Review : For Darkness Shows The Stars by Diana Peterfreund

Summary (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.

Personal Thoughts

Based on Jane Austen's Persuasion, For Darkness Shows The Stars has been on my wish-list for some time now. Being a science student,I am absolutely fascinated by topics such as genetic engineering and I was interested in seeing what the author had done to implement this into her YA dystopian story. 

After a genetic experiment goes horribly wrong, the population is divided into two groups : The Reduced, a group of mentally challenged people and The Luddites, a different group of people who have decided to look after The Reduced and who consider themselves as nobility. Now, decades later, another group, known as The Post Reduced or The Children Of The Reduced, has emerged, but they are still frowned upon by many Luddites despite being similar to themselves. Elliot North, an 18 year old Luddite, is the one who truly looks after her father's estate. Years ago, she came across Kai, a Post Reduced, and forged a beautiful friendship with him, communicating mostly via letters. Four years back, Kai, no longer wanting to be treated like a slave , asked Elliot if she wanted to run away with him. Devoted to the people on the estate, Elliot begrudgingly refused. Now, in the midst of a financial crunch on the North Estate, Elliot is forced to rent the lands to a group that call themselves the Cloud Feet. What she doesn't realize is that, her old friend, Kai, belongs to this group and he has returned with the intention of making Elliot regret the choice she made 4 years back.

Elliot was a quite pleasant main character. She was unlike any other Luddite in that she was fierce, determined and hard-working. Benevolent and considerate, she was ready to do anything to help ease the lives of the Reduced and The Post Reduced working on her father's estate, while her father himself, didn't give any concern whatsoever to what was going on on his own land. The fact that she rejected his proposal when Kai asked her to escape with him proves how devoted and committed she was to improving the lifestyle on her father's estate. I admired this backbone that she possessed. Her ability to stand up for what's right was yet another characteristic that made her seem likable. After Kai's departure, I expected Elliot to spiral into grief and depression. However, she completely vanquished my predictions. Instead, she used her sorrow and turned it into her strength, putting her heart and soul into making the estate flourish and knowing that the decision that she had made four years ago was the right one. It was also very easy to sympathize with Elliot because it was quite clear that neither her father nor her sister were openly very fond of her. To her father, it was always, Tatiana, her older sister, who was the definite favorite for the simple reason that he could have her on a tight leash, controlling her every move and decision to benefit his own good. On the other hand, Elliot being a smart, independent and free-thinking individual, was more difficult to have an upper hand on. I was very glad that Elliot didn't allow him to manipulate her because it made her seem much more resilient than she already was. While Elliot was a character that I took an instant liking to, Kai wasn't. After his return to the North Estate, his demeanor towards Elliott was downright cold and rude. I disliked him for that because I wanted him to understand Elliot's reasons for refusing to come with him considering the fact that they had a deep friendship. Nevertheless, once he gradually started to see the love Elliot had for the people who depended on her on the estate, his attitude changed. Around then, Kai started to grow on me.

The secondary characters were well fleshed out and I enjoyed the roles that they all played in the story. The romance was fairly well done, budding first from a beautiful friendship between two different people. The letters that Kai and Elliot exchanged plastered a goofy smile on my face all throughout the story. I absolutely loved them because it showed their innocence and love for each other grow. I'd say that these letters were the best parts of this book for me.
With a topic such as genetic engineering that could open doors for innumerable imaginative ideas and incredible world-building, I thought that For Darkness Shows The Stars was surprisingly very lacking. It took some time for me to completely grasp the ideas behind the world-building and the history of The Reduction. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like the different aspects of the genetic engineering was explored to its full extent. For someone like me, who loves to have a complex, rich and highly developed background, poor world-building can be very frustrating. I also thought that there wasn't much of a plot which resulted in me being a little bored from time to time and the ending seemed a little too rushed. Having never read Persuasion by Jane Austen, I can't really say how closely the book lives up to it. Diana Peterfreund did write the story beautifully though. Her writing flows smoothly and the idea behind the story was quite original, although it had the potential to be much better. 

Despite my complaints, I don't hesitate recommending For Darkness Shows The Stars to romance lovers because as I mentioned it was an entertaining read. The book wasn't bad, but it didn't really live up to the high hopes that I had as I went into the story. Maybe it's my fault for setting the bars for this book high. One little piece of advice : Go into the book expecting nothing more than a romance. I have a feeling you'll end up enjoying it much more with that mindset. 

Rating

Cover : 3/5
Plot : 3/5

Characters : 4/5
Writing : 4/5

**The overall rating is 3.5 stars, so I rounded it up to 4 stars**