For Darkness Shows the Stars, by Diana Peterfreund

I received the book For Darkness Shows the Stars for my birthday, from one of my best friends. You see, we're both readers, and we both have an extensive repertoire of books. We loan each other books, and eagerly await the other's recommendations. For my birthday each year, she asks me for a list of books I want/have not read, because neither of us can quite keep track of what the other has read. This year, For Darkness Shows the Stars was one of them.

I zipped through it, then I read it again. I admired the cover, caressed the pages (is there any other way to treat the pages of text?), and I tucked it lovingly into my bookshelf. I thanked my friend thoroughly, and proceeded to loan her a book that I'd been waiting to give her. Life went on, but I never quite forgot it.

For Darkness Shows the Stars is based off of Jane Austen's book Persuasion, which is about a young lady named Elliot who falls in love with Malakai Wentworth, someone that is 'beneath' her, but chooses her rank and position over him. Eventually, Wentworth returns a rich and powerful naval officer, and she finds herself regretting not following her heart.

However, in For Darkness Shows the Stars, humanity has pretty much fallen due to too much tampering with genetics. The only unaffected humans are the Luddites, a religious (or, at least, I'm guessing so) group that refused the treatments and went underground. The Luddites rule the remainder of land inhabited by humanity, using the Reduced (the remainders of the people who took the treatments, who now have little or no speech and have lost some of the ability to care for themselves) as slaves, as well as their offspring, the Posts (who are pretty much the same as the Luddites, except not as stiff about tradition and, of course, descended from the Reduced).

Elliot North is the hardworking daughter of a careless Luddite baron, who is struggling to keep the North estate afloat. Once upon a time, she was in love with a Post named Kai, but she refused to run away from the estate with him, instead staying to care for the workers and her family. Now, in order to get some money, she rents out her grandfather's estate to the Cloud Fleet, a group of Posts who explore the outside world and bring back many things. She is shocked to discover that one of them is Kai, now going by the name Admiral Malakai Wentworth. As she struggles with her feelings for Kai, she also wonders about herself. Of course, there's more to the Cloud Fleet than meets the eye.

I loved For Darkness Shows the Stars because it is kind of historical in the way of slavery, racism, and sexism. This is displayed in the very beginning, when Elliot defies tradition to grow a crop of genetically altered wheat, which her ungrateful, petty father plows over to build a racetrack, not caring about the finances or the fact that many of the workers could possibly starve to death. I loved how Elliot struggled to be herself under the oppressive nature of tradition. I also loved the creative spin on an old classic, though probably only some elements were changed.

Of Beast and Beauty, by Stacey Jay

Of Beast and Beauty took me less than two days to read. It was another one of those books that I couldn't put down. Do you know the feeling? Squeezing in as much time as possible to get to the next chapter, and the next? Finishing your work early and, instead of talking with other students that are done, diving headfirst into a book? It's a wonderful feeling, if you don't get in trouble for it.

As you probably guessed, I'm a major bookworm. Especially at school. I don't really talk at all during classes, choosing to read instead. In fact, it got to the point that a teacher threatened to give me a referral if I ever bring a book into class again! However, when I'm not in that class, whenever I'm not working on something, I read.

Of Beast and Beauty is a (you guessed it!) Beauty and the Beast retelling. It's set on a different planet, where humans have split and evolved into two races: the Monstrous, who have scales, claws, and fangs, and the Smooth Skins, or humans, who have not evolved much at all. Both races are cursed, so that the Monstrous cannot cry and that the Smooth Skins are born with something missing, like vocal chords, an arm, a leg, etc. The planet is a desert except for several cities, which are held inside domes. The Monstrous live in the desert, barely surviving. The Smooth Skins live inside the dome, filled with fear and superstition.

The female main character, Princess Isra, is blind, only given sight for short bursts due to the magical roses in her domed city, Yuan. However, she has been raised to die. Once she becomes queen, she will be sacrificed to the same roses that give her freedom so that the dome will be maintained, and humanity doesn't die out. The man, Gem, is a Monstrous, caught stealing one of the roses from Yuan's garden in the hope that it can save is tribe from starvation. Between them, an unlikely bond forms as a tale about self acceptance, adaptation, and independence unfolds.

I loved Of Beast and Beauty, because both characters were struggling with what was happening around them, and struggling to believe in themselves. It could also represent racism, because the Smooth Skins hate the Monstrous with all of their being, and the Monstrous resent the Smooth Skins for what they have. The only flaw I could really find in it is that Isra seems to be a bit of a masochist, and has no faith in herself at all. I mean, who wouldn't protest being sacrificed, even if it was in the future? It's ridiculous.