Review: For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

August 4, 2012 Philippa General, Reviews 5 Stars, Dystopian, Jane Austen, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Envy hurt exponentially more than heartbreak because your soul was torn in two, half soaring with happiness for another person, half mired in a well of self pity and pain.

I chose to read this novel back in January for the Dystopian Challenge and all I remembered upon opening the Kindle document was that it was post apocalyptic. Within a few chapters I started to get a real sense of familiarity to the story and characters and when I discovered that it was a Jane Austen retelling this made a whole lot of sense, there is a real Austen feel about this novel while still managing to spin a completely new and novel story.

The story is about 2 children – 1 rich, Elliot and 1 a slave, Kai. These two are born on the same day and form a strong friendship that overtime blossoms into love. 4 years prior to this book taking place, Kai leaves to try and make a better life for himself while Elliot stays behind, bound by duty to try to protect and look after the other people on the estate before her father’s disinterest drives it to the brink of ruin. Fast forward to today and Kai comes back, as the dashing and incredibly successful Captain Wentworth still hurt and angry about Elliot’s choice to leave him and ready to show her what a poor choice she made.

Elliot is a wonderful strong female lead, one who is self sacrificing, independant and who clearly cares deeply for others overcoming many societal predjudices. As one of the luddite nobitlity she takes her role as caretaker to the reduced (generations of people on which genetic experimentation went incredibly wrong) seriously unlike many of her society counterparts. The best part about her carefully constructed charactered is how layered she is. She chooses honor over love and underneath her tough exterior is pain, regret and a tinge of hopelessness. Mixed in with these many emotions are deep seated religious beliefs and fears about innovation, science and change making her a delightfully complex heroine.

Kai/Wentworth is a very typical Austen male love interest and while the arrogance has been toned down for a more modern audience I can still imagine many of his reactions wouldn’t sit well with teens today. His blind hatred to Elliot at the beginning of the story does seem to dissolve fairly quickly with very little reason, though many reasons why he should love Elliot are still shown to the reader. His character is given depth through the ethical dilemmas he faces while apart from Elliot with relation to science and innovation. The decisions and rational behind his choices definitely round him out making him more appealing and also add a extra layer of complicaton between himself and Elliot.

The many issues dealt with in this book make it such a very interesting read and I could easily imagine reading this story for a second or third time and taking very different messages away from it. From family drama, slavery, genetic experimentation, religious persecution and pitfalls of scientific innovation, there are many important questions to ponder as a reader and this book did a great job of painting everything a delicious shade of grey and never tried to sway your point of view one way or the other.

This is such an engrossing book, I finished it within a day and it’s probably one of the best written novels I’ve read since Daughter of Smoke and Bone. If your looking for a book that makes you want to think yet still keeps you entertained then I can’t recommend this enough!

Rating

Author	Diana Peterfreund
Book series	Stand Alone
Genre	Dystopian / Young Adult
Publisher	Balzer + Bray
Published	June 2012
Source	Purchased for Kindle
More	For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund at Goodreads For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund at Amazon For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund at The Book Depository

8 Comments:

Ashley says:

August 5, 2012 at 5:36 am Reply

Awesome review!! I keep thinking about reading this one, but then I’m not sure because I feel like I can’t figure it out. But I love books that make me think! I’ll try to give this one a go soon.

Philippa says:

August 5, 2012 at 8:51 pm Reply

I definitely think its worth giving a go, hope you get a chance to read it soon

Angelya says:

August 7, 2012 at 9:14 am Reply

Austen retelling, eh? I do like the sound of this one. Must wishlist

Philippa says:

August 7, 2012 at 1:29 pm Reply

definitely worth reading and I love the cover!

Diana Peterfreund Blog | More Blog Reviews for For Darkness Shows the Stars says:

September 6, 2012 at 1:22 am Reply

[...] Tea, Daydreams, and Fairytales: The many issues dealt with in this book make it such a very interesting read and I could easily imagine reading this story for a second or third time and taking very different messages away from it. From family drama, slavery, genetic experimentation, religious persecution and pitfalls of scientific innovation, there are many important questions to ponder as a reader and this book did a great job of painting everything a delicious shade of grey and never tried to sway your point of view one way or the other. This is such an engrossing book, I finished it within a day and it’s probably one of the best written novels I’ve read since Daughter of Smoke and Bone. If you’re looking for a book that makes you want to think yet still keeps you entertained then I can’t recommend this enough! [...]