Reviews
GAR! THIS BOOK CAUSED ME ENDLESS FRUSTRATION! Let’s get right down to business. The title is AMAZING. Seriously. So is the cover. The characters: our main character, Elliot North, is eighteen, and has been in charge of running this farm (because that’s what it is. A farm) for the past five years. But why has she been running it? isn’t there someone older, more qualified to run a farm? You ask. Well, there was. Her mother. But five years ago, her mother died. Okay, no wait. Let me start at the beginning. So, one day, our main character Elliot was born. There were two other children orn on that same day. Kai, who is a post-reductionist, and Ro, who is Reduced. Now, apparently, in the books long-distant past, humans spent to much time experimenting with DNA, trying to make humans like Gods. And so, God punished humanity by turning everyone who’d had their DNA fiddled with into, well, they’re people, but they’re, I'd don’t know, like, brain-damaged? The Reduced all act like they’re little kids. They can’t use advanced language, they can’t really learn or excel at anything. It’s very confusing. The Post-Reductionists are people who born to two Reduced parents, but are normal. Like the Luddites. The Luddites are the third sect of people. Apparently, when the rest of humanity was messing with their DNA, the Luddites remained pious and obedient to God. I did tell you this was confusing, didn’t I? So, Ro is Reduced, Kai is a Post, and Elliot is a Luddite. When Elliot and Kai were six years old, they started writing letters to each other, and thus became friends. When Elliot’s mom died, Kai comforted her, and that’s when they both kind of admitted, hey, we’re in love. They were thirteen at the time. Then, one year later, Kai decided to run away and make something of himself (since up until that point he was basically a servant). When Kai left, he asked Elliot to go with him. Elliot decided to stay behind, though, because the North Estate (the Farm) depended on her. her dad and her sister were incapable of running it. So Kai left in a huff. Fast forward four years. Elliot is now eighteen, and has been experimenting with wheat (breaking Luddite laws). Her dad kills her field of special wheat, though, and in order to keep everyone on the North Estate from starving, she rents out her Grandfather’s Boatwright estate out to this ‘Cloud Fleet’. They want to build an ocean-faring ship and go explore. So, the Cloud Fleet comes. Kai is with them. Now, let’s talk about the character Kai: I hate him. Throughout the book, I was exclaiming “I hate Kai, I hate Kai, I hate Kai!” because, I hate Kai. In Kai’s and Elliot’s childhood letters to each other, Kai seems to be a nice friend, a tad rebellious, yes, but an all-around nice person. The eighteen-year-old Malakai Wentforth incarnation we meet of him, grrr. He’s so mean. I hate him. Even if, in the last three chapters, he explained himself and Elliot reconciled with him, I hate him. There is absolutely no excuse for the way he treated her throughout the entire freaking book. No damn excuse, you hear me? Let’s move on to some other characters: Andromeda. For the first half of the book… grr. If I were Elliot, I would’ve slapped that bitch at the Groves’ party, cuz she was asking for it, like on her knees and begging ‘slap me’. After that, she became less of bitch, though, and I might have regretted slapping her. but I don’t think I would have. I think if Elliot had slapped her then, she would have become less bitchy sooner. Cousin Benedict: not a real main character, but he’s slimy. He’s seriously slimy. Moving on from characters to plot: this book is apparently based on Persuasion by Jane Austen. Now, I, myself, have never anything by Jane Austen, but I got one of my friends to give me a quick overview of Persuasion’s plot, and you can tell there are similarities, right down to the character’s names. But I doubt genetic splicing factored into Persuasion. It’s one of this book’s main points. I don’t know where exactly I stand on the issue of ‘Should we or should we not mess with our DNA?’ I mean, I can see there are advantages. For example, I actually do have a genetic disorder, and if we possessed the ability to change our DNA, that could be fixed. Meaning I wouldn’t have to take pills three times a day for the rest of my life. That would be a definite ‘yay!’. I also wouldn’t have to worry about any children I may have in the future inheriting my disorder. Another ‘yay!’. But going beyond that… making people stronger, faster, see better, smarter and all that stuff… I don’t know, that just creeps me out. I guess I stand in the middle ground. We have to have a line. We have to have a balance. Suffice to say, this book not only forced me to consider some deep philosophical questions, but it also DROVE ME INSANE! Why did it drive me insane? Kai. Mean. I hate Kai. Elliot hangs the moon on him, even when she says she hates him, she’s hanging the freaking moon on him. And good God, that’s annoying. Five stars, obviously.
This was such a pleasant surprise! ‘A dystopian-retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion’ - if that doesn’t sell you on on picking this up, I don’t know what to tell you!
It took me a while to get into the story, but once I did I was hooked. The story was compelling and the characters were truthful. The only complaint I have is that the book is advertised as a "post apocalyptic romance" and there honestly wasn't that much romance. I was at least expecting a kiss at some point but it never came. It was still a nice story though.
Read more of my reviews at Secrets of Lost Words. Rating: D For Darkness Shows the Stars totally bought me with the cover. Isn't the cover gorgeous, though? Sadly, this book didn't live up to my expectations. There were things that I liked but overall the pace really slowed down the story and things would get boring. I liked the idea of how the humans develop technology to make themselves gods. That's the story of how the Reduction came about. The ending of this book was good and I was happy Elliot made a good decision in her life to fulfill her dreams. The romance was a bit baffling. One minute, Kai hates her and the next he's begging to fly away with her.. I mean, what the hell?! I do not understand this :s The synopsis said this is inspired by Jane Austen's Persuasion. I cannot say how they're alike since I've never read Persuasion. I do like Jane Austen books though so I need to pick that one up. The bad thing about this one is that the pacing was too slow for me. I grew really bored at times (actually, most of the time) and I kept waiting for Elliot to stop blubbering about her unrequited love toward Kai. Elliot was a bit annoying because she was going on and onnn about how Kai changed and he wasn't the same and blah blah blah. Every time, something she wasn't expecting happens (breaking the law), she would run out the door and vent out her feelings. She does the exact same thing. She has broken the law before. And she's disgusted toward her childhood best friend for that? She's such a hypocrite!! Sadly, the bad points override the good ones and I'm not satisfied with this book. I will pick up the next though in hope that it turns out better.
OOOOOOH the romance. I'm a sucker for it and this book oozes with long suffering love. Painful and yet oh so satisfying to read.
Opinião do blogue Chaise Longue: http://girlinchaiselongue.blogspot.pt... Graduou-se em Geologia e Literatura e a família dizia que ela ia acabar a escrever livros sobre rochas mas Diana nunca foi uma rapariga comum e antes de começar a escrever (não sobre rochas) foi estilista, capa de revista, crítica de comida, entre outras coisas e, depois sim, em 2006 dedicou-se à Literatura e deixou a Geologia de parte. Vive em Whashington D.C. com o marido, a filha e o cão e nos tempos livres lê e cuida dos vegetais que crescem no seu jardim. A autora nascida na Flórida, é mais conhecida pelo seu livro Manhãs Gloriosas baseado no filme com o mesmo nome e protagonizado por Rachel McAdams, mas antes já havia escrito a sua primeira série Secret Society Girl e já havia enveredado pelo YA fantástico com Rampant. O ano passado voltou ao YA mas desta vez distópico com For Darkness Shows the Stars um retelling de Persuasão de Jane Austen cuja continuação será publicada este ano, Across a Star-Swept Sea. Ainda não foi traduzido em qualquer língua. Participou também em várias antologias como The Girl Who Was on Fire e Shadowhunters and Downworlders. Recontar um clássico é uma grande responsabilidade pois o objectivo não é copiar passo a passo a história em que se inspira. É sim, manter a essência e a estrutura e dar-lhe uma nova voz, é manter similaridades e ser original, é ser capaz de comover na mesma medida, é contar-se uma história que homenageia aquela que a criou e For Darkness Shows the Stars é um daqueles casos raros em que a nova história está mais do à altura daquela que reconta. Através de uma escrita comovente, Diana Peterfreund dá-nos palavras que transbordam emoções, que fluem sem grandes arabescos, que nos arrebatam pela profunda simplicidade e delicadeza que as caracterizam e que tornam este reconto de Persuasão uma homenagem digna desta bela obra de Jane Austen. Mantendo a estrutura original do clássico, For Darkness Shows the Stars combina-a com um mundo distópico onde a teologia combate a genética, onde a religião e os medos da evolução controlam uma sociedade que ambicionou fazer o papel de Deus mas que acabou por reduzir gerações de seres humanos a cascas vazias, simples mão-de-obra para aqueles que não se deixaram tentaram pela ciência. Com um enredo simples mas criativo, esta história é marcada por uma onda de esperança e mudança, demonstrando que para existir equilíbrio é preciso aceitar o lado temente e crédulo do ser humano bem como o curioso e insatisfeito. Exalando sensibilidade, a narrativa fala-nos de sacrifícios pessoais pelo bem comum, de obsessão e crueldade, de sonhos de liberdade e evolução, de excessos feitos pelo que acreditámos, demonstrando que tanto ciência como religião têm os seus pontos positivos e negativos. Ao longo da leitura é fácil deixarmo-nos enredar pelo conceito deste livro assim como é fácil deliciarmo-nos com os momentos que gritam Persuasão, tão fácil que nem vimos as surpresas que nos esperam no decorrer da acção. Isto porque a história nos cativa desde o início. Se por um lado, temos a tradição, a agricultura, a casa senhorial, pelo outro, temos os exploradores, as invenções, temos os contrastes de dois mundos que tendem a colidir mas que ao longo do livro acabam por se encaixar e por aceitar os benefícios de cada lado. Elliot e Kai, os protagonistas, simbolizam, cada um deles, um mundo e a sua relação vai sofrendo, do passado até agora, mossas devido às diferenças que um e outro não conseguem aceitar pois apesar de terem visões parecidas a forma como foram criados, as suas ligações e o que acreditam acabam por diferir um do outro. Representantes maravilhosos de Anne e Wentworth, eles conquistam-nos pelas mesmas características que nos fazem adorar o casal de Persuasão, ela pelo seu comportamento adulto e racional mas que não deixa de sonhar e amar, ele por uma certa distância e frieza que se vai quebrando conforme vai percebendo os erros que cometeu. Rodeados por personagens maravilhosas, eles dão uma nova alma a um clássico intemporal e dão vida a um mundo muito especial de tal simplicidade e profundidade que é difícil não nos maravilharmos. For Darkness Shows the Stars é um retelling perfeito é certo mas também é uma história original e fantástica que em poucas páginas nos arrebata.
I am a huge Jane Austen fan I have read all of her books and I have to say that Persuasion is one of my favorites. So the fact that this was a retelling of Persuasion I knew I had to read it. You start out in a sci-fy/dystopian world. Hundreds of years ago our world was destroyed by people trying to play god. They used science to produce elite human beings but something went terribly wrong and all of the elite humans offspring were left blind and dumb. They were called the reduced. Only the luddites hadn't taken part in the experiments, but the rest of the world had. The luddites were forced to go into hiding while the rest of the world destroyed itself. After a time they came out of hiding and only found the reduced to be alive. They rebuilt there lives and the reduced were turned into servants while the luddites were the masters. The luddites didn't believe in using science to better their world because they believed that god had punished the reduced. So in the new society they formed they went back to living very simply lives with no science or technology. After hundreds of years the reduced start to have normal children that were called posts. Elliot North is the Daughter to a wealthy Lundenlight that has fallen on hard times. She is doing everything in her power to try and save the farm that she loves so much but there is only so much she can do. Her grandfather owned a shipyard that is no longer in use, but a wealthy explorer wants to rent it to built a large ship. The explorers are all posts that have abandoned their home to make something more of themselves. Elliot gets her father to agree to rent the property because they desperately need the money. Elliot had a childhood friend that she was very close to. He was a post that lived on their farm and his name was Kai, 4 years ago he ran away and asked her to go with him. Elliots mother had just passed away and it was up to her to run the farm so she choose to stay and help all those she loved. All these years later she still thinks about Kai and where he may be. When the explorers arrive one of the ships captains turns out to be none other than Elliot's childhood friend Kai. She is so happy to see that he is alive and well, but he doesn't seem to be as happy to see her. She knows that she hurt him when she refused to go with him and obviously he hasn't forgiven her for it. I absolutely loved this book. There were times when it made me laugh and times where I was totally bawling my eyes out because I was so heartbroken for the characters. I loved Elliot she was so strong. She loved everyone on her farm from the reduced to her stuck up father. She worked so hard to save those whose needed her but she gave up the only boy she has ever loved. Then there is Kai who is beautiful but he treats Elliot terrible. I honestly felt my heart break a few times through this book which is rare for me to connect to characters that much. This book stays pretty true to Jane Austen's Persuasion which made it even better, why stray when you already have a great outline. I loved the world that Peterfreund created, it was so interesting and intriguing. If you love Jane Austen this is a must read, but even if you have never read anything written by Austen you will still love this enchanting yet heartbreaking love story!!!!
