For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

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Diana Peterfreund - For Darkness Shows the Stars
The blurb: Fans of Divergent will love Diana Peterfreund’s take on Jane Austen’s Persuasion set in a post-apocalyptic world.

In the dystopian future of For Darkness Shows the Stars, a genetic experiment has devastated humanity. In the aftermath, a new class system placed anti-technology Luddites in absolute power over vast estates—and any survivors living there.

Elliot North is a dutiful Luddite and a dutiful daughter who runs her father’s estate. When the boy she loved, Kai, a servant, asked her to run away with him four years ago, she refused, although it broke her heart.

Now Kai is back. And while Elliot longs for a second chance with her first love, she knows it could mean betraying everything she’s been raised to believe is right.

For Darkness Shows the Stars is a breathtaking YA romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.

My rating: 4/5
Tagged: young adult, dystopia, romance, science-fiction
Date I started this book: 31/01/2016
Date I finished this book 02/02/2016

What did I think? With this book, for some reason, I had a preconceived idea of what this book was about. Upon hearing it was a Science Fiction/Post Apocalyptic retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion, I thought I was sure I knew what I was getting into. I was initially caught off guard by a mood and setting of the book I wasn't expecting to read. This at first had me reading this book much slower than it ought to have been read until I gave it a second chance. I'm glad I did! This book is a gorgeous Post Apocalyptic, yet refined retelling of a story you thought you knew.

I was initially not excited about the Austen-era propriety in the book, as I don't usually associate it with Science Fiction. By the midway point I decided that it fit tone of the story and provided a really great contrast between technology and the ways of the stingy Luddites who want nothing to do with the technology that previously destroyed the human population. The world itself was absolutely gorgeous. Diana Peterfreund just has a way of describing the setting and setting up the mood of a story!

The characters of this book were so deeply written and rather heart-wrenching at times. The relationship of Elliot and Kai was written really well. It wasn't too lovey-dovey, but rather thoughtful and powerful, crossing the boundaries of their society. The social boundaries in this book are much deeper than upper and lower class. The Reduction was an event in the book's past where humans experiments with genetic enhancement went horribly wrong and all who survived became 'Reduced' to the mental capacity of a young child. I loved this controversial subject and I think it's horrifyingly believable!

I would recommend this book to people who have a taste for unique worlds and love the artful language. It's definitely a unique but well-executed contribution to the post apocalyptic genre.