Thursday, May 9, 2013

Book Review: For Darkness Shows the Stars By: Diana Peterfreund


Book Description:
It's been several generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity and 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.
My Thoughts:
Where to begin... This book was heart wrenching and heart throbbing. It was just plain beautiful and epic. 

I choose this book for our book club in April because it got such high rating on goodreads and because it was based off of Jane Austin's Persuasion. How can you go wrong with that?!

So, lets start with Diana Peterfreund's take on Jane Austen's story Persuasion. There wasn't much of a difference in my opinion, it was easy to to figure out who was who in Diana's version and that's what made it fun too! A friend in book club felt that there were vital parts of Austen's that weren't in Peterfreunds book and therefore lacked great substance. Understandable but this was written for YA as Austen's was written for more adult as the characters were older and had a lot more experience.
The whole point of this either book is second chances. 

I admit I struggled at first as I tried to follow along with the new world that Peterfreund created, and there were a few times I had to go back and read something previous so I could understand things a bit better. 

Throughout the whole story Peterfreund added letters from the "past" and it wasn't in chronological order, so sometimes it flowed and sometimes it got confusing. But overall it was wonderfully done! 

My heart throbbed and ached for the characters and I loved each of them. I loved watching the struggles of all the characters and the moral hypocrisy, or moral decisions made by characters in this book. Somethings I was NOT expecting and I'm not sure how I feel about those. But overall it was a good, CLEAN read that is worth owning. 

Sexual Content: mild
Violence: mild
Drugs/Alcohol: none
Language: mild

 You can also check out my VLOG to this book!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQKexTb1kOQ&feature=youtu.be&a

1 comment:

  1. I had no idea that this was a retelling of Persuasion! That make me want to read it even more! And what a gorgeous cover! I love the font! :)

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