for darkness shows the stars

Title: For Darkness Shows the Stars
Author: Diana Peterfreund 

Release date: June 12, 2012
Publisher: Balzar & Bray

Pages: 398

Source: Around the World ARC Tours

Goodreads: {via}

Summary:

Generations ago, a genetic experiment gone wrong—the Reduction—decimated humanity, giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family’s estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress, and Elliot’s estate is foundering, forcing her to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth—an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go.

But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret—one that could change their society . . . or bring it to its knees. And again, she’s faced with a choice: cling to what she’s been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she’s ever loved, even if she’s lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion, For Darkness Shows the Stars is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.

Review:

I didn't read Jane Austen's Persuasion until fairly recently. I'm glad that I waited until I was older to read it, as it's a beautiful, subtle novel. Diana Peterfreund's For Darkness Shows the Stars is also subtle. Diana Peterfreund has created a novel that is wonderfully tightly knit and woven with care. The story, much like its inspiration, is not action packed and fast moving, but instead slowly works its way into your bones, staying with you long after you've finished reading. 

For Darkness Shows the Stars is a futuristic, sci-fi, dystopian retelling ofPersuasion. Don't let that last sentence scare you off. It is done so fantastically, that even if you aren't a huge sci-fi fan (like yours truly...), you can't help but be enchanted by the world that she's created. And what a world it is. In the future, scientists messed around with our genes, and tried to create the best of the best. Humans genes weren't meant to be messed with, though. The resulting people were deformed, and mutated mentally. They were the Lost generation. Their children all became Reduced, people who were shells of humans. Only the Luddites, those people who didn't believe in the technology that was all the rage, survived in tact and whole. Over the course of time, though, Mother Nature and God started to right everything, and a new generation of people were made, those called Posts. They were just like Luddites – all their senses worked, and well... – but they were children of the Reduced. A caste system was born.Sound confusing? I thought it might be hard to work my way in to a new world. I needn't have worried. Peterfreund has done an excellent job making the story very relatable, and quite easy to understand. 

I quite understood all the emotions floating around. Early on, we're introduced to our heroine, Elliot. Anne Elliot, of Persuasion fame, has always been an interesting character to me. She kept up her duties, even when they broke her heart. She was a true lady with a backbone of steel. Elliot North, our protagonist, bears her namesake well. She, too, has a backbone of steel and a heart of gold. 

Kai, or Malakai as he's now known, is another interesting character. I never liked how angry he was, both in this book and the original, but I definitely understood it. I understood the hurt he must have felt at being abandoned all those years before. I understood how much it pained him to go back to a place where he felt like nothing. His gradual progression to a more likable character was one of my favorite parts of my experience in reading this book.

Another part that I loved was the way that the chapters were set up. They themselves were short and sweet. But I truly enjoyed the letters that were interspersed throughout the novel. I even loved the way that Peterfreund jumped from year to year, so we got a pretty good idea of the mindset of not only our two main characters, but of the people in that time period as well. 

I have to say, this was an excellent read. A definite must for Jane Austen fans. Perfect Summer fare, as well, and would be good to read on the beach! 

I received a copy of this ARC courtesy of Around the World ARC Tours and the publisher. This in no way influenced my review of this book.