Sky Without Stars / Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell / 592 pgs

I was so lucky to get to meet the authors of this wonderful new book at my library last week. They told great stories about how they came up with the idea of Les Miserables in space and reading this book was a little like a homecoming for me because I love the movie (though I must admit I haven't yet read the book by Victor Hugo).

The story is about how humanity left Earth and 505 years later live in a system with three stars and twelve inhabited planets. Laterre is ruled by the Paress family where there are three estates (royalty, administrative, and the workers), much like how there were three estates in pre-Revolutionary France. The book mainly focuses on Alouette, Chatine, and Marcellus, who are stand-ins for Cosette, Eponine, and Marius in the original Hugo novel. In this far off future, humanity has mostly lost its ability to read the written word save for a few folks who must stay hidden and protect the last library on Laterre. Meanwhile, the Third Estate starves in a rainy, marshy environment while the First and Second Estates live, eat, and play in a massive biodome under a virtual blue sky.

This is the first book in the System Divine series and there are plans for more two books at least. I can't wait for the next one as I really got invested in the characters, especially Chatine.

Also, I don't tend to judge a book by its cover, but the first time I saw this book cover, I knew I would love this book. Isn't it gorgeous? Best Book Cover Ever!