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.
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44 of 50 people found the following review helpful.
For this Book Shows Awesomness
By Nikki Wang
My reaction when I finished:HOLY SHIZZLERS. That was awesome. Let me read it again! Sequel please? NO SEQUEL?!?!? DIE.Yeah, that was me. For Darkness Shows the Stars was an amazing dystopian romance that just stunned me! It had everything I loved, strong characters, an amzing plot, an exciting romance, secrets, and one cold off-limits boy. SQUEAL TIME.I absolutely loved the characters. Elliot knows what her duty is, what her birthright is as a Luddite. And that sense of duty was what kept her from running away with her childhood friend and first crush/love, Kai. She sacrificed a lot to be able to take care of the Posts becasue she knew her family wouldn't. So she gave up the one person she never wanted to. Now THAT takes a lot and it shows how strong and loyal she is. Although Kai definitely thinks something else. Speaking of Kai, I think Diana wrote his character SO WELL. I actually did want to strangle him for being so insanely cruel to Elliot, but I guess that was the point! Eventually he warmed up (thank goodness), but hey, I'm not telling you if they end up together or not. Kai really did get hurt and I was at war with myself. Hate him? Or pity him? ARGH. But trust me, you're going to LOVE him!The world was just wonderfully made and I never felt as if it was too far-fetched or too stupid or just too fake. Everything was just vividily described like the Star Caverns and the Cliffs...ESPECIALLY the Star Caverns! The world of FDSTS just fascinated me and I wanted to know more of the history immediately! Not many things were left for us to draw our own conclusions when it came to how the world of FDSTS came about and that just made me love this book even more!The romance was slow even though Kai and Elliot were childhood sweethearts! They had to start from Step 1 all over again which was harder than most because of their past. And it just HURT every time Kai said something cruel or meaningful about Elliot. I can't count how man times I wanted to kill Kai. Honestly, there wasn't much kissing (1 kiss maybe?), and usually that makes me feel as if the "romance" isn't a romance at all, but in FDSTS it felt natural. I doubt just anyone can do that.As a retelling of Persuasion by Jane Austen, I was delightfuly surprised by how Diana Peterfreund managed to insert some of her own sci-fi and dystopian flavors in it! Not many (if any) people have tried to rewrite the story of Persuasion and even if I haven't read the original, I think Diana did an AMAZING job, and although I didn't exactly LOVE it (I don't know hwy, but there was something I didn't like...I just can't put my finger on it), I'm desperately hoping she changes her mind or writes another post-FDSTS short story! Here's to hoping!
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
An Ambitious Retelling That Has its Merits
By Mari
I started off wanting to hate on this book. Somewhere along the middle, I really wanted to like it. Clearly, as is true more often than not with me, I have mixed feelings.For Darkness Shows the Stars is a retelling of Persuasion by Jane Austen. To simplify, it's Persuasion meets a light dystopic sci-fi. It's ambitious to say the least, the way that all retellings are. And this isn't based on any book, but on Persuasion which is arguably the best novel of one of history's most beloved authors.For Darkness manages to stay dutifully faithful to the source material, and yet, at points strips it of what is so essentially Persuasion. Then again, there were so many times I wished that this book had nothing to do with Austen, and that we could explore the world independently.Because honestly, Peterfreund gives us very imaginative world building. It brought up so many arguments for and against genetic experimentation, exploration, risks and duty. I truly would've loved to have been in this world a little more detached from Persuasion or, at the heart of it, a little more removed from the loooooove story. As much as our Elliot speaks and acts in favor of duty rather than her affections for her childhood sweetheart Malakai Wentforth, these are such big issues and too many times they were shirked in favor of the romantic entanglements.I mean, we all understand that this is slavery, right? There was passing mention of rape and very cruel circumstances for the Reduced and Posts, but it was so glossed over that it often made me uncomfortable. I mean, "My father can be cruel and our slaves are going hungry but OMG WENTFORTH LIKES ANOTHER GIRL."I know, I know. It's the story. It's the point. Elliot is 18 and not 27 like Anne, Austen's beloved and steady and mature protagonist. The point is betrayed love and second chances. It was just so distracting to have this bigger world built around it and then pushed aside.Even the end is a hasty wrap-up, with the antagonist very nearly walking off stage, all in favor of focusing on the outcome of the romance.This is not to say Elliot North is not without her virtues. She is also steady and she does right by those she loves. She's brave in an understated way. She was worthy of being modeled after Anne.Even with its faults, I think the world was one of the ways the retelling worked. The entire system of Reduced (being unable to communicate and so reliant on their Luddite masters) the Posts, the Luddites and being born into your station is a GREAT representation of the social system in place in Persuasion.Other parts of the retelling faltered. Anne Elliot was persuaded to stay because of a duty to her family that was a little less tangible than Elliot North's. Yes, Anne did take care of her family, but there was more about the social acceptability of the match. Anne was young and was made to think that it was right that she should stay. Elliot North herself decided to stay behind because she had the life of all the Reduced on her farm to consider. She was literally in charge of lives. This is not a bad plot point, by any means. It made me respect and like Elliot. It does little to represent Persuasion though. The state of mind Anne was in, 8 years later, knowing she'd let herself be mistakenly be persuaded, and the state of mind Elliot was in, four years later, knowing she made the right, moral high ground choice, drastically altered the story.I also wasn't a fan of the letter. Guys, it's THE LETTER. Wentforth's letter to Elliot didn't feel so much as a re-imagining as it did a dumbing down. Again, it was ambitious. THE LETTER from a romantic classic and you'd like to rewrite it? Good luck with that.All said and done, Peterfreund writes well. I have nothing to say against her writing or her characters.It took me one day to read this. Obviously, I knew how it would end, but Peterfreund created an easy and entertaining enough story that I still plowed through it. Plus, I'm partial to books that make me think or FEEL things and this did both.An ambitious work and one that in the end had its merits.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful.Apocalyptic Jane Austen Retelling? Suh-Weet!
By Inky
Wow. So this is a retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion. I actually haven't read Persuaion yet, but I love the story and so I was very excited to hear all the good blurb about this book. And I really did enjoy it!But there were a few things that got to me.We have this Apocalyptic setting. I liked it and it was very good.....once I understood it! I mean there was all this talk of the Reduced and Post-Reduced and Luddites, but it took me a while to grasp at the concepts. Maybe I was just tired or slow, but I actually had to re-read some parts a few times. I'm the kind of person who likes clear explanations. :D But besides that I found I really enjoyed the setting that Diana set up.Elliot was a very nice charrie. But she was also stubborn. Regarding the romance there were times I was like. "DARN YOU ELLIOT". But then again, the story does need it. However I did really like her. The story seemed to be told well through her eyes, even though I had a hard time with her name.And then we have....Kai. Gorgeous, perfect and very very stubborn Kai. *swoon* Yes I liked Kai though honestly the two of them put together makes for a very frustrating romance. ;)It's been a couple months since I read this so I can't really thing of other things to complain or like about the book. The characters were really well developed and I LOVED the letters between Kai and Elliot. The flashbacks were so sweet and fun to read, giving an added depth to their past. Needless to say, I'm move excited for the REAL Persuasion as well as some more of Diana's books! I would totally recomend this to Jane Austen fans, or just those who like romance + the apocalypse. Totally fun!Content: Mild(there are houses where they send all the Reduced to have their babies. There is a cousin who takes advantages of Reduced girls)
