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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
DNF'ed on page 104. Mainly because of an annoying main character *cough* Amelia*cough* and a messily paced and handled plot
Reread 10/7/2021: This is still one of the most fun YAs I've read! Give me mooooooore puzzles in space!
Original review Dec 2017
THIS IS THE MOST FUN BOOK I HAVE READ ALL YEAR.
Unearthed is what it says on the tin: a mix between Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider set on a distant uninhabited planet. In a near future, Earth is overpopulated, overpolluted, and all attempts to find a Goldilocks-planet nearby have been met with disaster.
Earth receives a communication from the inhabitants of a distant planet named Gaia, but instead of filling humanity with hope, they learn that this civilisation destroyed itself long ago and now serves as nothing more than a cautionary tale. Cut to the present, where our two protagonists find themselves on Gaia, thrust together as part of a plot that could lead to glory or destruction.
Unearthed is all the best parts of Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider, but set in a fresh contemporary sci-fi landscape with fun YA protagonists who show strength in remarkably different ways. It's filled with puzzles, twists, cliffhangers, science, linguistics, history, adventures, temples, chases, guns, space travel, and more!
It literally ticks all my boxes as a perfect blend of history, mystery, archaeology, and space, and I couldn't have asked for anything more. And my GOD did Kaufman and Spooner hit hard with a cliffhanger ending!
My only issue is that I wish some of the puzzles and rooms were explained in more detail; it was a little rushed and I wanted a bit more suspense as the protagonists tried to figure everything out.
While I can see how both of them lent their respective expertise to solve each puzzle, I wish there’d been a bit more time fleshing out their surroundings and that they took more time working out each puzzle. Some came a bit easy, and I wanted more feels of “holy fuck, we might not solve this, WE MIGHT DIE HERE ARGHHH”
Overall: PLEASE READ THIS BOOK IT IS SO FUN. It’s a wonderfully action-packed YA Indiana Jones in space, and there’s no way you can’t enjoy it. It’s filled with puzzles, science, history, and chases, and you’re guaranteed to be on the edge of your set as the protagonists try to unlock the key to a mystery plaguing the whole universe. Unearthed is so damn fun and I already want to reread it.
Original review Dec 2017
THIS IS THE MOST FUN BOOK I HAVE READ ALL YEAR.
Unearthed is what it says on the tin: a mix between Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider set on a distant uninhabited planet. In a near future, Earth is overpopulated, overpolluted, and all attempts to find a Goldilocks-planet nearby have been met with disaster.
Earth receives a communication from the inhabitants of a distant planet named Gaia, but instead of filling humanity with hope, they learn that this civilisation destroyed itself long ago and now serves as nothing more than a cautionary tale. Cut to the present, where our two protagonists find themselves on Gaia, thrust together as part of a plot that could lead to glory or destruction.
Unearthed is all the best parts of Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider, but set in a fresh contemporary sci-fi landscape with fun YA protagonists who show strength in remarkably different ways. It's filled with puzzles, twists, cliffhangers, science, linguistics, history, adventures, temples, chases, guns, space travel, and more!
It literally ticks all my boxes as a perfect blend of history, mystery, archaeology, and space, and I couldn't have asked for anything more. And my GOD did Kaufman and Spooner hit hard with a cliffhanger ending!
My only issue is that I wish some of the puzzles and rooms were explained in more detail; it was a little rushed and I wanted a bit more suspense as the protagonists tried to figure everything out.
While I can see how both of them lent their respective expertise to solve each puzzle, I wish there’d been a bit more time fleshing out their surroundings and that they took more time working out each puzzle. Some came a bit easy, and I wanted more feels of “holy fuck, we might not solve this, WE MIGHT DIE HERE ARGHHH”
Overall: PLEASE READ THIS BOOK IT IS SO FUN. It’s a wonderfully action-packed YA Indiana Jones in space, and there’s no way you can’t enjoy it. It’s filled with puzzles, science, history, and chases, and you’re guaranteed to be on the edge of your set as the protagonists try to unlock the key to a mystery plaguing the whole universe. Unearthed is so damn fun and I already want to reread it.
WOW
To be honest I went into this with the lowest of expectations but I actually loved this book.
I couldn't give it a full 5 stars because I felt like some of the decisions made were a bit out there and didn't make total sense.
The characters did their job and I liked them when they were supposed to be liked and disliked them when I was supposed to.
The plot had me hooked from pretty much the start
The writing was really good and easy to read.
Overall a really enjoyable experience. I will be reading the sequel very soon.
To be honest I went into this with the lowest of expectations but I actually loved this book.
I couldn't give it a full 5 stars because I felt like some of the decisions made were a bit out there and didn't make total sense.
The characters did their job and I liked them when they were supposed to be liked and disliked them when I was supposed to.
The plot had me hooked from pretty much the start
The writing was really good and easy to read.
Overall a really enjoyable experience. I will be reading the sequel very soon.
4.5, maybe even 4.75
That was pretty amazing, perhaps one of my favourite sci-fis! Aside from the totally excessive and unnecessary amounts of romance at the most inappropriate times aka when the world is practically ending, and the slowish place at the beginning, I really loved this book. That ending sets up for so much more (the acknowledgments say the authors are unapologetic about that unexpected, plot-twist cliff-hanger ending, like I suspect ALL authors are *cough* Sanderson, I'm looking at YOU! *cough*) Anyway, I recommend it if you are willing to stick through about 30% of sorta-slowness and a TON of world building and puzzle-solving (which I personally enjoy very much.)
The characters are pretty interesting, fun to read about. I got really connected to both of them. They have their flaws, and I am so happy they didn't just go around killing people. I feel like YA teen characters seem to just pull triggers left and right and have no qualms about it or show any signs of a conscience, but Amelia and Jules felt real, and human, which I really enjoyed. I also liked that Amelia was ACTUALLY a strong female character, not just one until she found a guy.. Besides, I am a sucker for a bickering duo who are basically polar opposites who find a way to work together.
I regret reading this so soon after release, because now I have to wait ages for book 2. Oh well, reader problems I guess.
That was pretty amazing, perhaps one of my favourite sci-fis! Aside from the totally excessive and unnecessary amounts of romance at the most inappropriate times aka when the world is practically ending, and the slowish place at the beginning, I really loved this book. That ending sets up for so much more (the acknowledgments say the authors are unapologetic about that unexpected, plot-twist cliff-hanger ending, like I suspect ALL authors are *cough* Sanderson, I'm looking at YOU! *cough*) Anyway, I recommend it if you are willing to stick through about 30% of sorta-slowness and a TON of world building and puzzle-solving (which I personally enjoy very much.)
The characters are pretty interesting, fun to read about. I got really connected to both of them. They have their flaws, and I am so happy they didn't just go around killing people. I feel like YA teen characters seem to just pull triggers left and right and have no qualms about it or show any signs of a conscience, but Amelia and Jules felt real, and human, which I really enjoyed. I also liked that Amelia was ACTUALLY a strong female character, not just one until she found a guy.
Spoiler
the end where Jules was going to let her go and sacrifice himself and she stayed back and kicked him in the shin was awesome. She ain't no damsel in distress!Spoiler
is it just me or does anybody else thing Evie is going to be extremely crucial to this hoax? Like what if she was that human girl at the end, what if she's been deceiving Amelia this whole time? Or what if it's Jules' mother? Also WHO. IS. CHARLOTTE/MINK? I have questions, I cannot wait till the next one. Hopefully they are all answered.I regret reading this so soon after release, because now I have to wait ages for book 2. Oh well, reader problems I guess.
When we allow ourselves to explore, we discover destinations that were never on our map.
Not to be dramatic or anything but if this doesn't live up to its Indiana Jones in space claim, I'm gonna cry.
Edit: I'm not crying, but this definitely wasn't Indiana Jones in space, either.
What I loved the most about this book, was obviously the writing. It's no secret that both Kaufman and Spooner are among my favorite authors in terms of prose, but I found the plot to be a little too slow for this kind of book.
Sure, Mia and Jules' journey was pretty entertaining as were their interactions, but I felt like something was missing and I found the world-building slightly confusing at first.
I still loved the twists and some of the action scenes, but I expected it to be more adventurous, if you know what I mean.
ACTUAL RATINGS 3,5/5
#PenguinOnATBRMission: book #14
◾this hashtag is something I self-indulgently created for fun when I decided to thin out my immense tbr list as a new years resolution starting from books I added on GR back in 2017/2018/2019, and since I can't seem to do anything quietly and I'm well known for being an overachiever, I had to go and turn it into an official thing. Feel free to check out the shelf with the same name if you don't mind keeping up with this insanely over-hyped adventure I got myself into. Take it as a chance to rediscover some books from a few years ago that might have accidentally flown under your radar, or to simply share with another fellow reader your very own reading experience. Happy reading and stay penguin-y!◾
To Be Continued...
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Star Rating : 2.5 stars
How can what is essentially an Indiana Jones knockoff be so very boring?
Maybe more nazis? Or face melting?
I would have been happy with whatever this is:
But we didn't get Nazis or face melting or kittens on giant faces.
What we did get was 350 pages of these characters thinking/talking about how much they want to jump each other's bones.
I get it. I really do.
Attraction can happens even in unlikely/inopportune times. And usually I can accept that. IT HAPPENS!
But I cannot accept thinking constantly about kissy-kissy times when you have the bad guys breaking the door down.
~Something much more interesting happening~ But let's take our attention away from that and tell me more about how much you like him/her?
Do tell me more! I don't think I get it yet.
How can what is essentially an Indiana Jones knockoff be so very boring?
Maybe more nazis? Or face melting?
I would have been happy with whatever this is:
But we didn't get Nazis or face melting or kittens on giant faces.
What we did get was 350 pages of these characters thinking/talking about how much they want to jump each other's bones.
I get it. I really do.
Attraction can happens even in unlikely/inopportune times. And usually I can accept that. IT HAPPENS!
But I cannot accept thinking constantly about kissy-kissy times when you have the bad guys breaking the door down.
~Something much more interesting happening~ But let's take our attention away from that and tell me more about how much you like him/her?
Do tell me more! I don't think I get it yet.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have loved other books by these authors, so I knew I'd enjoy the writing style at the very least - and I did. I also really liked the characters, I found them quite refreshing, and I liked the story overall. Sometimes, I think a bit more background on what's happening on Earth would have helped to understand both Mia and Jules's situation and goals better. Some things were also a bit predictable in my opinion - Jules and Mia sometimes drew conclusions and then believed that this conclusion was definitely correct without considering other possibilities, but I guess in the end that's human and would probably happen to anyone, and it didn't exactly bother me. What annoyed me a bit sometimes was the whole Liz thing, it felt like a mere plot device to me and at some point I kinda wanted it to be over, but I do get why it was a part of the book and overall it was fine. The ending was good, even though it didn't surprise me at all, and I do want to find out what else is going to happen in part 2.
All in all, this is a good sci-fi book with two interesting main characters, a cute (maybe a bit too fast) love story and a nice, often-times funny, writing style.
All in all, this is a good sci-fi book with two interesting main characters, a cute (maybe a bit too fast) love story and a nice, often-times funny, writing style.
3.5 stars
I LIKE this, but I don't love it. Not the way I grew to love the Starbound Trilogy.
*warning, brief review coming*
I hate to say it, but I wanted so badly to love this. On the whole, both Jules and Mia are interesting characters and neither are lovable to begin with BUT they grow on you as well as each other. It's weird for me to read first person, wasn't their other trilogy third person? Either way, their voices were strong.
The plot is more a discover and uncover kind of plot, where two individuals band together to investigate a mystery (or in Mia's case find enough loot to take back home). In this case, it's the temple of the Undying whose message was decoded on earth years ago of an extinct race from thousands of years before. Jules happens to be the son of the scholar who had translated the Undying message, and he is a genius who followed in his father's footsteps.
This is all great and because I love Kaufman and Spooner, and their stories are always solid in emotion and decent action, however I was more confused by what Jules' educational background and speciality is. I figure he's an Undying specialist, including knowing and understanding the language and history about the discovery. However, linguistics were thrown around several times earlier in the book, and tbh, I wasn't really satisfied by the casual use.
FURTHERMORE, and this one is important and one of the reasons why I love The Arrival, is that in the field of linguistics, most of the time when translating from one language to another, one word may not be truly represented in the other language. I do get that Jules repeats three words/phrases when he talks about the nautilus spiral, but he never considers that the glyph could mean more than that.
Other dissatisfactory points is that there's a lot of information being dumped at every one point, the beginning is a bit slow, and we don't learn enough about earth at all yet. I wish we knew more about the dying earth.
But overall I did really enjoy this, mostly because it's a not a difficult story to read at all. The ending (slightly predictable) makes me fascinated enough to read the sequel!
I LIKE this, but I don't love it. Not the way I grew to love the Starbound Trilogy.
*warning, brief review coming*
I hate to say it, but I wanted so badly to love this. On the whole, both Jules and Mia are interesting characters and neither are lovable to begin with BUT they grow on you as well as each other. It's weird for me to read first person, wasn't their other trilogy third person? Either way, their voices were strong.
The plot is more a discover and uncover kind of plot, where two individuals band together to investigate a mystery (or in Mia's case find enough loot to take back home). In this case, it's the temple of the Undying whose message was decoded on earth years ago of an extinct race from thousands of years before. Jules happens to be the son of the scholar who had translated the Undying message, and he is a genius who followed in his father's footsteps.
This is all great and because I love Kaufman and Spooner, and their stories are always solid in emotion and decent action, however I was more confused by what Jules' educational background and speciality is. I figure he's an Undying specialist, including knowing and understanding the language and history about the discovery. However, linguistics were thrown around several times earlier in the book, and tbh, I wasn't really satisfied by the casual use.
Spoiler
For one, it sounded like the use of linguist here equalled to knowing many languages. Academically, linguistics has many broad branches and any one of them could be relevant to Jules, but mostly (and I hate being picky about it, since I am a linguist academically) I was unconvinced by the use of it in Jules' case. It just seemed like it was referring to the most generic non-academic reference to it - someone who speaks many languages. I was really excited to see linguistics being represented! And in some points in the book, something deeper is shown, for example a reference to patterns in languages. Okay, that's linguistics, but knowing many languages...that's something a skilled person can do but not necessarily need to go to university to get a degree for! And the first thing we hear from Jules in his introduction is that he is a 'linguistics and archeology expert'. NOT CONVINCED. Where was my reference to Sapir-Whorf, Hymes, Chomsky; Syntax, Semantics, (no phonology in this case)??? And there was some reference to Morphology though the word was never used, just implied. If he was a linguistics expert in the way he introduced himself, then several scenes such as half of the tasks would have had him spouting his expertise in linguistics (as forementioned, the key branches of basic linguistics).FURTHERMORE, and this one is important and one of the reasons why I love The Arrival, is that in the field of linguistics, most of the time when translating from one language to another, one word may not be truly represented in the other language. I do get that Jules repeats three words/phrases when he talks about the nautilus spiral, but he never considers that the glyph could mean more than that.
Other dissatisfactory points is that there's a lot of information being dumped at every one point, the beginning is a bit slow, and we don't learn enough about earth at all yet. I wish we knew more about the dying earth.
But overall I did really enjoy this, mostly because it's a not a difficult story to read at all. The ending (slightly predictable) makes me fascinated enough to read the sequel!