Thursday, January 30, 2014

Across A Star- Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund

Title: Across a Star-Swept Sea
Author: Diana Peterfreund
Source: Bought new
Series: Yes
Rating: 5/5









Goodreads Summary:

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.
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.

I had no idea what the story of The Scarlet Pimpernel was before picking up this novel.  I immediately downloaded it once I found out that it inspired this novel. This book is a companion novel to For Darkness Shows the Stars, and a few of the characters from the previous novel do make an appearance in this novel near the end.

The two islands of New Pacifica are finally at relative peace after centuries of war. On the Isle of Galatea an uprising against the aristocrats has turned deadly. The revolutionaries have developed a deadly drug that damages the brain of their enemies. The only hope is The Wild Poppy. On the island of Albion is where the Wild Poppy resides.   Persis Black who is is considered a famous frivolous socialite is the perfect cover for the Wild Poppy, it also helps that none suspects that the spy could possibly be a girl. As the tension between the two islands heats up, Persis needs to  take even more risks to save Albion.

The concept and story was excellent. I recommend reading For Darkness Shows the Stars before reading this novel. The characters from the first novel do not make an appearance until you near the end, but without reading the first novel first it does spoil a few things if you plan on reading it later.  I loved how how this novel blended the two stories together so well. I fell in love with Persis Blake from the first page, she played her role so well. The love interest is a whole different story. It took me 3/4 of  the book for me to like Justen Helo. He treated everyone like they were beneath him simply due to his name and was quite a big jerk. I loved Remy, she really had a lot of hidden spunk. She was cast aside often, but she manage to prove the people who did not take her seriously wrong and became a strong, female character. 

I know currently there is no more books planned for this series. I really hope that changes because there is so much potential. The two stories come together and leave a lot more avenues to be explored. I loved this novel and I recommend both the first and second book highly. 

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