★★★★★ Rae won't let go

The Theft of Sunlight

Intisar Khanani

Intisar Khanani's The Theft of Sunlight reminded me of two other books that I really liked. The first is The War That Saved My Life, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. The central character of The War That Saved My Life, Ada Smith, is a brilliant person, bold, smart, and overflowing with ambition and initiative. The heroine of Theft of Sunlight, Amraeya ni Ansarim (Rae) is similarly brilliant. There are also superficial similarities: both suffer from talipes (clubfoot), and both love horses. There is, however, one big difference. Ada is a child who grew up abused by her mother because of her foot. She is, in many ways that matter, a broken person when the story begins. Rae's family, in contrast, supports her. She is a strong person, and her foot is just a cross she bears.

The second book Theft of Sunlight reminded me of is a longer stretch: All the President’s Men, by Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. It is the story of their investigation of the Watergate scandal. Theft of Sunlight also tells the story of an investigation of an unexpectedly far-reaching conspiracy of crimes committed by a corrupt government. If you've read the first novel of the Dauntless Path series, you can guess what those crimes are: the snatching and trafficking of children.

The movie based on All the President’s Men contains a famous line, "Follow the money." That line from the film, as it happens, appears nowhere in the book. It also is absent from Theft of Sunlight. The strategy is, however, central to both investigations. It turns out that Menaiya, the fantasy nation in which Theft of Sunlight takes place, is a rather modern burocratic state, with the volume of paperwork that implies. I enjoyed seeing how, even in a young adult fantasy, a financial investigation played a key role.

This is a great story, with an admirable heroine. I recommend it.

The Theft of Sunlight on Amazon

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