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For Darkness Shows the Stars Diana Peterfreund Books

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For Darkness Shows the Stars Diana Peterfreund Books

I don't care how cliché it is, I love Jane Austen.

I've read Pride and Prejudice half a dozen times. I've read Emma at least twice that, and I've read Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park a time or two as well. We won't even get into how many times I've watched their movie counterparts, b/c that could be embarrassing.

Know what I haven't read and/or watched numerous times?

Persuasion.

*sighs*

YES, I admit it. The first time I read this book, I had never read Jane Austen's Persuasion. I'm pretty sure I'd seen the BBC miniseries or movie version, but it had been looooooong ago, and who cares, anyway?--Having seen the movie (perhaps) at some point in the indefinite past doesn't make me any less of a fraud.

*hangs head in shame*

There's good news though. Chances are you haven't read Persuasion either. In fact, a lot of you are probably wondering why I'm blathering on about Jane Austen to begin with . . .

YEP. Thought so.

But there is a reason (there is always a reason), and that reason is Diana Peterfreund's For Darkness Shows the Stars is a sci-fi/post apocalypse/dystopian retelling of . . . wait for it . . . Jane Austen's Persuasion.

And it is FANTASTIC.

Elliot North lives in a world devastated by genetic modification. A Luddite, she is a member of the lone surviving intelligent people group of the wars that followed the general population's discovery that their genetic tampering had doomed their offspring to existing in a diminished capacity.

Having shunned the treatment, the Luddites and their own offspring were unaffected, and when the dust settled, pious souls that they were, they took it as their sacred duty to shelter and protect the Reduced.

That the Reduced provided free labor on plantation-like properties . . . well, that was just a byproduct of the whole nasty situation.

BUT several generations later, the Reduced began to infrequently give birth to non-Reduced children. A few generations after that, and while still a rare occurrence, the number of non-Reduced children was steadily increasing.

Kai is one such child, and Elliot's best and only childhood friend, but he left the North estate four years ago to try and build a better life for himself.

There are Post-Reduction settlements, you see, where non-Reduced people live free of Luddite interference/persecution/enslavement.

Elliot was meant to go with him, but she was all that stood between her dangerously idiotic father and the people, both Reduced and Post Reduction, who depended on her family's estate for their survival.

So she did not go.

But he has never left her thoughts.

For Darkness Shows the Stars is a deliciously painful story of love and loss, of misunderstanding, of evil in the world and triumph over that evil. It's a story of hope and adventure. And it's also a cautionary tale that details the dangers of two very different extremes.

This is the third time I've read this book, and I've loved it a little more each time. For Darkness Shows the Stars is one of those rare books that I unreservedly recommend to EVERYONE.


Tags : Amazon.com: For Darkness Shows the Stars (9780062006141): Diana Peterfreund: Books,Diana Peterfreund,For Darkness Shows the Stars,Balzer + Bray,0062006142,Dystopian,Family - General,Romance - General,Dysfunctional families,Family problems,Family problems;Fiction.,JUVENILE FICTION Family General (see also headings under Social Issues),JUVENILE FICTION Love & Romance,JUVENILE FICTION Visionary & Metaphysical,Love,Love stories,Love;Fiction.,Science fiction,Social classes,Social classes;Fiction.,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9),Fiction,Fiction-Romance,JUVENILE,Juvenile Fiction,Juvenile Grades 7-9 Ages 12-14,Love & Romance,Science Fiction Fantasy (Young Adult),Science fiction (Children's Teenage),TEEN'S FICTION ROMANCE,TEEN'S FICTION SCIENCE FICTION,United States,YOUNG ADULT FICTION,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Dystopian,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Family General (see also headings under Social Themes),YOUNG ADULT FICTION Romance General,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Visionary & Metaphysical,Young Adult FictionFamily - General (see also headings under Social Themes),Young Adult FictionVisionary & Metaphysical,Love & Romance,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Dystopian,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Family General (see also headings under Social Themes),YOUNG ADULT FICTION Romance General,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Visionary & Metaphysical,Young Adult FictionFamily - General (see also headings under Social Themes),Young Adult FictionVisionary & Metaphysical,Fiction,Science Fiction Fantasy (Young Adult),YOUNG ADULT FICTION,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9),Science fiction (Children's Teenage)

For Darkness Shows the Stars Diana Peterfreund Books Reviews

Favorite Quote

"No matter where I went, I always knew my way back to you."

I assume it's due to the cover or the name, but I originally thought this would be more sci-fi. Which it is not. At all. I will begin by saying I have not read Jane Austen's Persuasion. Gasp. Shock. Horror. I know. So with it being inspired by it that means absolutely nothing to me. It did have a bit of that Jane Austen feel though. With the Lords/Luddites, propriety and estates in general.

darkness_shows_starsI enjoyed the characters. Elliot was a strong lead. I liked how she followed her own ideals and struggled with how she was raised versus what she was seeing around her. She was also borderline annoying with how narrow-minded she seemed. I almost was ready to slap her before she came around. Kai was just kinda...eh. We honestly didn't seem to get to see him much so I can't say that the romance was legendary or anything. It was incredibly slow placed and we didn't even get a kiss. Incredibly tame. Most of the book they barely spoke or were fighting. I didn't even feel underlying tension or attraction from Kai. We got Elliot's POV so we knew she was pining over him the whole time. [Read more...]

The overarching story was also rather tame. There wasn't really a "climax" or heart-wrenching or heart-pounding moment in the story. Not to say I didn't enjoy it. I found the idea of the Reduction interesting I haven't read a post-apocolyptic story in quite some time. I liked the ideas incorporated into the story and like a wealth of the characters. I really liked Felicia Innovation.

It was an easy read and I was curious what direction it would take. I also liked how it was a stand alone novel. I didn't want to get sucked into a 12 book series and it had a neat and tidy ending.
I don't remember how long it's been since I read a dystopian that I loved this much! There were a few things I wasn't crazy about, but the rest I enjoyed so much I'm still giving it five stars.

I didn't care for the lack of resolution on what Elliot thought was acceptable for technology/genetic manipulation. I felt like there was a lot of room between what had caused all the reduced problems in the first place and what the Luddites believed. But it seems like there never ended up being a middle ground.

I didn't like Kai. The guy was a jerk from the time they were children through the present. At the end he's supposedly changed and apologizes, but it was all sudden for me. I think I would've liked if they'd started out as just being friends as he realized how nasty he'd been to Elliot and then later, next book or whatever, they'd started romantically. I just felt that what Kai had done would take more time for Elliot to get over and he needed to prove he could be a decent person.

That aside ... the plot was stellar. The world felt so believable and each character incredibly unique. Even the smaller roles had well-developed personalities that added to the depth of the story. Elliot is a woman who gave up her heart's desire to do what was right. She gave up Kai and her dream of traveling to stay at her home and protect the people. It's really a survival setting on the farm. They're not making money from selling their crops because they can hardly grow enough food to support everyone. So no, Elliot isn't paying them but her hands are pretty tied by her father's threats and blackmail.

Every time she tries to defy him, he threatens her friends or the people in general. Elliot really is in an impossible situation from beginning to end. As it is she couldn't have paid them(even if her father had allowed it) because they're not raising anything for money, but for food. It's a system of survival for Elliot and the rest of residents. At the end things are just starting to change, but we don't know how that ends up and maybe they do get paid. Even if they don't I see this as the first step in changing the world and change happens gradually. What Elliot does is revolution in terms of what the rest of the "nobility" is doing.

(that to address the whole, but she doesn't pay them complaint)

Even the characters I didn't like had realistic personalities that were portrayed well. Andromeda was a woman who hated all people in the higher "caste". It didn't matter what they did, she hated them. I felt that was a realistic personality for the world. You'll always have people that hate the people that start out with the upper hand no matter what. And she did it so well!

Kai was one of those people who even though they saw the good in an upper class person, he still resented them. It didn't matter what Elliot did, he would get upset. As if the problems of the world were her fault. I couldn't like the guy because of that and the (view spoiler) But he portrayed a real person. Because there are people out there who act and feel that way.

I could go on, but it's the same with each character. They were three-dimensional people who covered a wide range of what I think you'd encounter in this situation. It's been awhile since I read ANY book that had characters who felt so realistic, like they'd been siphoned out of our world and straight into Elliots.

I loved the struggles Elliot faced. I sympathized with her, what she had to deal with, and she handled everything so well. A comment is made at some point that only cowards stay behind on the estates or power-loving Luddites. But I saw it as the people who left were following their dreams. A bit selfish, but understandable. The people who stayed weren't cowards, they were the ones who realized that the Reduced needed them. They're the ones who were the heroes to me. As others left and things got harder, they pushed on to make sure those who couldn't take care of themselves survived.

Elliot knew her father and sister would let the farm run to the ground and let the workers die. They didn't care about anything but trivial pursuits. So she gave up what mattered to her, to try and save her people. There were problems and struggles and failures. But it felt so much more real because of that. She carried the weight of her failures and the suffering of her people. While people like the shipbuilders and her family scorned her and made her look like she wasn't doing anything, she just bore it.

I loved the ending where (view spoiler)

But I really wasn't crazy that Elliot gave up her ideals on the genetic mutation. I think there was some very legitimate points for NOT doing that. And no overwhelming reason why anyone SHOULD get them. Yet Elliot is painfully in love with Kai and even though he's downright cruel to her(he's not just mean, he's vicious in his verbal attacks) that she not only overlooks his slandering her behind her back, constantly attacking her to her face, but she also lets go of all her inhibitions about genetics and just accepts that anything goes.

So there were some parts of this I wasn't crazy about, but the story and the characters were overwhelming in their awesomeness.
I don't care how cliché it is, I love Jane Austen.

I've read Pride and Prejudice half a dozen times. I've read Emma at least twice that, and I've read Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park a time or two as well. We won't even get into how many times I've watched their movie counterparts, b/c that could be embarrassing.

Know what I haven't read and/or watched numerous times?

Persuasion.

*sighs*

YES, I admit it. The first time I read this book, I had never read Jane Austen's Persuasion. I'm pretty sure I'd seen the BBC miniseries or movie version, but it had been looooooong ago, and who cares, anyway?--Having seen the movie (perhaps) at some point in the indefinite past doesn't make me any less of a fraud.

*hangs head in shame*

There's good news though. Chances are you haven't read Persuasion either. In fact, a lot of you are probably wondering why I'm blathering on about Jane Austen to begin with . . .

YEP. Thought so.

But there is a reason (there is always a reason), and that reason is Diana Peterfreund's For Darkness Shows the Stars is a sci-fi/post apocalypse/dystopian retelling of . . . wait for it . . . Jane Austen's Persuasion.

And it is FANTASTIC.

Elliot North lives in a world devastated by genetic modification. A Luddite, she is a member of the lone surviving intelligent people group of the wars that followed the general population's discovery that their genetic tampering had doomed their offspring to existing in a diminished capacity.

Having shunned the treatment, the Luddites and their own offspring were unaffected, and when the dust settled, pious souls that they were, they took it as their sacred duty to shelter and protect the Reduced.

That the Reduced provided free labor on plantation-like properties . . . well, that was just a byproduct of the whole nasty situation.

BUT several generations later, the Reduced began to infrequently give birth to non-Reduced children. A few generations after that, and while still a rare occurrence, the number of non-Reduced children was steadily increasing.

Kai is one such child, and Elliot's best and only childhood friend, but he left the North estate four years ago to try and build a better life for himself.

There are Post-Reduction settlements, you see, where non-Reduced people live free of Luddite interference/persecution/enslavement.

Elliot was meant to go with him, but she was all that stood between her dangerously idiotic father and the people, both Reduced and Post Reduction, who depended on her family's estate for their survival.

So she did not go.

But he has never left her thoughts.

For Darkness Shows the Stars is a deliciously painful story of love and loss, of misunderstanding, of evil in the world and triumph over that evil. It's a story of hope and adventure. And it's also a cautionary tale that details the dangers of two very different extremes.

This is the third time I've read this book, and I've loved it a little more each time. For Darkness Shows the Stars is one of those rare books that I unreservedly recommend to EVERYONE.