Diana PeterfreundRezensionen

Fieldnotes:
Blackbrook Academy, Maine, Contemporary (p.2019)

1 Prestigious Science Academy
1 Winter Storm Surge, leaving
11 Students and Staff taking refuge in
1 Former Mansion Turned Reform School Turned Girls' Dorm

6 Characters inspired by the Original Clue (7 if you count Headmaster Boddy)
Several References to the Classic Clue Weapons
2 Secret Passages (with at least 1 very clever entrance)
Rotating PoV

1 Broken Stained Glass Window
1 Dead Bod(d)y
Terribly Done Mopping

2 Secret Identities
2 Potentially Career-Ending Secrets

The Short Version:
A fun middle-grade/YA mystery inspired by the board game (and the 1985 movie) with clever backstories tying characters to their game counterparts and some of the more outrageous names being tied to more believable last names. Colonel Mustard thus become Sam "Mustard" Maestor - a new arrival fresh from military school. Beth Picach is a tennis star who dyes the ends of her hair blue. Professor Plum becomes a research-obsessed science genius who barely looks beyond his test tubes. Mr. Green becomes townie and scholarship student Vaughn Green - who helps with maintenance and janitorial work in addition to classes. Mrs. White is the dorm proctor.

I liked this, and I enjoyed how all of the secrets flying around leaves plot for the sequels. It's fairly lightweight, but makes full use of the secret passages and familiar lay-out of the mansion. I will happily read the next.½

*1.5

This was a fast, exciting read, as many supernatural books of late have been. Nice butt-kicking main character, great setting (Rome), great monsters to fight (unicorns), and original in many ways. The reason it's a 3 and not a 4 is simply that there were some confusing parts, parts that I think many young people would get tripped up on. Some of the characters loyalties were never clear, and there were some actions with shaky motivation. BUT, a great read nonetheless.

Fun murder mystery, cozy mystery story.

Give me Astrid back, please. Austen does not need to be re- envisioned. The author should just stick with her own great ideas.

I love this series a lot. The story line is so unique. It is rare to find a story that is so new. Any book that has me researching history is a plus for me! one of my all time favorites.

I really enjoyed this book. There were good conflicts and resolutions.
My only real gripe is that I felt the characters should have been a little older, considering the original conflict that sparks it all.
I also would have loved an epilogue of some sort, but I guess I'll just have to get the next book and see if I get to meet these characters again.

I really enjoyed this book, and I enjoy this universe. I would really love to see more from it.
I kind of wish this book had an epilogue or something, but I just hope that means we're not quite done with this world.

3.5 Stars

The short story format makes the world more believable than did the full length [b:For Darkness Shows the Stars|8306761|For Darkness Shows the Stars|Diana Peterfreund|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1338529086s/8306761.jpg|13155802] mostly because there isn't much world building at all. Regardless, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

I definitely liked it more than 3 stars worth, but the world building is a bit spotty. I'd rather details be left out than have the internal logic be not actually logical.

Anyway, I love Diana Peterfreund and I'll read whatever she writes in this series because the story is fun and the romance is melancholy and sweet.

I picked this one up with Number the Nameless Stars and Errant in a book sale bundle, and was quite pleased-surprised by it.


A solid, beautiful 3 stars for the main 95% of the novela. This is a solid, well plotted, surprise!dystopian novel, that made me think of a lot of stories like Margaret Attwood's "The Handmaiden's Tale." Bonus? It was a twin story. Bonus? It was about the differences between choice and love and loyalty and self vs. Government.

The solid 4 star rating is because I didn't predict the ending, at least not entirely, and I really like how the ending parallel's right back into the first 5%-10% commentary of the story. Quite lovely for even how short it was. I can't wait to keep reading through the rest of her works.

Augh. This one is almost hard to vote a star-chart number on.

The writing is beautiful, and I was glad for a sight of what it looked like when Kai first escaped. At least, mostly. But the things I really, really wanted to see Kai grow and go through are the ones that started right on the last page, and then the story was over, which left me feeling kind of deeply disappointed in this one, too.

I'm rating it for writing and beauty, but I guess advising people not to go into this one looking for much either?

Mmmmmmmm. I'm so, so, so, so looking forward to where this goes and having a brand new, utterly reimagined Pimpernel. I love the governments, classes, and characters we've laid out so far. I love how the foreshadowing of the main country is put right up the glass of the violent revolution in the other, both on tv at a party and up close in the second half.

I love who we are discovering our characters are. I love the choices made right at the end of the novel. I, seriously, can not wait to have this show up ready to be bought so I can dive into this series, too.

Adorable! Another rec (from the friend who told me to read Raven Boys and The Diviners) and another winner in the long run of beautiful rec books.

This was a sweeping retelling of Jane Austen's "Persuasion" and I loved getting to see how Diana rewound the story, refitted it to her world. The pieces that clicked immediately, the passions of the characters, the difference of culture and choice, how love and pride (of many different kinds of both) are at war across this story.

I made sad, confused faces in the right places. I clung to the childhood letters that led you through the past between chapters. I cheered and was taken aback, and swooned through the right declarations. And my heart soared in the end, when the conclusion was what we knew it would be, but what felt all over new with our heroine this time, again.

I'd definitely advise this one to my friends who love classics, who love retellings, who love love and life and survival.

The final book in the series didn’t contain as many surprises as I would have liked, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.½

A continuation of the first book in the Clue mystery series that continues to delight and has one killer ending that immediately had me starting the final book.½

This is an excellent homage to the fabulous Clue movie and board game, complete with a spooky mansion, an eclectic cast of characters, and an intriguing mystery.

This is an officially licensed Clue mystery. Yes, as in the game from Hasbro. As the title suggests we know how somebody is going to die: In the hall with a knife, but who will it be. Our game takes place in Tudor house on a peninsula in northern Maine. Tudor house is a girl’s dorm at a budding science academy for only the biggest brains with the biggest pockets. A winter storm has come in, flooded most of campus, and separated the school from the rest of town. The students that didn’t evacuate are now stuck in the house with a killer. But who is the killer and who’s really the prey and why are they dead? Those are the questions you must answer to solve this game of Clue. This book was a lot of fun and very tongue and cheek. There are characters that align with the game like Mustard, Peacock, White, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love the play on the old board game as well as how the action fells like you are in the middle of said game. Now this book doesn’t end completely. We still don’t know what happened to Orchid, her history or what the hell the Green twins are up to. I need more! I need the next book! This book is a trilogy. All are out and I can’t wait to pick up but number two: In the Study with a Wrench.½

In this Clue homage, a group of students are trapped at a remote boarding school due to flooding. Their classmates headed home for the holidays, but then a major storm hit. Now they're trapped in the only dorm on high enough ground to avoid flooding . . . and Headmaster Boddy has just been found with a knife in his chest. While the janitor sets off to get police help, the students start worrying who might be next . . . and if there's anyone else in the house with them.

The book doesn't have the lightning wit of the 1985 film, and some of the color-based names are a stretch ("Mustard" as a nickname?). The writing is good and the characters mostly distinct. I found one plot point rather confusing, but that may have been intentional. While the main mystery is resolved by the end of the book, there are plenty of secrets hinted at or partially revealed that will probably play a role in later books in the series. I didn't love it enough to continue on, but it was a pleasant diversion.½

Review for Whole Series

Amy Haskel didn’t expect to be tapped by the secret Rose and Grave society. For one, they only ever tapped men. Until now. From the start, she’s none too thrilled about the initiation rites, or the fact that one particular member the year above her seems determined to make her life in the society as difficult as possible. In the first book, Amy must contend with the sexism of the patriarchs, upset at the inclusion of women, and keep her own prejudices against her fellow taps in check. And reign in her budding relationships that anger the patriarchs, who are convinced the club will become a dating cesspool, even more. Then, a new recruit appears to be kidnapped and a secret society within the society forms. After that, Amy is kidnapped and must accept her feelings for a former enemy and then she must decide how to preserve her legacy in the society as she prepares to graduate.

Amy handles every situation thrown her way with sass, sarcasm and spunk. She refuses to be defeated and her quick thinking gets her out of most situations that her stubbornness lands her in. She’s the Lizzie Bennet of the modern age, handling all the usual stress of university life in addition to the new calamities that befall her as an inaugural female inductee in one of Eli/Yale’s oldest and most clandestine secret societies. Diana Peterfreund wrote “new adult” fiction before “new adult” was a thing and she did/does so brilliantly with her witty and clever cast of characters. I highly recommend the series for any girl heading off to college looking for a bit of adventure.

Imagine a world where unicorns are not only real, but the antithesis of the cuddly, soul saving, pointy-horned creatures fantastical literature has made them out to be. Usually, when I give the basic premise of the series to my fellow readers, I get a raised eyebrow and a skeptical expression. To which I always answer, “Just trust me, you’ll love it.” And thus far, I’m pleased to report that has, overwhelmingly, been the case.

Astrid just wants to be a regular teenage girl, but her mother, a descendent of Alexander the Great, knows Astrid’s destiny is far superior to ordinary high school life – she’s one of the few who can protect the world from the five races or unicorns who seek to destroy humanity. So Astrid is shipped off to a ramshackle training facility in the heart of Rome to begin her education in world saving. But fewer and fewer young women can join her in her quest against the unicorns as there is a clause in the world saving rules that keeps many eligible youngsters from being able to fulfill their noble destiny: they have to be virgins. And someone, out in the world, outside of their cloistered training ground (or possibly within it), is trying to make sure that the number of unicorn killers is kept to a minimum by taking advantage of this clause. Astrid must decide if she truly wants the life of a unicorn killer and if she’s willing to give up a budding romance with a delicious Italian in order to fulfil her destiny.

I know, that’s full of clichés about a teenage girl finding herself. It is Diana Peterfreund’s prose that makes the story impossible to let go of and ridiculously hard to put down. Astrid’s voice is firm and clear, she’s her own person and her character development is flawless. Like Amy before her, Astrid is an inspiration and role model for those looking to stand on their own two feet and fight for themselves.

In the world of New Pacifica, the genetic experimentation that led to the reduction of mental abilities in a significant portion of the population has ended. But there is a new medical scare facing those who were medically un-reduced, a darkening of the mind similar to Alzheimer’s and dementia. Persis Blake, the Scarlet Pimpernel of her people, known as the Wild Poppy, is facing the prospect of her mother’s darkening. To the outside world, she is a shallow socialite, confidant of the queen but vapid and unsubstantial, her true identity hidden from all but the queen and another of their friends. Her mission is to rescue those who are being subjected to a drug that causes the reduction, the aristocracy of her neighboring island which teetering is on the brink of civil war.

Persis, in the tradition of Amy and Astrid before her, is a strong and resilient character, wonderfully witty and clever and always quick on her feet. Her adventures are marvelously depicted on the pages that fly by with intensity and ferocity. She cannot stand the hypocrisy of those around her and instead of sitting idly by, she takes matters into her own hands. Basically, I cannot recommend any of these marvelous books enough – Diana’s writing is simply fabulous.

Rating: 3 1/2 stars

Elliot is dedicated to her family and the Reduced who live and work on their family’s lands. Her family, alas, is not. It is this unwavering dedication to her family and maintaining the health and livelihood of those whom she has been charged to look after, that lost her the first great love of her young life. Until he shows back up on her family’s estate a completely changed man and Elliot is once again torn between her desire to help her family and her desire to spend time with the one she loves.

Unfortunately for me, I do not identify with Elliot at all. Her quandary is not one that I have ever really had to deal with – I’ve never been responsible for the wellbeing of anyone outside of my family, I’ve never had a dependent whereas Elliot has many, most of whom are adults. The reduction leaves many with a reduced mental capacity and so it’s almost as if Elliot is taking care of a group of elderly dementia patients, which at the time, was hard for me to understand as I lacked a frame of reference.

Elliot is a strong character, unwavering in her beliefs and loyalty to those she loves and cares about. Kai’s departure was not wholly her fault and while she does feel responsibility, she doesn’t apologize for her reasons for staying behind.