Parents' Guide to

Across a Star-Swept Sea

By Sally Engelfried, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Exciting, complex dystopian spy romance based on a classic.

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A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

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There's a lot going on in Across a Star-Swept Sea. To start with, the political climate is based on the aftermath of the French Revolution but includes its own vocabulary of "aristos," "regs," and various high-tech terms, along with an apocalyptic backstory about how the society ended up on these islands in the first place. There are pro-revolution and anti-revolution factions, as well as genetic manipulation and women's rights (or lack of them). Also, in the large cast of characters, many are not whom or what they appear to be.

However, readers who stick with the somewhat confusing beginning will be rewarded with a rich and exciting story, filled with heroic spying adventures, double- and triple-crosses, and just the right amount of romance. Fans of Peterfreund's first book set in this world, For Darkness Shows the Stars, will enjoy a brief appearance by its main characters.

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