Reading Stack #24

The only book I still have from my last reading stack is The Girl with the Clockwork Collar, but I have only about a third of the book left to read. I hope to finish it by the end of next week. I have also started The Fire Chronicle, which is one of the books on my list for the Fall into Reading challenge. I plan to start Au Revoir Crazy European Chick this week as well since it is my November Random Read. I have checked out a few other books from the library, so we will see if they make it onto my stack or not. For now though I will try to focus on these three books. What are you reading this week?

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund and Persuasion by Jane Austen

I have finally completed my two books for the Classic Double Challenge! I finished Persuasion a couple of months ago and I finally found time to read For Darkness Shows the Stars. I have avoided looking at other post on the same books, so now I am interested in seeing what other people thought and if we had similar ideas.

For Darkness Shows the Stars is about the relationship between Kai and Elliot and a world that has been destroyed by technology and human experimentation. Elliot is the youngest daughter of a Luddite lord, Baron North. Elliot's older sister Tatiana and her father do not seem to care at all for Elliot. Elliot is the one who has to run the estate and protect the Posts and Reduced. The Luddites are the people who did not engage in genetic manipulation and their genes are "pure." The Reduced and Posts are people whose ancestors attempted to make themselves better by using a procedure called ERV. Most of the children born from those who manipulated their genes are Reduced, meaning they cannot really think or act for themselves sort of like being a two year old in an adult body. Things however are changing and some babies are being born normal and maybe even a little more enhanced. These children are called Posts and Kai is one of them. Many generations before Kai and Elliot the world was torn apart by the genetically modified when they realized their children would be Reduced rather than greatly enhanced. The Luddites hid with their children and the Reduced and survived this destruction, but most of the world did not, so at the beginning of the story, we learn our story takes place on an island and the people know little of the world outside their island.

As children Kai, Elliot, and a Reduced girl named Ro played together and even questioned some of the rules governing the world. The Posts and Reduced are tied to their Luddite lords who feel it is their duty to protect them. Kai wants to leave and make something of himself. He wants to see the world and so does Elliot. Elliot promises to leave with him, but her mother dies. She knows her father is a cruel man and her sister has no interest in the farm, so she stays to protect the Posts and Reduced. Kai leaves and for four years she misses him.

After four years, the Cloud Fleet asks to use Elliot's grandfather's shipyard to build a boat that will allow them to travel farther in the world. The North farm desperately needs money, because her father lives outside his means. When the Cloud Fleet arrives, Elliot immediately recognizes Kai, who is now Captain Malakai Wentworth. He is very cold to Elliot and verbally attacks her every chance he gets. Elliot in the meantime tries to get over Kai, while being dragged to the Post Cloud Fleet events by another group of Luddites, Olivia and Horatio Grove. Olivia and Kai appear to be falling for each other which hurts Elliot even more. While being around the Cloud Fleet, Elliot discovers dangerous secrets while hiding one of her own, and she must choose between love and lying or loyalty to her Luddite society. Can two people torn by the past ever reconcile and is love stronger than tradition?

Comparison of the two is actually pretty easy. Diana Peterfreund wanted to take the love story of Persuasion and apply it to a post apocalyptic society. Elliot is Anne and of course Kai is Captain Wentworth as they share the same name. Not all the characters can match up as easily, but many of them can be compared to characters in Persuasion. Peterfreund also uses them same type of society, the Luddites are like the rich estate owners who have long been peers of the realm. The Cloud Fleet Posts are the newly rich who do not have the pedigree of the Luddites. While in Persuasion, a marriage between the old wealthy and newly rich would be a little scandalous, in For Darkness shows the stars, it would be an outrage. This is due both to the history of genetic testing and the prejudice in society.

Also both writers made their heroine the best person in the story. Their values, morals, and sacrifices made most of the other characters seem shallow and selfish, which for the most part they are. Anne and Elliot have no comparison in the category of goodness, although this is less seen in Peterfreund's story.

For me, when someone writes a story based on another story, it is feelings and thoughts the story invokes that proves if it is a good retelling or not. When reading both Persuasion and For Darkness Shows the Stars, I felt breathless and I know I gasped out loud a few times. You can feel the tension in the story through the author's word choices and phrases and you wonder all the way up to the last page how the story will end. Persuasion is one of the Jane Austen books that I have not watched as a movie or mini-series, so I had no idea if it would be a happy ending or not. I won't give the ending away, but through out both books you feel the suspense and tension that this might not end very happily for Anne and Elliot.

The writing style was very similar too. In both stories I felt transported into a different time and even a somewhat different belief system. Both stories are very believable and you feel like you are part of the society and judging the characters too.

I did not want either of these two books to end and I am so glad I chose Persuasion and in turn chose For Darkness Shows the Stars. These are two of the best stories I have read this year. I actually tried to drag out reading both books as long as I could, because I just loved the feeling I had reading them and I loved the characters.

Favorite Characters: Anne and Elliot of course. They are both noble and loyal to those they care about. They are a little too self-sacrificing at times, but you can't help but admire them both.

Favorite Quote: Since Peterfreund used some of my favorite ones from Persuasion in the book, I will just use a quote from For Darkness Shows the Stars. It is actually similar to one in Persuasion.

"Once she'd thought there were no two people in the world who had more to talk about. They could say anything to each other-they had-and their affection had only grown stronger. But it had all come to nothing." I think this quote is so heart-breaking and expresses perfectly the feeling when love breaks apart.

Rating for both books: 5 cups of cocoa for sure!!

I can't wait to try this challenge again next year and actually get an earlier start on it! Hopefully I can read a few more classics next year and books with classic twists. I love fairy tale retellings, so I may read the original fairy tales and do a challenge with those. Thanks to Melissa at One Librarian's Book Reviews for hosting this challenge!

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong

This post may have spoilers for The Summoning, the first book in the Darkest Powers series.


The Awakening is the second book in the Darkest Powers series, and it picks up shortly after the events of the Summoning. After Aunt Lauren's betrayal, Chloe and Rachelle are trapped in the institution controlled by the Edison Group. Chloe learns that Tori is there as well and blames her for betraying their escape attempt. Rae and Tori seem willing to stay with the Edison group, but all Chloe can think of is escape. When Dr. Davidoff tells her a little about the Edison group, Chloe wants to learn more. She hacks into Dr. Davidoff's computer and learns that experiments were conducted on 20 supernatural children and a few of these were considered failures. Rae, Tori, Chloe, Derek, Brady, and Liz are classified as failures and two of them Liz and Brady were terminated because of this. Liz continues to help Chloe, but Rae refuses to believe what Chloe tells her. When the Edison group decides to use Chloe as bait, she and Tori, who overhears the truth from her mother, escape and search for Derek and Simon. When the group is reunited, it will take all their wits and powers to survive on the street. Is there anyone that can be trusted and what is the truth behind the Edison group's experiments?

The second book is just as good as the first and I enjoyed hearing Derek's background and seeing Chloe develop her powers more. This is definitely a fast paced series with all the action and betrayals. I hope the third book will give more of Tori's and Rae's backgrounds. I am glad that Armstrong keeps the character's personalities, especially Tori's. She does not make Tori into a nice girl even though she is escaping with the group and helping the others. Tori is a witch both in her powers and her personality. The relationship between Derek and Simon borders on a love triangle although romance takes second place to trying to survive. The story is believable with a nice paranormal twist. I hope to add the last book to my to read list soon!

Favorite Character: I still like Chloe. She is as Tori puts it, too nice, but other than that, she is strong and loyal. She is also not judgmental and even cares for Derek after he treats her horribly. She is the weakest protecting herself and she is not suddenly superhuman over night, but remains in need of protection. However she is not a damsel in distress, just normal, except for the whole talking and controlling the dead thing.

Favorite Quote: "Harsh truth was better than comfortable lies. It had to be."

Usually second books are nowhere near as good as the first, but this one was just as suspenseful and attention-grabbing as the first. 4.5 cups of cocoa and I hope to start the Reckoning very soon!
Favorite Quote:

Random Read-November

This month's Random Read is Au Revoir Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber. This one is about a boy writing his college entrance essay and the crazy time he had with a foreign exchange student who is also an assassin. It sounds both funny and action-packed. This will be a nice break from all the paranormal romance I have been reading lately. I still have to finish Girl with the Clockwork Collar and I am about halfway through it. Hopefully I can finish both of these books before November ends!

Progress Report

So I finished Iron King, which means I actually completed the Spooktacular challenge! However I did not finish my Random Read for October :(. I am still reading Girl with the Clockwork Collar though and actually read 80 pages today! I also finished The Awakening and will be posting the review in the next day or two. I am debating picking a Random Read for this month, since I did not finish the last one. I will need to create a new list, since most of my titles are either on a list for another challenge or I finished them for the past two months challenges. I am thinking of making a list of books I would like to reread that I have not reviewed here or choosing a title from a list of ARCs and e-galleys. I will give it a little more time and maybe finish another book before I decide.

Iron King by Julie Kagawa

I had this on my stack once this year and barely started it when I decided to read something else. I looked at reviews that said this was a really dark book (which it is a bit dark), had an attempted rape scene (which it does, but it was not a long scene thankfully) and that the characters were emotionless (which was not the case). Based on a few reviews I stopped reading it at that time. Then I decided to do the Spooktacular challenge and thought it would be a good time to pick up this book again. I am glad I did!

Meghan Chase is your ordinary teenage girl. Her family is not wealthy, but she at least has her IPod. She lives with her mother, stepfather, and half-brother Ethan. Despite not having the best clothes or a car, Meghan makes the most of her life and she loves her family. So when her brother is taken to the Faery world and replaced with a changeling, Meghan knows she must save him. She is helped by her friend Rob, who turns out to be Robin Goodfellow aka Puck. Puck agrees to take her to the Summer court of Oberon and Titania to see if Ethan is there. The two are separate and Meghan makes a deal with Grimalkin, basically a fey cat, to help her find Puck and when they do she will owe Grim a favor. Grimalkin leads her to the Summer Fey, but they do not find Ethan. However, Meghan finds out Oberon is her father and that she is half-faery. She also learns about the feud between the Summer and Winter courts and meets Ash, the youngest son of Queen Mab of the Winter faeries. Meghan also notices little iron bugs, one of which causes a monster to attack the two courts at their peace meeting. This could mean war, unless Ash, Puck, and Meghan can prove the existence of the Iron King, leader of the Iron Fey. Meghan must join forces with her enemy Ash to save her brother and the two courts, but can Ash be trusted?

This is a dark fey story, but I enjoyed it. Julie Kagawa created a lush, deliciously dark world where no one is safe and everything comes with a price. Her descriptions of her world show a deadly, but beautiful place and it seems real enough to exist. Her characters are very rough around the edges, but you cannot help being drawn to them. It did take me a bit to get into the story, but as soon as I started Part II, I hated to put the book down.

Favorite Character: Definitely Meghan. Her responses to being a part-fey were very realistic. She did not just suddenly turn into a kick-butt heroine, but she did not pretend to be a damsel in distress either. She cries at times, she gets mad, but she keeps going. She knows her flaw is her loyalty to others, but she claims it with pride. She is one of the best heroines I have read about this year.

Favorite Quote: "The Nevernever is dying, human. It grows smaller and smaller every decade. Too much progress, too much technology. Mortals are losing their faith in anything but science. Even the children of man are consumed by progress. They sneer at the old stories and are drawn to the newest gadgets, computers, or video games. They no longer believe in monsters or magic. As cities grow and technology takes over the world, belief and imagination fade, and so do we." I know this is a long quote, but I think it is so true!

I really want to start the next book in the series, but I HAVE to finish a few other books first. I loved this dark story and it gets 5 cups of dark cocoa!

Reading Stack #23

I have finished The Selection and Mark of Athena. I have around 100 pages left of Iron King, but I hope to finish it before the weekend is over. It is a dark read so far, but pretty good. I have started Girl with the Clockwork Collar, but there is no way I will finish it before October ends. So far it is as attention grabbing as the first, but I have had little time to read since Monday. I started the Awakening, because I wanted to know what happens next, so I did go off list as usual. I still have For Darkness Shows the Stars in my stack too, but it has been neglected again. My goal is to try to finish these four books before starting anything else. We'll see if I can do this! Hope you are enjoying your reads for this week!