Review: For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

Published: June 12th, 2012; Balzer + Bray
402 Pages

From Goodreads:
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 Rating:
2 Stars

Thoughts:
 

For Darkness Shows the Stars first drew me in because of its interesting premise. I’m a fan of Jane Austen, so knowing this book is based off of Persuasion got me really excited to read how Peterfreund had interpreted the book and created her own story with the same idea. I had high expectations, and they weren't met. I enjoy a certain type of book, and this one wasn’t quite it (but that could be a good and a bad thing, since it’s good to go out of your comfort zone every once in a while). I liked all of the characters in this book, but there were a number of things that bugged me too much to really enjoy the story.

First off, there could have been a lot more back story to why the reduction happened, and just an explanation for all of the terms like “post”, “reduced”, and so on. I spent the first chapter or so in a state of confusion that made me want to put the book down and walk away. Maybe it’s just me, but I felt like it was just too much unknown information being piled on in the first chapter, and then very little spread throughout the rest of the book.

Another thing I didn’t really like was the limited description of the character’s appearances;  when the author finally said that Elliot’s hair color was brown I already had a picture in my head of a blonde girl. I’m not saying I need every exact detail of a character’s appearance described to me in a book, but I at least like to know how the author envisioned them in a broad sense, because if I can’t “picture” a character then I can’t really get into a story.

There wasn’t enough romantic tension in this book either. Yes, it’s based off of a book that was written in the 1800s, but I might have liked this book better if it didn’t follow the plot of Persuasion to a T. I would have liked to see more sparks flying between Elliot and Kai; more than the angry stares and handful of times when they actually talk to each other. They spend 7/8 of the book that way, and then suddenly everything changes. It was too abrupt (not just the romance, but the end of the book as a whole), especially since most of the book progressed slowly. 

I did really like Elliot as a character, since she truly took care of herself and did everything she could to help the people living on the family land. I don’t remember any moments in the book that made me roll my eyes because she was being annoying and whiney (because she wasn’t) but she didn’t really wow me either.

I liked For Darkness Shows the Stars, and didn’t have any trouble finishing it, but I can’t help but feel like you could just read the real Persuasion if you were interested in the plot. The few things that made this book unique weren’t developed enough to make this story stand alone. The author’s writing is worth reading, and that was one of the only things that kept me from deserting this story. I know my rating of a 2 seems a bit harsh, but I think it was because I was REALLY excited to read this book, and my expectations were insanely high (the last sci-fi romance I read blew me away, and I was hoping this one would too). I can’t say I didn’t like parts of the book, and I would recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a okay read. BUT if you’ve already read Persuasion and you’re looking for a new and creatively original variation of the classic, look elsewhere.