My Week in Book Review: Across a Star-swept Sea

Across a Star-swept Sea by 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.

Spoiler-free!

This is a multi-time reread for me. I love this story. Imagine the Scarlett Pimpernel, teenaged version, in Polynesia, and trade the guillotine for a pill that destroys your brain functions.

The jewel of this story is the primary protagonist, Persis Blake. While the original Scarlett Pimpernel’s Percy Blake is hilarious because he’s a man pretending to be obsessed with fashion, in this story, no one blinks an eye at a girl who’s obsessed with fashion. And that idea translates to our world, right? If you’ll indulge me in a stereotype, think of a girl who spends obscene amounts of her time on her clothes, hair, makeup. Maybe you know someone like that. Now imagine finding out that that girl is an infamous spy. Pretty great cover, right? As Persis says, being underestimated is the best disguise—that way, no one ever sees you coming. She wields the ditzy, shallow, clothes-focused female stereotype as mask, weapon, and armor, as needed. Her true self can’t help but shine through, when people are willing to look, but most of the time, people see what they expect to see.

I think one of the challenges for this book is that there’s some complicated stuff going on with the class system—how it is now and how it used to be—and the class system is mixed up with genetic issues called Reduction and Darkening. (Reduction ~ being mentally disabled; Darkening ~ Alzheimer’s. At least, that’s how I interpreted those two things.) Add in a Reduction pill that simulates the brain damage and is meted out as punishment, throw in the Helo cure that cured world-wide Reduction back in the day, and you have a whole cocktail of issues with similar-sounding names. Justen Helo, the book’s equivalent of Marguerite, is a scientist, and the book contains a decent amount of this world’s science (note I said this world’s—don’t expect a lesson on the periodic table or physics equations). This can be confusing, and I’m not sure whether that’s due to the writing or to the fact that as a general rule, science gets muddled in my brain, but being confused at times didn’t overall detract from my experience. The book hugely focused on the brain—not just from a scientific standpoint but from a moral one of how those with full brain capacity are responsible to act. I think the science enhances that theme.

One thing that’s good to know before reading is that there is a companion book, For Darkness Shows the Stars, which happens chronologically before Star-swept Sea. Characters from that book show up in this one, and while it’s not necessary to read Darkness first, it would make reading Star-swept Sea more enjoyable. I read them out of order and could tell I was missing nuances in places. Reading Darkness first also helps give better context for understanding Reduction and how it works when it gets more complicated in Star-swept Sea.

Lastly, I love the setting of this book. Maybe this reflects my ignorance, but I haven’t read too many books set in the Polynesian islands, either real or fantastical. Not just the islands themselves, but the use of flora and fauna in the plot, the way that specific types of clothing enhanced the story—I felt like it added a richness to the experience and created a reality I could almost want to live in (you know, minus the grisly revolution).

So there you have it—a brief and spoiler-free review of a book I dearly love. Also, is or is not the cover the most gorgeous thing ever??