Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE: The Witness of the Sun

SERIES: Book of Light #1

AUTHOR: Suki Fleet

PUBLISHER: Stars and Ink Press

LENGTH: 356 pages

RELEASE DATE: September 23, 2022

BLURB:

Ilya knows little about the world Before. All his village has left are pictures in books of glittering cities made of glass, of dangerous creatures like bears and wolves that used to haunt more than the forests. Ilya knows little of the wars that forced people to flee the cities and hide.

One dusk, when Ilya and his sister are hunting rabbits, a bear, a creature that they were told no longer exists, comes into the glade, and everything Ilya thought he knew about his world begins to disintegrate. Especially everything he thought he knew about Caleb, the mysterious boy none of the villagers can understand. Getting to know Caleb feels secret. But Ilya has too many secrets of his own—he can feel heartbeats, sense the forest, the warmth of all life within it. And Ilya has not always lived in the village…though where he comes from, he does not know…

REVIEW:   

“I felt you were different too. Always…” He took a deep breath. “It was always you. Ilya. Always.”

The Witness of the Sun is a truly gorgeous book, a magical paranormal story about two not-so-ordinary boys fated to fall in love. It’s oh, so romantic and I was enchanted. As a couple, these innocent boys make my heart skip a beat. I just want to gather Caleb in my arms and give him a massive hug, smothering him in love, not because he doesn’t have plenty of love in his life but because I just adore him. Guileless, devoted, shy misunderstood – he has become one of my favorite MM heroes. Ilya, with his love of family, the earth, and all living things – and likewise keeping a big secret – is his perfect match.

Ilya, Caleb, and their families live in a small village in a post-apocalyptic world where supplies and food are running low, most animals are extinct, and most humans are gone, too. The boys are different from others and there’s danger in that. Ilya secretly likes boys, not girls, and it would not be safe for him if others knew. And even more disparate from other humans, he has a special gift: he is unusually aware of the world around him, somehow connected to the forest. He can push his senses outwards to feel the warmth and heartbeats of living beings. Caleb’s differences are more distinguishable – he’s  disconnected from others, sometimes growling or babbling disjointed words. “He drifts around as though he’s been blown by the wind.” The villagers think he’s weird.

Ilya feels extremely protective over Caleb and senses him more strongly than anyone else. When Caleb is lost and possibly injured in the forest one night, Ilya is overwhelmingly desperate to find him. They have a special connection – a kinship – perhaps from when Ilya found Caleb alone in the forest when he was young. Ilya was found in the forest, also, with no family or memories of a past. Ilya has always wanted to be friends but he didn’t know how. Now they are becoming something more than friends, something beautiful and ethereal. Ilya is giddy around Caleb, with a longing deep inside he doesn’t know what to do with.

“I didn’t know what it meant, but right then, half-drunk with breathing him in, I didn’t care. I just wanted him to feel as close to me as possible too. “Missed you,” I whispered, pressing my face into his hair, losing myself a little to the soft warmth of his skin beneath it. He smelled of the forest, all deep dark earth and soaring trees.”

The intimate scenes are both sexy and swoon-worthy, and so worth the wait.

“The kiss probably only lasted a few heartbeats, but the way we ended up all pressed against one another felt like a moment pulled out of time. I could feel all the sharp lines of his body. All the hardness. All the heat. And I just wanted to melt into him. For him to melt into me. For both of us to become part of the same thing.”

Love of family is strong and each of their family members is an excellent character, Caleb’s father, Fyodor, and his brothers Josef, Luka, and Sonny among them. I could happily read about Caleb’s family for weeks; in fact, book two of the series is Sonny’s story. Ilya’s sister, Masha, is lovely, too. There’s a well-written, loathsome villain to heighten the conflict. The imaginative world building is a highlight of the book, too.

I don’t read much in the paranormal or fantasy genres, but Suki Fleet is my favorite young adult author; I would read a refrigerator repair manual if they wrote it, so I definitely wanted to give this one a try. It’s a special book, as most of theirs are. If you’re a fan of the author, paranormal, or YA romance, this novel is not to be missed. I suspect this was a passion project for Fleet. It certainly melted my heart.

RATING:

BUY LINK: 

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