My Week in Book Review: Sky Without Stars

Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell

A thief. An officer. A guardian. Three strangers, one shared destiny . . . When the Last Days came, the planet of Laterre promised hope. A new life for a wealthy French family and their descendants. But five hundred years later, it’s now a place where an extravagant elite class reigns supreme; where the clouds hide the stars and the poor starve in the streets; where a rebel group, long thought dead, is resurfacing. Whispers of revolution have begun—a revolution that hinges on three unlikely heroes… Chatine is a street-savvy thief who will do anything to escape the brutal Regime, including spy on Marcellus, the gran

dson of the most powerful man on the planet. Marcellus is an officer—and the son of a renowned traitor. In training to take command of the military, Marcellus begins to doubt the government he’s vowed to serve when his father dies and leaves behind a cryptic message that only one person can read: a girl named Alouette. Alouette is living in an underground refuge, where she guards and protects the last surviving library on the planet. But a shocking murder will bring Alouette to the surface for the first time in twelve years . . .

and plunge Laterre into chaos. All three have a role to play in a dangerous game of revolution—and together they will shape the future of a planet. Power, romance, and destiny collide in this sweeping reimagining of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece, Les Misérables.

This is an epic kind of book, which doesn’t always work for me. Sometimes books that are huge in their scope fall into being too much action and not enough character.

Buuuuuut that was not the case with this book. Sky Without Stars does a masterful job of blending well-rounded, distinct characters with an action-packed plot that drives forward toward large-scale disaster and individuals’ redemption at the same time.

Okay, so in case you didn’t catch this from the book description, this book is a YA version of Les Miserables, told by the space versions of Cosette (Alouette), Marius (Marcellus), and Eponine (Chatine). Side note, I liked all of these characters. They’ve all got characteristics of their original Victor Hugo characters: Chatine is a thief who mainly looks out for herself—at least until Marcellus comes along; Alouette is sheltered, raised outside of society without knowledge of her true background; Marcellus is marching along, part of the posh society, until horrific events force him to choose between maintaining the status quo and risking everything for liberty for all.

Aside from the main character profiles, there are also lovely little tidbits alluding to the original book, such as a street orphan named Roche (Gavroche in Hugo’s version) and Alouette’s “father” turning out to be not her real father, but prisoner 24601. Oh, also a horrific sci-fi guillotine that cuts off your head with a blue laser beam instead of a metal blade. Without giving too much away (since I’m currently reading the sequel in this trilogy), in this first book, I really enjoy how the three main characters grow past their limitations and start to come into their own. The book is long, but it doesn’t drag. It ends on a giant cliffhanger, but you also get the sense that each character has accomplished something in their own growth process. I really admire the authors’ ability to balance character development and plot like that. I’ll let you know next week what I thought of the sequel, Between Burning Worlds!