Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Sky Without Stars
    Sky Without Stars
    Sky Without Stars
    Audiobook18 hours

    Sky Without Stars

    Written by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell

    Narrated by Vikas Adam, Joy Osmanski and Emily Woo Zeller

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    “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 Misérables 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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateMar 26, 2019
    ISBN9781508281269
    Author

    Jessica Brody

    Jessica Brody is the author of several popular novels for teens and tweens, including The Geography of Lost Things, 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, A Week of Mondays, Better You Than Me, and the Unremembered trilogy. She lives with her husband and four dogs near Portland, Oregon. Visit her online at JessicaBrody.com.

    More audiobooks from Jessica Brody

    Related to Sky Without Stars

    Related audiobooks

    YA Science Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      There Is No Crime Here

      Jul 18, 2023

      There Is No Crime Here
      5 min read

    • Article

      In Search Of . . .

      Feb 1, 2019

      In Search Of . . .
      7 min read

    • Article

      Beyond the Mangrove Trees

      Aug 6, 2020

      No one expects their house to float away. Ethel certainly hadn’t. Our story begins in the sleepy village of Greenwood, where Ethel had spent her entire life. It was an overcast Sunday afternoon and Ethel watched the rain lash against the window from

      7 min read

    • Article

      Perfect Prose II

      May 15, 2020

      Perfect Prose II
      4 min read

    • Article

      Their Finest Hour–again

      Apr 29, 2020

      MY routine is now rigorously Benedictine. I’m awoken at Lauds, by the ruddy birdsong (‘Laud’s sake, do shut up!’). Prime, which I am wasting, sees golden light cascading into the chapel, as cheerful and as annoying as Maria von Trapp. Terce (can you

      3 min read

    • Article

      Towns Like Ours

      May 3, 2018

      Towns Like Ours
      9 min read

    • Article

      Beautiful In The Distance

      Jun 24, 2019

      Beautiful In The Distance
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Silent Witness

      Jun 14, 2023

      The Silent Witness
      7 min read

    • Article

      “Properties of Thirst”

      Jul 5, 2022

      “Properties of Thirst”
      11 min read

    • Article

      Until The Sea Closed Over Us And The Light Was Gone

      Jul 1, 2020

      —Dante, Canto XXVI But if the truth is dreamed of toward the morning—El Paso Although it was really last summer’s song,all this summer Despacito played on as slower then I turned myself to gazeupon Juarez. The summer everything hurts my eyes, a dozen

      6 min read

    • Article

      A Lost Prayer

      Feb 2, 2023

      A Lost Prayer
      10 min read

    • Article

      A Little Trip

      Aug 2, 2021

      As the first morning light peeked through the gap in the curtains, Alice left her new husband in bed. She wrapped her silk kimono around her; a present from Jeremy, it reminded her yet again just how generous he’d been since their wedding. Even this

      5 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Sep 1, 2020

      Cricket League
      7 min read

    • Article

      Forfeit

      Jan 1, 2021

      Forfeit
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Silent Witness

      Jun 14, 2023

      The Silent Witness
      7 min read

    • Article

      Gardens Of The Queen

      Feb 2, 2024

      Gardens Of The Queen
      9 min read

    • Article

      We All Live in Uncertain

      Jul 30, 2020

      “Think of Caddo as a maze of lakes within lakes,” says John Winn, proprietor of Caddo Outback Tours, as the two of us settle into a small Go-Devil boat roped to a dock in Uncertain, on the border of northern Louisiana. For two decades, Winn has given

      6 min read

    • Article

      Part 1 WHEN FISH FLY: The Revolt on the Slave Ship Creole

      Jan 1, 2022

      Part 1 WHEN FISH FLY: The Revolt on the Slave Ship Creole
      6 min read

    • Article

      Ursula K. Le Guin

      Jun 15, 2018

      He was thinking of Lookfar, abandoned long ago, beached on the sands of Selidor. Little of her would be left by now, a plank or two down in the sand maybe, a bit of driftwood on the western sea. As he drifted near sleep he began to remember sailing t

      15 min read

    • Article

      Sleep Nights

      Oct 5, 2021

      Sleep Nights
      18 min read

    • Article

      6 Watery Folklore Wonders

      Mar 25, 2021

      6 Watery Folklore Wonders
      5 min read

    • Article

      Letter From The Founder

      Feb 10, 2022

      Letter From The Founder
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Literary Zoo

      Dec 9, 2021

      A Literary Zoo
      4 min read

    • Article

      Emu Dreaming

      Jan 30, 2018

      Emu Dreaming
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Sky Without Stars

    4/5

    106 ratings10 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      The narrators are horrible, all three of them, I couldn't stand there fake emotions, I had to turn the speed up to 2.0 to get passed it. The story was ok, it finally picked up at the end but I will not be purchasing book 2.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      A big part of me wanted to at least like this book, it really did, but the reasons I cannot are in abundance. At this point, I am simply frustrated by the lengthy, unimaginative dialogue, the lack of any believable character-development, the ridiculous attempts at conflict, and the blatant plagiarism. I write this review in hopes that it will ease my spirit and release some of my resentment for the wasted time. If you are into fluffy stories, by all means, read this book. If you want some (any) literary beauty, I'd say proceed with caution. So, here is my two cents:

      1) Just because you can go on for 600 pages, doesn't mean you should. I was mostly in tears because I wanted it to end so badly,
      2) You are mostly told how a character is feeling while being left completely without any empathy, sympathy, or understanding. "Marcellus was scared." "Chatine was angry." Why? What happened? What did they do? Welcome to character development as stale as 'chou bread'.
      3) Talking about development, let's talk story. There is zero story arc or historical context. Why are they on this planet. Who was the "First World". What the heck is a Ledôme? You don't get it yet? No worries, read another 50 pages and it'll make sense (maybe).
      4) Did you know there is beauty in language? In words? There are more than just 50 words in the English language with which to write a story. Different words can enflame entirely different sets of feelings in your readers. Get a thesaurus, maybe?
      5) "Stupide" "Sols" do not a new culture make. This attempt at creating 'lingo' by simply throwing in a couple of French words/mispronounced words was simply annoying,
      6) If all your conflicts sound like a couple of 12-year-old boys or girls having tantrums, maybe you need to get back to the drawing board. I especially wanted to smack Marcellus every time he opened his mouth!
      7) If you skipped chapter titles and only read the dialogues, you wouldn't know who's talking. Every individual sounds the same.
      8) I have never read a book so entirely predictable in my life (who do you think Henri is? Oooh...I wonder.), but that might simply be because (and this brings me to my last point),
      9) This book is not "based" on Les Miserables, it is a direct rip-off of Les Miserables, which is utterly infuriating! Just because you take a time-honored classic and put it on another planet, doesn't mean it becomes a different story. It is plagiarism, which is probably why I lost all my respect for this book and now find myself writing this harsh feedback.

      And, of course, I got to the end and found out there was a book 2? I won't be putting myself through that, sorry.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I loved Alouette and Chatine but darn if I didn't want to smack marcellus upside the head every single time it was his turn. It was sooo repetitive. Every thought/realization he had, he had to repeat in seven different ways before moving on, and he took his sweet time before even having the thought in the first place. It felt like listening to nails on a chalkboard.

      I also have absolutely no clue what the girls find supposedly attractive about him, especially Chatine. There's absolutely no reason except "the way he looked at her" which is very weak to me. The story is really good tho, and for me Chatine hard-carried the whole thing. That's why I gave it 4 stars.
    • 4/5
      Didn't love it as much as I wanted to but I still had an epic adventure!! Now onto the next chapter in their journey, Between Burning World's!!
    • 5/5
      Great novel wirh a truly creative setting - on an exoplanet in our galaxy after Earth became uninhabitable - and a handful of interesting three-dimensional characters that elicit strong feelings - from concern to affection to dislike, from readers about them. Caring about what happens to the characters must be one of the best reasons for recommendation of any piece of fiction.
    • 5/5
      One of the most imaginative books I have come across of late. Like EXPANSE (Frank SA Corey) meet LES MISÉRABLES (Victor Hugo). PHENOMENAL!!! ?
    • 5/5
      Good fast paced story, good narrators. Looking forward to the next book. Recommend.
    • 5/5
      I loved this.
      It's a billon pages long and I want more.
      ugh.
      gimmeeeeeee

      Chatine is my fav I think. Sassypants and a shit disturber. My kinda girl.
    • 3/5
      Settle in friends, because this is going to be a fairly long review. I was deeply excited for Sky Without Stars, since Les Miserables is one of my favorite stories of all time. While there were a lot of portions of this story that caught me up in their magic, there were also a fair amount of issues I had that kept me from really loving story. Once again, I find myself with a book that has me sitting right on that proverbial fence. So bear with me while I sort it all out.First, let's talk setting. Laterre is an an absolutely fascinating setting for this story to talk place. Imagine the dregs of a world that was supposed to be a new start for the masses. A place that promises a fair chance for fair work, but in reality just enslaves over half of its population for the benefit of the wealthy. That on its own is already an amazing setting for a retelling of this nature, but add in the fact that there are science fiction elements galore and you have a space that truly amazed me. Les Miserables in space is a perfect description, and you're in for a treat when you visit Laterre.In terms of the story line, it actually sticks fairly closely to the original subject matter that it is pulling from. Of course there are differences, since this is a YA book that is set in space, but I enjoyed the fact that Brody and Rendell honored the original story so well. You can see glimpses of Jean Valjean, Eponine, and Inspector Javert. I could see the story unfolding in a similar manner to the original story. A revolt. A rebellion. Unfolding love. Terrible tragedies.So what made this a three star read? First off, the characters were rough to love. While I saw their counterparts firmly in my head, all of them but Chatine had no depth for me. Marcellus is frustratingly unsure of himself throughout this whole book. Alouette is just that lost little girl who needs people to save her over and over again. I found myself skimming their chapters because they were just so slow. If this whole book had revolved around Chatine (which yes, I know it wouldn't make any sense that way) I would have loved it. She was the fierce peasant, the wily street rat. In other words, my favorite kind of character. Her chapters are what helped me make it through this story.Which leads to the fact that, yes, this story is lengthy. While the writing is well done, and not too flowery, there are definite portions that felt like they dragged well beyond what they needed to be. This is a tome, to be honest. I completely understand that the source material is also this long, having read both the book and watched the musical, but there's something that's a bit lost in translation in Sky Without Stars. It doesn't feel like the length adds to anything, but more tends to slowly pull the reader out of the story being laid out in front of them. I think if this book had been just a little shorter, focusing more on character development, I would have loved it that much more.As it stands, I rate this a solid three star read. It wasn't my favorite book, but it does have potential. Since this is the first in a series, I'll probably pick up the next book to see how things evolve. Perhaps my characters will pick themselves up a bit, and things will move along at a quicker pace.
    • 4/5
      his is the second Jessica Brody book I’ve read in a month and third overall. This novel was very different from the other two, which were realistic fiction. Jessica Brody went to a “retelling class.” Participants were told to put their favorite classic novels in the first column and an alternate setting in the second column. She made a list and then circled Les Miserables and “space” at the end of the class. When she learned Joanne’s favorite books was Les Miserables, Jessica asked her to work with her on the novel. Five years later the book has been published.This novel begins later in the story than the classic; Les Mis begins with Marius’s family and their relationship with Eponine’s family during the war and Jean Valjean where you learn his backstory and his relationship with Fantine. Here we begin with Eponine, Marius, and Cosette. In this story, Alouette has been raised below ground, much like you would imagine a convent in a place known as the Refuge. She practices reading, learning, quiet contemplation, slow, grateful eating, and isolation. Over time she will become a Sister as well and protect the knowledge from the First World. People on Laterre, the planet on which they live, cannot read. These Sisters guard the books and the knowledge for a future when such knowledge will free the people.Chatine has been surviving in the frets, a place that easily leads to death. Laterre does not have access to the sun for many more years until the universe rotates and they’ll see true light. It’s dark gray, cloudy, wet, and cold. There isn’t enough food and the people are the lowest socioeconomic status--the Third Estate. They are expected to work. Basically, they are the ones who sacrifice so that the people of money and power can live a better life. Chatine’s parents lead the powerful gang and care nothing for their children beyond what they can do for them. Her sister believes everything the government tells the poor--if you work, earn points, and believe in the regime, you may be rewarded. Chatine just wants off the planet to go somewhere where there is actual sun and life isn’t so hard.Marcellus is the grandson of General Bonnefacon, the most powerful military leader, making them members of the Second Estate. Marcellus’s father was a traitor and has been a prisoner, but he is now dead. Marcellus doesn’t have the General’s ruthlessness. He doesn’t see the Third Estate as filth; he sees people instead. When he goes to see his father’s body, he meets Theo (Chatine’s alter male ego). He is kind to “him,” but Chatine can’t trust him. She is intrigued and feels drawn to him. It’s during a riot after the Third Estate has been told that there will be no lottery to ascend to the Second Estate, which resides inside a dome with artificial light and clean living quarters where there is food, that Marcellus is injured. Alouette sees this injured man while looking at a screen from one of their cameras and rushes to help him. She’s never been above ground. Marcellus is amazes by this figment that appears--she’s clean and she can read. She reads the message his father left for him that he has with him. What I’ve reveals is merely the beginning of the novel. As with Les Mis, there are secrets that affect all characters and they all have pasts that affect the present, which are revealed as the novel unfolds. It’s a dark novel of social injustice, evil, misunderstandings, peace, love, and the choices one makes to survive. It also doesn’t end--we do have to wait to see what happens in a future book. I think this novel is more high school, so I don’t know that I’ll be purchasing it for your age group.