*The Song that Moves the Sun by Anna Bright

The Song that Moves the Sun takes four teens through the cosmos of Dante, with revelations on harmony, love, and friendship.

*The Song that Moves the Sun by Anna Bright. HarperTeen, 2022, 454 pages.

Reading Level: Teen, ages 15-18

Recommended for: Ages 14-up

The Music of the Spheres

“We begin at the center.” The center of the Ptolemaic universe, that is. Earth is the heart of the cosmos, circled by (in ascending order) Luna, Mercury, Venus, Helios, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Inferno. This was Dante’s universe, explored in his Divine Comedy—and there’s Dante in Chapter One, escaping to Florence in order to avoid an unhappy marriage. With a turn of the page we’re in present day D.C., where Aurora (Rora) is meeting her best friend Claudia at a concert of her favorite band, Ad Astra. There the girls meet two guys, who introduce themselves as Amir and Major. The stars align: instant attraction between two pairs. Girls-meet-boys and complications ensue—what could be more YA?

Except that the boys are from other worlds—or more accurately, other spheres—and they struggle with a sense of doom. Rora and Claudia are living under their own premonitions of doom, of something out of whack in their lives. Could the disorientation be universal? Or rather, astral? Amir and Major, who know how to travel between spheres, have come to Earth on a mission to find the cause of this great disquiet, and fate leads them to the very girls who hear the same music they do. It’s the music of the spheres, each with their own songs, and learning to harmonize those songs is the secret of restoring harmony to the whole.

All shall be well

The many references to horoscopes and star charts may put off some readers, but this is a Medieval conception held by many Christians, Dante included. Dante (who contributed the title) is a recurring character as he and his beloved Beatrice tour the spheres with their celebrated contemporary traveler Marco Polo. Horoscopes are not the focus, though; harmony is, and the sense that whatever is wrong with an individual or a cosmos can be healed. “I have to trust that the ones that I love, love me, too.,” Rora muses. “I have to trust the Love that moves the sun and other stars to hold them securely, as it holds and moves everything in all the worlds.” This Love, as the author makes clear in her acknowledgements, is the Lord in whom all things hold together.

The novel is a little longer than it needs to be and for some readers, its reflective dialogue may stall the action. But the exploration of the nature of love—friendship and family as well as romance—is unsurpassed. It’s a noble story, beautifully written, and will reward the reader who perseveres to the end.

Overall Rating: 4.5

• Worldview/moral value: 4.5
• Artistic/literary value: 4.5

Read more about our ratings here.                 

Also at Redeemed Reader

• Reviews: Other thoughtful YA books that explore the nature of love are The Passion of Dolssa, Lovely War, and Butterfly Yellow.
• Reflection: Check out “Those Love Stories We Loved” and see if you can relate!

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