Among the Nameless Stars (For Darkness Shows the Stars 0.5) by Diana Peterfreund
June 4, 2012
HarperCollins Publishers
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Before Kai joined the Cloud Fleet, he wandered… AMONG THE NAMELESS STARS

Four years before the events of FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS, the servant Kai left the North Estate, the only home he’d ever known, and Elliot North, the only girl he ever loved, in search of a better life. But the journey was not an easy one.

Featuring narrow escapes, thrilling boat races and at least one deadly volcanic wasteland.

First sentence: “The first week was the hardest.”

I love this novella.

Diana Peterfreund’s description of this novella is a excellent analogy. She said: 

If ‘For Darkness Shows the Stars’ is Austen, then ‘Among the Nameless Stars’ is Dickens. In this story, you see the gritty underbelly of the society that Elliot only knows stories about, the one she fears and hints about, but has little experience with herself.

Among the Nameless Stars is a prequel of For Darkness Shows the Stars, and it follows Kai as he leaves the North Estate, intent on finding a better life as a Post without Elliot North, the girl he loves and can’t forget. However, when he enters the world, he encounters a lot of struggles like overcoming severe injuries and starvation, becoming a prisoner, and trying to accept Elliot’s decision not to go with him. That boy has been through a lot, especially at fourteen years old. (I found myself clutching at my heart numerous times, especially when he wrote unsent letters to Elliot.)

The only problem I had with the novella was the terms. I got confused because I couldn’t remember what Reduction and Posts meant until a couple of chapters into the book. But, as long as you have read For Darkness Shows the Stars, then it shouldn’t be confusing.

Maybe I love this novella because I adore Diana Peterfreund and her writing, or I love it because my favorite Jane Austen book is Persuasion. Maybe it’s a mixture of both. Whatever my reasons are, you can tell I am biased. You should go read it, especially if you read For Darkness Shows the Stars and want to know what happened to Kai when he left the North Estate.