Review: For Darkness Shows the Stars

For Darkness Shows the Stars
by Diana Peterfreund
ebook

293 pages
Published June 12th 2012 

by Balzer + Bray

Summary from Goodreads:

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.

Thoughts:
Let me just say that I was indeed a little bit apprehensive when I first heard that Diana Peterfreund is writing a new dystopian book based on the infamous Jane Austen's Persuasion. I'm just not sure that those concept would go well together. But since I enjoyed Peterfreund's Killer Unicorns series I thought that I might as well give this a try.

And I'm so glad that I did! This book is so much different from Peterfreund's earlier works as the story is much more polished and I found that the writing has indeed improved a lot. The beginning is indeed a little bit slow as we are introduced to Elliot and Kai through their correspondence. Elliot North is the second daughter of a Luddite noble and Kai is the son of her family's servant. Apparently in their world, humans are categorised into Luddites and Reduced. Luddites are the ones who rejected any form of human experiment and the Reduced were the result of human experiments gone wrong. Since the Reduced are mostly mentally incapable, the Luddites took them as slaves and servants in their vast estates.

However, as times passed, more and more Reduced gives birth to a new generation of children who turn out to be normal and they are called the Cors or Post. And the hero; Kai is one of them as he is very gifted with any kind of machine and was expected to be a mechanic in Elliot's farm. Unhappy with the treatment of the Reduced and Posts in the North estate, Kai decided to run away leaving the heartbroken Elliot behind.

Although the sci-fi elements of the book is quite confusing at times, I just fell in love with the book and the main reason behind it is because of the main character. I just can't help but feel sorry for Elliot as she desperately tried to save her family's estate, protect her slaves and cope with her feelings towards Kai at the same time when he made a surprising return as one of the Captain of the Cloud Fleet; a group of explorers renting out Elliot's grandfather's shipyard/estate.

I was nearly in tears when her beloved grandfather died and I just love how she overcome all the obstacles to become a strong and independent women in the end and finally had the courage to stand up to her materialistic and opportunist father. Such a wonderful read and for once I'm not turned off by the romance. Love it so much!

Verdict: 5 stars.
Available on: Amazon