Review: Across a Star-Swept Sea Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund

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Annnnnnnnd we are finally back!  We were busy with our new years resolutions, aka flossing and not wasting too much time on the internet! Sorry for the delay, but better late than never. Now on to the review. Across a Star-Swept Sea, the companion novel to For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund did not bowl me over the way the first book did, but I enjoyed the spy plot (it is inspired by The Scarlet Pimpernel) and the book as a whole. Lets get down to business and do some reviewing!

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. (GoodReads).


Originality: 9. A futuristic world with tropical islands, spy games, and very inventive technology (see what I did there?) made this book a fun read. I want flutternotes!
Absurdity: 4. This book's fashion choices alone are cray cray, but the story holds up. Funny how classics can do that, even in a retelling.
Level of Paranormal Romance: 4. Just enough kissing to make me happy! And I always enjoy a boy who realizes that the girl is far smarter than him. :-).
Level of Harry-Potterness: 4. This book did not grab my heart like the first one, and it hasn't stuck with me the way a really fab book (aka, HP) can, but it Peterfreund is the real deal and her work stands out it its complexity and often lyric writing. FYI, you get dropped back into this alternate future pretty darn hard, so if you have time and like to reread books, look at For Darkness Shows the Stars again before you get involved..