Magic and Music Are One and the Same in The Song That Moves The Sun

Astrology is a fun field that takes on a whole new context in Anna Bright’s The Song That Moves The Sun, becoming a law of the universe. In this world partly inspired by the classical poem The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, your star sign doesn’t only tell you about yourself, but also where you belong and what kind of music speaks to you to make you feel alive. Music created by the celestial bodies rules the balance of the universe, but what happens when that music is out of tune? 

Rora and Claudia are best friends and polar opposites who set about trying to discover why there is disharmony among the spheres, causing natural disasters and odd behavior. On this quest, they meet Major and Amir, two boys who live in magical cities on other planets of the solar system. 

Although Rora and Claudia are so different, Rora the one who can hear the music unlike anyone else and cautiously led by her fears, and Claudia the leveled headed one who looks at things with a logical point of view, the strength of their bond is never brought into question. Even when the two are separated and begin to find new goals for themselves, it doesn’t feel as if they are working without the other. Despite being apart, the girls are a team. As Claudia seeks out answers about one of her ancestors, Rora fights to find a sense of peace and rightness in her own mind. They root for each other even when they aren’t speaking. 

The boys, likewise, have a strong bond that you can see even without getting to read through their point of view. It’s clear the two are partners in their chase across the spheres for harmony. We see each of them get one on one time with our shared narrators, and the range of the dynamics feels natural and real. Vulnerability comes in many forms, and we can see hints of that in the varying interactions of the characters. The boys don’t feel like they exist only for their counterpart, but for themselves, making them well rounded. While Amir struggles to truly feel like he can do what he’s meant to, Major imagines a different future for himself than what the law of the spheres has designated for him. 

Readers also get to meet Dante Alighieri and Beatrice Portinari from the Divine Comedy, as they explore the spheres for the first time and establish many of the cities Rora, Claudia, Major, and Amir travel through in their adventures. Not only is it neat to see origins of the magical world, but it plays a part in the overall story as celestial events and how they affect the universe around us repeat in the present. 

Astrology, magic, and music go hand in hand, different pitches and tones are not only how our characters travel across the stars, but they can dictate how a person feels. It’s a universe full of different melodies and how they each fit together and balance one another out like instruments in an orchestra. The Song That Moves The Sun shows how different people can heal each other, not only those the same as or similar to ourselves. Bright crafts a beautiful story about the interconnectedness of people and the world around us. 

The Song That Moves the Sun by Anna Bright is available now at your local independent bookstore or wherever fine books are sold.

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