Across a Star-Swept Sea (For Darkness Shows the Stars, #2)
Diana Peterfreund
Centuries after wars nearly destroyed civilization, the two islands of New Pacifica stand alone, a terraformed paradise where even the Reduction—the devastating brain disorder that sparked the wars—is a distant memory. Yet on the isle of Galatea, an uprising against the ruling aristocrats has turned deadly. The revolutionaries’ weapon is a drug that damages their enemies’ brains, and the only hope is rescue by a mysterious spy known as the Wild Poppy. On the neighboring island of Albion, no one suspects that the Wild Poppy is actually famously frivolous aristocrat Persis Blake. The teenager uses her shallow, socialite trappings to hide her true purpose: her gossipy flutternotes are encrypted plans, her pampered sea mink is genetically engineered for spying, and her well-publicized new romance with handsome Galatean medic Justen Helo… is her most dangerous mission ever. Though Persis is falling for Justen, she can’t risk showing him her true self, especially once she learns he’s hiding far more than simply his disenchantment with his country’s revolution and his undeniable attraction to the silly socialite he’s pretending to love. His darkest secret could plunge both islands into a new dark age, and Persis realizes that when it comes to Justen Helo, she’s not only risking her heart, she’s risking the world she’s sworn to protect. In this thrilling adventure inspired by The Scarlet Pimpernel, Diana Peterfreund creates an exquisitely rendered world where nothing is as it seems and two teens with very different pasts fight for a future only they dare to imagine.
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0 0Across a Star-Swept Sea is the second novel in the For Darkness Shows The Stars series, and it's also a retelling. I've never read the book it was based on, so I can't comment much on how truthful it is to the original material, but I can say that I absolutely LOVED this book, even more than the first one.
The author managed to stay in the same universe she created in the previous novel, only with a very different feel to it and a set of very compelling characters. They are all captivating and interesting, even the secondary ones, and again, all of them are there for a reason, not only to further the MC's plotline. I got more engaged in the story, that was more action-packed and fast paced than the previous novel and thus more of a page-turner. I also got more invested in the romance, because Justen is a much more likable guy than Kai was and his motivations were clear in the book. I didn't hurt that we were able to follow his POV in the book as well as Persis. AND, even though it's super cliché, I have a thing for the 'pretending to date and the falling in love for real' troupe, and in this book, due to Persis' secret, it was even more fun.
Persis was my favorite character in the novel. I liked her even more than I did Elliot in book 1. I mean, the girl is 16 and she is using everything she's got to help not only her country and her best friend, but also people she never met before and fighting injustice for everyone, regs and aristos alike. She's clever, brave, fearless,loyal and badass.
The only thing that I didn't actually liked in the book was the fact that, although the major villain was Citizen Aldred, we barely got a glimpse of him. He was not the terrifying presence I thought, like President Snow in The Hunger Games, or Queen Levana in The Lunar Chronicles. He was just looming, and not doing much. Vania as a villain was more real. Also, I thought the ending was too abrupt. Yes, Percy's days as the Poppy were over, but the revolution was not. Things didn't reach a proper ending, we didn't see if the revolution was over, if things were better in Galatea or if things were at peace in New Albion and Isla would finally rule. It left a lot of loose ends, but I don't think I would downgrade the book because of it. I would have liked an epilogue or even a short story or novella set in a few months from the ending to see what has become of the characters. Still, amazing book and amazing series. I'm so happy to have finally finished it! It was such a good surprise to enter this world and I think I may revisit Persis, Elliot and Post-Reduction Earth in the future.
5 stars.
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