but unfortunately couldn't connect with a lto of the story. I really liked Claudia and Rora as characters, but the forced love-at-first-sight romances are my least favorite tope of YA. I also got thrown off by the flashbacks to Dante and Beatrice, which felt out of place and detracted from the only interesting relationship of the bok (Cluadia and Rora's friendship).

I adored Anna Bright's the behold and was expecting a very similar vibe when I selected this book, but this book is literally in it's own genre, like out of this world! This tale shifts in time between 1200's with Marco Pollo and Dante exploring exploring the world's limits to the present day where our main characters are attempting to fix the problems of the universe. The setting, and really the whole premise, of the book is extraordinarily unique. I found myself captivated by the modern day characters. Rora, Claudia, Major and Amir are beautifully developed characters you cannot help but root for, and I felt myself glued to their story line throughout the entirety of the novel. The plot was extremely creative, utilizing planetary rhythms and star charts as the basis for organizing all of humanity. At times it got a little bit complicated, but astrology is not something I am well versed on. This story is told in multiple points of views, switching from the past to the present every few chapters. I love Anna Bright's prose, she's a lyrical genius whose story is a beautiful song all of it own. In short, I liked this story, I just wish I hadn't been expecting it be like the Beholder series when I picked up this gem.

If there is anything better than reading a book that suprises and delights every time the reader turns a page, I don't know what that would be. THE SONG THAT MOVES THE SUN is an absolute unicorn - tightly written prose, fantastic characters that make you care about them from the start, budding relationships, and interplanetary portal travel. The magic system is utterly bonkers and yet it's so well plotted that why couldn't it work? Plus, like every really great sci-fi, there's a (subtle) social lesson to be learned about making the world(s) a better place.

And on a personal note...the inclusion of the 930 Club and Ben's Chili Bowl and Ted's Bulletin's homemade poptarts in a book (partially) set in DC made me so happy. Forget about the monuments and government buildings, *that* is the real DC, the DC I know and love.

This book is magical, transporting, and overall a lovely, fantastical spin on overcoming anxiety and achieving your potential. I loved (LOVED!) the past exploration narrative; Anna's writing is so poetic and whimsical that it really brought the story to life.

Somehow, this book moved too slowly but also too quickly..? Like, I didn’t care for the plot and characters, and I wanted something to happen.. but once stuff did happen, I was still bored. The main characters jumped into the fantasy too quickly, and I couldn’t connect with them at all. The beginnings of two love stories were cringey and poorly written. I hate to say that I didn’t finish this about 40% in. It was just not fun.

I’m giving it 2 instead of 1 because the astrology part might be interesting for some.

This book is a unique mishmash of contemporary fantasy, Dante Alighieri, and astrology. Rora and Claudia are best friends. Recently, their lives have been falling apart; Rora is recovering from the PTSD of her mugging and Claudia is drifting further and further away from her troubled twin brother. The two go to a concert together, one of the only places Rora feels she can heal, and meet Major and Amir. The foursome quickly become friends and the girls find out that there is more to their pain than they thought: Major and Amir are from other planets and there is a cosmic disruption spreading chaos across them all.

This book is quite unique! I wanted to like it more but the writing is just...weak. The characters suffer from insta-love and struggle to develop throughout the story. I feel like the reader is TOLD how the characters are, but they don't always act the way we're told they do. There's also just some cringy attempts at prose, including one moment when Rora describes Major's eyes as the color of her favorite old jeans... How romantic? It read a bit like purple prose, and I think it suffers by being compared to VE Schwab or Laini Taylor in reviews.

All-in-all, I loved the concept and enjoyed the connections to Alighieri and astrology, but otherwise felt like I was dragging myself through this book.

This is such a good book. The writing is wonderful and the word choice was perfection. This is a stunner of a YA fantasy and makes me want to look into this author's previous work!

Literally spanning space and time, The Song That Moves The Sun is the Story of Rora and Claudia’s adventure into the ether. I felt an immediate connection with Rora and her anxious existence, but Claudia was more of a puzzle to me. I loved her as a character; indeed, if I ever met Claudia in real life, I’d want to be her friend. I anticipate that many readers may have the same (or inverse) experience as me, which is one of the more truly beautiful aspects of this story.

This story certainly had romance, but their central relationship was the friendship between Claudia and Rora. They felt realistic, even if they were fighting over portals and planets. For example, though Claudia was always fiercely protective of Rora, the reader is often met with shades of jealousy, possessiveness, and even resentment.

In The Song That Moves The Sun, Bright uses the Ptolemic model of the universe as our setting, and the reader follows Rora, Claudia, and friends from planet to planet, conjuring portals in the planetary spheres for transportation. The magic, of course, is all made possible by the music created by the movement of the astrological signs. I often found myself daydreaming about the sunsets on Venus or the proud song of Jupiter or the buzzing energy of Mercury.

While I liked Major and Amir as characters (Rora and Claudia’s love interests, respectively), I wasn’t moved by either relationship. I understood Rora’s attraction to Major, but I couldn’t grasp what Major liked in Rora (take this with a grain of salt, as I may be projecting on poor Rora). Sadly, I was even less impressed by the romance between Amir and Claudia. When compared to the brilliant and colorful friendship of Rora and Claudia, the romances felt dull and boring.

I have mixed feelings about the inclusion of Dante and Beatrice and their flashbacks. On one hand, I loved that Beatrice was becoming more than Dante’s Beatrice. Indeed, Anna Bright’s Beatrice was a curious and intelligent woman who led a less-than-scrupulous Dante, among others, into the heavens. On the other hand, I didn’t care about Beatrice’s hardships with Dante and friends - more often than not, I found that these detours distracted from the main story instead of adding to it.

Despite some minor details, this book is exciting and relevant and just plain fun—I’ve already recommended this to some astrologer friends. I am excited to recommend this to fans of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, classic retellings, astrology, and music.

This one had some really interesting concepts but overall just wasn't for me, unfortunately.

My biggest grievance was that the premise of this book rests on the two main female characters being best friends, but so much of the book was devoted to external romantic relationships with characters that had just been introduced.

That element really distracted me from the rest of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this book!

Beyond amazing! This book was an incredible read and I can't recommend it enough. This is a book you'll want on your shelf and to give as a gift. Everyone needs to read it.

A big thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for gifting me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I came for the comparison to Laini Taylor and V.E. Schwab, but quickly left because of the historical aspects not mentioned in the summary. Though did very much appreciate the sprinkling of astrological aspects,

The Song That Moves the Sun by Anna Bright is a YA fantasy featuring everyone's favorite trope of star-crossed lovers. Along with feminism! But basically the plot boils down to these two girls meeting two boys from a place ruled by the stars. And they fall in love, and attempt to save the world. All while the authors throws in the history of about those who first charted the stars.

I don't quite know what I was expecting out of this novel, save for it sweeping me off my feet. But it certainly didn't do that. Instead it bogged me down and begged for a dance, with the hands of an older gentleman. One who faintly smelled of pomade and stories much too dusty to tell. I wanted to love this book more than I did.

While I found the beginning a bit slow and wasn't immediately grabbed, once I was introduced to the magic system, it really picked up. I think the way astrology was used throughout was unique, and the way that the author explores belonging, identity, and trauma very interesting. I appreciated the thought and research that went into the historical context surrounding astrology and how people have studied stars and fate. I found that the chapters set in the past pulled me out of the story a bit, but overall the relationships between Rora and Claudia, as well as with their new love interests, really propelled the plot and kept me engaged. I think fans of Romina Russell's Zodiac series would absolutely devour this.

I loved it. It was a delightful adventure with some novel worldbuilding. The relationships between the characters rang true and I appreciated that the story was not afraid to tackle some tough concepts.

This is a unique read that has points of astrological magic throughout. It was a fast read and one that I think teens will really like.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC

This exquisite book is stunningly told and endlessly creative. I loved the settings, the music, the motion, and had a soft spot for the historical Dante/Beatrice sections. A wholly unique book.