For Darkness Shows Humanity

Our world is all about tinkering with Mother Nature. From our homes, to our energy use, to our crops, to the heart of what makes us human, we tinker in the name of science. But what will be the consequence of all that tinkering with DNA and the very code that makes us human? In Diana Peterfreund's For Darkness Shows the Stars, the world has been changed irrevocably in the name of science.

When we began changing the genetic structure of our food, we didn't expect it would also change us. But genetic experiments on food created the Reduced: simple people who need to be taken care of in order for them to survive. This role was taken by the Luddites, a group of people who denounced all technology in favor of lives in agriculture on farms that gave the Reduced a purpose- to work the farms. Elliot North is the daughter of a Luddite and takes her role as caregiver to the Reduced very seriously... certainly more seriously than her greedy father and sister. The Reduced are content enough to do as they are told, but the Posts (Post-Reductionists or CORS, Children of the Reduced) are not. As time passes, the Reduced begin to have children who are no longer affected by the genetic changes. Posts are fully functional, and with that comes a resentment for being treated like slaves. Even though it is forbidden, many Posts begin to leave their estates. And without the Luddites' fear of technology, they also have the advantage of finding better, faster, more efficient ways to do things. And that is what has given them the edge against the Luddites, who can barely hang on to their livelihoods and their lifestyles.

Elliot knows the rules. She should have grafted new wheat that would produce more and faster, but she is the only one trying to keep the Posts and the Reduced fed. She doesn't live an easy life, but there is only one thing she yearns for. Kai. The Post boy she grew to know against all the rules of the classes. But he ran away to start a new life far away from the Luddite slavery. When Elliot desperately rents her grandfather's estate to a group of Post shipbuilders, the last person she expected to see was Kai, now known as Captain Malakai Wentworth. With the roles reversed and Elliot struggling to keep the estate alive and her charges fed, Kai's feelings of betrayal are barely hidden. But there is more to the story of these Posts with their fancy clothes and their new technology. And the answer might lie in something so unforgivable, so against the laws of nature, that Elliot could never look at Kai the same way again.

This was a really interesting dystopia. The horrors of the world were mostly generations in the past, so it was a surprisingly peaceful dystopia, despite the Luddite slavery of the Posts (the Reduced needed to be taken care of, and even if the Luddites took advantage of that, the Reduced could never have survived without them). But the class distinctions were so severe and rigid that the Luddites couldn't imagine considering a Post romantically even though they will take their money, wear their clothes, and secretly delight in their advanced technology. The story really got to the heart of laws and rules that are passed down for generations to a point where they are irrelevant but everyone follows them because "that is how it has always been". I am always trying to get my students to just care about something, and to fight for what they believe, but sometimes the path of least resistance is just easier. I loved that this story encouraged questioning things that are no longer relevant even if that means questioning the entire basis of society.

There was even more intrigue connected to our technology and how society had to completely reject it in order to survive. Especially the idea of genetically modifying our food. If I was reading this story with my students, I would do some real research into GMO food and encourage them to think about that information critically while we read the story. Elliot North was a young woman to be admired. She truly cared about her people, and when Kai questioned her responsibility to them, it was amazing to see the Posts from her own estate defend her vehemently. She is a character you can really get behind, and that made this book really special. The book wasn't slow, but it wasn't action packed either, so I would save it for an older, stronger reader. There is something beautiful about how this dystopia was written, which sounds like a contradiction of terms, but it really was. I am very excited to see where the story ends up, because I just can't get enough of Kai and Elliot!

A Unicorn Hunter History

Well, I see there is a new pattern emerging. YA authors have been releasing novellas that tie into their currently running and recently finished series. I love this idea, but they seemed to be doing it exclusively by ebook, which I think is a shame because it excludes a significant population who don't have e-readers. Hopefully these short stories will be published as well, but for now at least I can enjoy them on my Kindle. Diana Peterfruend's Errant is a prequel of her Killer Unicorns series that gives another view of the life of the Unicorn Hunters in the Order of the Lioness.

Gitta is a nun with the Order of the Lioness- a unicorn hunter. Sadly, her duties have been dwindled, along with the unicorn population, to putting on slayings for ceremonies of their beloved zhi- trained, tiny unicorns that are devoted to hunters. She has had three zhi slain for these absurd ceremonies and weddings, and now she lose another. When she gets to the estate, she finds the bride to be, Elise, ready to perform her ritual slaying duties before she weds. Unfortunately, she isn't prepared for what she feels for Enyo, the little zhi.

At first Elise is annoyed by both the unicorn and the hunter, but she realizes her hunter magic is calling to her, brought out by her proximity to the unicorn. She knows her life will not be happy in her arranged marriage, but it will be better than dealing with her murderous cousin who would stop at nothing to get her money and land. When Elise realizes she can no longer deny the hunter inside of her, and cannot imagine killing the little unicorn, she and Gitta decide to take matters into their own hands. But will they be able to survive the schemes and plots all around them?

This was a fun little novella, but I don't think it would make much sense to someone who hadn't already read the rest of the series. It can stand alone, but it would make more sense (especially the background on the unicorns and the hunters) if someone had already read the other books. It is, though, a really great little insight into the world just before unicorns went "extinct".

Unicorns as the Ultimate Cure All?

Diana Peterfreund's first unicorn novel was amazing. Her sequel, Ascendant, was just as good, but took some surprising twists. It took the life of Astrid, a unicorn hunter, in a new direction. Since unicorns are no longer sweet, sparkly myths with this series, we see Astrid struggle with her role as a hunter of these terrifying and majestic creatures and an admirer of the animals they really are.

Astrid continues to live in the Cloisters and hunt with the other girls, but things aren't progressing well. They are having trouble finding new recruits, and the Cloisters becomes a focus of attention for both the world at large, once people finally realize unicorns are real and deadly, and the Catholic church, from whom the convent they live in comes from. Astrid's mother Lilith has been in her glory touring talk shows and raising awareness about unicorns (and embellishing her own and her family's role in the unicorn world). Meanwhile the girls fight the deadly fight every day. When one girl gets sick and loses her hunter powers, Astrid agrees to go to England with her for protection. Before she goes to England, though, she stops in France to pursue a lead on the boy who raped her cousin Phil (Philippa) and disqualified her from being a hunter.

Once in France, Astrid quickly finds out she wasn't following the boy who hurt Phil, but rather her ex-boyfriend, the one her mother saved with the last of the world's Remedy (anti-unicorn). Brandt is still the guy who spread rumors about her in her high school, but she can't help but be drawn to him. When he takes her to the pharmaceutical lab that has been studying the unicorns (and tried to kill the hunters), she finds it is being run in a new way since the guy who plotted against the hunters was gored to death by a unicorn. Now his estranged wife is running the lab, and she wants Astrid to stay and manage their unicorn herd. Astrid agrees, but she quickly realizes the job isn't what she thought. When a baby unicorn is born right in front of her, Astrid hides it from the scientists, but they find out about her secret. Unable to bear the thought of what they will do to the baby, Astrid abandons the lab to return to the Cloisters. It is there she discovers the Cloisters is falling apart and they are down hunters. With only four working hunters, things quickly become very dangerous for Astrid. But she can't stop thinking about the herd she left behind. With unicorns in her head, things can quickly go downhill for Astrid. Will she survive the most dangerous job in the world?

This was a very interesting sequel, but it took some turns I was surprised by. Although the first book had some dark and gritty details, I wouldn't qualify it an overwhelmingly "dark" book. But this story got very disturbing. The descriptions of the treatment of the unicorns at the lab was almost too much to bear at times. When the secret of the Remedy is revealed, it is a plot twist I totally did not see coming, and am kind of stunned by! I was actually taken aback by some of the twists in this story, but they kept me reading! Sometimes the story seemed a little lost between "chunks", but overall it was a very intriguing follow-up.

Like the first book, I would probably give this to an older student, in particular one interested in fantasy and mythology. The history behind the hunters is really interesting, but my concern is that all the elements are never revealed. There are always gaps to the history and the story that are never fully explained. They don't keep you from understanding the story, and maybe they will be revealed in another book, but I wish they weren't given so sparingly. I would have like to have the full picture. In all, though, great sequel! Who can resist fanged, poisonous, flesh-eating unicorns?!

Killer, Man-Eating, Poisonous Unicorns

You know when you pick up a book and a few pages in you realize it is going to be AWESOME?! That was my experience with Rampant by Diana Peterfreund. This isn't a super new book, in fact the sequel is already out, but I just picked it up and decided to give it a try. I am so glad I did because this book was so exciting it kept me hooked all day until I finished it!

Astrid has always taken her mother's loony ravings about being a descendant of an ancient line of unicorn hunters with a grain of salt... until her boyfriend is attacked by a small unicorn. Astrid calls her mother and Lilith arrives with the ancient Remedy- the only known cure for unicorn venom. That's right, venom. See, unicorns are not all sparkly and adorable like every children's story would have us believe- nope, they are evil, angry, man-eating (and livestock) beasts with poisonous "alicorns" (their horns). Alicorn poisoning kills almost immediately, but the hunters are immune to it. That is why the unicorn didn't attack Astrid. She was born to be a hunter.

Unicorns were supposed to be extinct, but the new emergence has led to many attacks all over the world. It also leads to Lilith's barely controlled enthusiasm as she packs up Astrid and ships her off to Rome where the Cloisters exists- the home to the Order of the Lioness, a group of virgin unicorn hunters centuries ago. And the Cloisters looks like it hasn't been touch in centuries. When Astrid arrives, she is greeted by Cory, a hunter, and her uncle Neil, the man who took the responsibility of "don" or leader of the group. It becomes clear that Cory lives, breathes, and eats unicorn hunting and would have loved having Lilith for a mother.

More girls start arrive, including Astrid's cousin and best friend Phil (Philippa), and the girls start cleaning the Cloisters and training. When their first hunts go badly and result in many injuries, it becomes clear that something is wrong. The pharmaceutical company funding the hunters is making strange decisions and eventually disappears after a particularly disastrous hunt. More and more, the girls and Neil become suspicious of the situation, but they continue hunting. When Neil leaves to track down their contact, Lilith comes to supervise as donna. Under her supervision, Astrid almost dies and is instead approached by a karkadann, the largest and most fearsome of all unicorn species. The karkadann has a proposition for Astrid, one she can't pass up. Especially if she wants to keep her fellow hunters alive.

This was an A.MAZE.ING story and I simply couldn't get enough of it. I plowed through this book like it was life or death (and sometimes it felt like it was!). It was so well-written and a new take on old myths. The unraveling of the secrets and myths were so intricate and kept the reader enthralled (as did the fight scenes of course). The characters in the story were very interesting as well. They were a motley group of young women, from pampered princesses to a homeless drug addict. Their stories and backgrounds were just as interesting as those of the main characters, making the reader highly invested in all the hunters. There is clearly a sequel out already, but the book ends well. It isn't left with a cliffhanger, but definitely leaves the reader wanting more.

The target audience for this book is tough because it is definitely in the fantasy/mythology realm, which I find appeals to kids from early middle school through high school (and most fantasy is pretty clean so will work in this wide range of ages). But this book is dark. Very dark. The hunting scenes with the unicorns are bloody and gruesome, but imagine hunting something the size of an elephant with a poisonous alicorn! Perhaps the darkest part was when one of the hunter's was raped and it turns out someone may have set her up to lose her virginity and therefore forfeit her status as a hunter. I think this is a book that should be given to either older students or a younger high school student who is mature enough to handle the violence. A good rule of thumb might be if you think a kid could handle Hunger Games, then they could handle this story. None of the violence was overdone, but there might be that student who is too delicate to handle the more bloody scenes in the book. This was an amazing story, and I will be devouring the sequel as soon as it gets here (but not devouring in the same sense as the evil man-eating unicorns, of course!).