For Darkness Shows The Stars by Diana Peterfreund

For Darkness Shows The Stars by Diana Peterfreund
Release Date: June 12, 2012
Publisher: Balzer and Bray
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 416


Summary: Generations ago, a genetic experiment gone wrong—the Reduction—decimated humanity, giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Eighteen-year-old Luddite Elliot North has always known her place in this caste system. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family’s estate over love. But now the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress and threatening Luddite control; Elliot’s estate is floundering; and she’s forced 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 Elliott wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she abandoned him.

But Elliot soon discovers her childhood friend carries a secret—-one that could change the society in which they live…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 has 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 Thoughts: First off, I haven't read Persuasion, so I didn't have anything to compare it too. For Darkness Shows The Stars is a retelling of Persuasion. I usually try to stay away from retellings even though there are a few I've read and enjoyed.

We are introduced to Elliot who is a Luddite and Kai who is a servant. Two people from opposite world status. Kai works on Elliot's estate but the two become friends and write each other letters as kids. They sneak out to play with each other and share thoughts and things such as books. They talk about things, they enjoy each others company. As time goes on, Kai leaves the estate and pursues his own dreams.

A few years later he comes back to Elliot’s estate and the two meet up again. This time, he's become established and is no longer a slave. He's advanced quite a bit and is very skilled.  But he really resents Elliot for not running away with him. They pretty much despise each other now.

Elliot is faced with her own problems. She tries to take care of all the reduced and treat them equally. She does things around the farm and takes care of it. She's very responsible and handles a lot of things.

There are also a lot of other minor characters throughout the novel that I loved, especially Ro.

She has her own creations she is working on, and Kai has created the suncart.

Elliot and Kai learn what it means to work together and respect each other again. A lot does happen in this novel but the last half is definitely more fast paced the the first half.

At first, I also had trouble remembering who was the guy and who was the girl because of how similar their names are to boy names. Hehe.

I loved both Elliot and Kai's character. She was so strong and stubborn and so was he. They were both very successful in their own way.

Overall: For Darkness Shows The Stars was a good book. It wasn't my favorite of the year but I enjoyed reading it. At times, I did wonder what was going to happen, I wasn't sure.  Even though it is described as post apocalyptic it reminded me more of a historical novel but I still enjoyed it. This is what the world could be like, where reduced people were so dramatically treated differently or had certain duties they had to perform. All in all, I think this is definitely worth a read and I enjoyed it a lot.  


Cover: I love it! I think it's very pretty and the girl looks like she is having fun.

What I'd Give It: