I have been waiting eight years for this book and it has been so worth the wait.

Rewind to 2012 – the year where I was applying for university scholarships and trying to finish as many books in my school library before I graduated. Sometime during the year, I participated in a blog tour for a book named Thorn, a retelling of The Goose Girl, and fell in love. Unusually for me, I signed up for the author’s mailing list and I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS BOOK EVER SINCE.

(Honestly, if there wasn’t a mailing list, I may not have remembered but I’ve been reminded of this on and off for years so can you imagine my excitement when I heard The Theft of Sunlight was ready??)

The Theft of Sunlight is set in the same world as Thorn. While you don’t have to have read Thorn to appreciate this, I highly recommend you do so because:

1) Thorn is a fantastic retelling of The Goose Girl and

2) It will help you understand a lot of the character relationships. While Rae, our protagonist, is a new character to this world, many of the main secondary characters were in Thorn and it really helps the reading experience if you know what they’ve gone through.

(Ok, I’m finally done with the digressions)

The Theft of Sunlight starts when Rae’s best friend’s sister is taken by the “snatchers”. In order to learn more about this mysterious, possibly magical group, Rae accepts an invitation from her cousin, who married a nobleman, to accompany her at court while she is pregnant. But shortly after she gets there, Rae is taken into the service of the Princess (the Prince’s betrothed) and given a secret, secondary task to investigate the disappearance of the children.

Honestly this book was phenomenal. Rae is the best – although she is born with a club foot, she has never let that get in her way and carries out her responsibilities as faithfully as possible. I also love how the secondary characters were mostly supportive and wholesome. For example, Prince Kestrin and Princess Alyrra’s relationship made me melt (this is the topic of Thorn so please read it) and I’m not a romance person! Rae and her cousin, Melly, was also uplifting to read, and I also enjoyed Rae’s budding romance with a certain side character.

But although the core supporting characters are all so lovable, there are, unfortunately, others. The court ladies are standoffish until a foreigner makes them band together around Rae and Alyrra (sounds familiar…) and the foreign prince, Alyrra’s brother is downright despicable. Overall, I thought the book had an excellent mix of characters, from those I loved to those I loved to hate.

The story was intricate and the world even more real than what I experienced in Thorn. I suppose that now the book is free from the frame of the retelling, Intisar has managed to really expand the world and build upon the story. We have court politics, we have missing children, we have family relationships – this book has them all. One note of warning: this book does touch upon domestic abuse and slavery, and Intisar does not shy away from the effects of these.

There’s also one more thing to note. If you are a completionist, you might want to avoid this book until the next one is out. This is a duology and it definitely ends on a cliffhanger. Like with Thorn, I’m now super hyped for the next book and hoping it comes out soon!

If you’re a fan of fantasy or just well-told stories with really strong protagonists in a unique world, can I please recommend in the strongest and most polite terms that you read The Theft of Sunlight? It is amazing and I’m sure you won’t regret it.