Latest Read: For Darkness Shows The Stars

Here are the basics ...
Book: For Darkness Shows the Stars
Author: Diana Peterfreund
Site: http://www.dianapeterfreund.com/
Category: Young Adult - Dystopian / Sci-fi

Summary: It's been generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity & giving rise to the Luddites who outlawed most technology. Four years ago Elliot North refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart & servant Kai, choosing duty to her family's estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists have risen and when Elliot's estate flounders, she's forced to rent land to a mysterious group of them including renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth - an almost unrecognizable Kai. Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance but Kai seems determined to show her exactly what she gave up when she let him go. Soon she discovers her old friend carries a life-altering secret and again, she's faced with a choice: duty or love. (Adapted from goodreads.com) 

My thoughts…

The good:  Truth be told - I've never read anything of Jane Austen's.  But I have watched Pride & Prejudice and Emma enough times to know certain staples of her books.  Unexpected characters falling in love, big misunderstandings, a marriage proposal here and there. It was easy to see the influence.  Of course, the backdrop to this story is a post-apocalyptic, science-fiction kind of world so it's definitely not the 1800s anymore.  It surprised me how quickly I got swept up into the book.  It was a little touch and go at first because you're learning about their caste system, what happened to their society and all these different characters plus the history between them.  It sounds like a lot (which it is) but once I got it all straight in my mind, I couldn't put it down.

Elliot North was a protagonist that I both loved and wanted to smack at least five (or ten) times.  She's so strong and kind and good.  Even though she was brought up to follow the rules, she goes with her instincts and makes decisions based on how it will help others.  But I just wanted her to speak up more and not be the bigger person all the time. I wanted her to yell and scream (which she does eventually). But then again, if she was always straightforward, then where would the conflict be? And there is a lot of conflict.  Between her and her family, between castes and between her and Kai - the childhood sweetheart she thought she'd never see again.  I was not a Kai fan.  Or rather I was deep down because I wanted them to be together but he made me so mad with the way he treated Elliot.

Even though it was Elliot and Kai's relationship that kept me turning each page (until way too late at night considering I had work the next day), the overall theme of the book was thought-provoking.  It's that age-old question of science vs. faith.  How far can you go with science before you're playing God? And how much can you just leave to faith without taking action? The book was very interesting in that regard.

The bad:  Listen, I'm all for the tension and long drawn out romances but there were times when I felt like too much time was spent reminiscing about their love for each other as children.  And by the time they were exploring it in the present, there wasn't much time (time = pages left in the book) to be together. The end was still satisfying though so don't let what I said deter you.

Do I recommend?:  If you're a fan of dystopian books AND Jane Austen, you'll definitely want to read this.  But even if you're not a Jane Austen fan but just like romance and sci-fi, it's a really enjoyable book! I do recommend.

Happy reading!