Sky Without Stars (System Divine, #1)

by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell

"Not to be missed!" -Marissa Meyer, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lunar Chronicles
"An explosion of emotion, intrigue, romance, and revolution." -Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Caraval series

In the tradition of The Lunar Chronicles, this sweeping reimagining of Les Miserables tells the story of three teens from very different backgrounds who are thrown together amidst the looming threat of revolution on the French planet of Laterre.

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 grandson of the most powerful man on the planet.

Marcellus is an officer-and the son of an infamous 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.

• ISBN10: 1534410635
• ISBN13: 9781534410633
• Publish Date: 26 March 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 592
• Language: English

Reviews

[tweetybugshouse]

I am a sucker for an amazing cover and this book has an amazing cover. Have i read the Les Mis no but i did read the lunar chronicles. I not sure if i can say that it a retelling of les mis but i do see the connection to lunar chronicles.

I choose to read this on a weekend when my family and job obligations would be low. Why cause i knew that i would devour this book and having to stop and take care of something was not on my agenda. Did i achieve my goal of reading it in a weekend yes yes i did. I loved it every page, every plot twist, every delicious secret that was uncovered.

This is a long book and sometimes i am leery of long books especially from authors i know nothing about. Why cause i worried i won’t like it and spent my money on a monster book, worried that the author are not gonna suck me in the way someone i know does, and most of all worried i like most of it but the ending will let me down. Did any of that happen no, this book will suck you in, the author will not drop the story and bore you to death and best of all the ending will leave you longing for the next one.

This book does everything i want in a good book, strong characters, action that i not sure how will play out and you get to see the story from all sides as it told in each character voice throughout the book. If your a fan of lunar chronicles i can say for sure you like this book. Pick it up give yourself a bit of time and dive in. See you in march of 2020 when book two comes out.

[Steph L]

Les Miserables in Space

For those wondering, yes you can read this book without reading the original work. This was such a fun, wild, and dense story but I enjoyed the ride. If you enjoy SciFi you will most likely enjoy this book. If you like massive plots, characters who aren’t real but they seem real, or world building you will enjoy this book.

[bookishzelda]

Sky Without Stars is a space opera retelling of Les Misérables. I’m a huge fan of the musical, I’ve seen it a couple times. Although I’ve never read the book or seen the movie version but I know that it’s kind of a big undertaking to retell the story.

So as much as I love the musical, I always struggled with the characters. I felt the same with Sky Without Stars. We have Chatine (Éponine), Alouette (Cosette) and Marcellus (Marius) now just because these three perspectives have counterparts in another universe does not mean they are exactly the same.

I feel like I rooted for Chatine’s character the most. I’m not saying she is not flawed and she hasn’t done bad things. This is someone hardened by living in the slums, with really really horrible parents. She has no one who truly loves her or nurtures her. She is kind of adrift and her goal is to get off planet. She might be in the game to provide only for herself but that doesn’t mean she can’t be redeemed.

Alouette was kind of eh. I actually really liked Cosette so I was glad that I enjoyed Alouette’s character more. I think the authors injected her with more spunk and spine. She is someone who is raised complete opposite of Chatine. Warm, safe, feed and loved. She is also a much bigger cog in the wheel of the events occuring in the story.

Marcellus? I think both girls could do better honestly. Which was fine because I was more interested in the plot itself then I was in any romance aspect of it. Maybe the series will sway me differently down the line but really I’m just like get some backbone man!!! I also think that his character is a little bit perfect as well because he comes from the higher class. He really doesn’t understand what it’s like to have to fight for everything like Chatine or be shut away like Alouette. I think his navitivitey to their strife makes absolute sense and is on par for what the character should be.

I really like this reimagining and idea for the plot. I thought the world building is good and when I picture what the planet looks like with the ships used as housing. I kept picturing the end credits of Wall-e. I felt like the descriptions were good and it was easy to imagine. The tech was not too complicated so you weren’t focused on trying to understand how things work. I wish the pacing was a little faster, however. I enjoyed all the components of the book it was just I need things to move along a little faster. This is something I’ve noticed with me and other space operas I’ve read so it might just be a space opera thing.

I enjoyed the story and I think for a book that is co-written, Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell do a great job of making the writing flawless. The funny thing is I didn’t realize it’s a series at first so when the story was winding down, I’m like wait what? What? Oh okay there is another book, phew.

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight .

Confession time! I have never read/seen/consumed Les Misérables in any capacity. I don't intend to, either. Though it sounds mildly interesting, classics aren't really my jam, plus the thing is like, 1500 pages and just hard pass okay? That said, the premise is kind of appealing? So when I saw that this book was going to be an iteration on different freaking planets, obviously sign me up!

The Stuff I Liked:

• •The world is pretty impressive. I mean, I love that it's French-based, and for reasons that make sense. Plus it's so fascinating that no matter how much you think you change things (i.e., moving to another solar system), humans never really change. It's a pretty crappy world to live in for almost everyone, save the upper echelon. Just like it is now, just like it's always been. The authors did a great job of translating that feel to this new world.



• •The characters are so different, especially when we meet them. They all have wildly different backgrounds and different worldviews because of it. They end up learning a lot by their encounters with each other as well, as they end up seeing things from others' perspectives.



• •For a nearly-600 page book, it didn't feel long. I was scared, I won't lie. Like... will this take me 3 weeks to read? But it actually went really quickly! The chapters are short, which I appreciate always, and I think in this case the POV switches really added a lot to the story. Checking in with everyone moved things along, but also allowed the reader to get to know each character really well.



• •"Let’s raise a couple more… to the Revolution!" Ah, when are Hamilton lyrics not appropriate, right? But seriously, I love when the underdog rises up! Especially when the odds are stacked against them but you so badly want the arc of justice to bend in their favor. Obviously we don't know how it will play out, but just getting the anarchy started is good for me!

The Stuff I Didn't Like:

• •My biggest qualm was the predictability. I know you're thinking "yeah dude, it's a retelling" but I didn't know the thing we were retelling, so 🤷‍♀️. Now, part of it was fun because it made me feel all kinds of smart when I correctly guessed the twists. But then I was a little bummed at the same time because... well, I'd just predicted the twists!



• •I would have liked more connection to the characters, especially Allouette. I felt like there was a lot of potential to connect with her, but then I just... didn't? Marcellus grew on me during the course of the book, but it was Chatine who I enjoyed from the start.



• •Hard pass on the romance. I'll keep it vague for the sake of spoilers, but I just wasn't into it. At all.

Bottom Line: Such an imaginative take on Les Misérables, it will be very interesting to see where the authors take the next book, as there's a vast world still to explore!