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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Unearthed is a science fiction novel that immediately reminded me of Indiana Jones or Lara Croft. As a huge fan of both science and history, I was drawn in from the first moment. As a kid, being an archaeologist or anthropologist was one of my dream careers (along with geologist, astronomer, paleontologist, etc.) If those things are not entirely interesting to you then you may not enjoy this book as much as I did, but if they fascinate you then I think you are in for a very enjoyable ride.
The story is set in the near future as our planet is slowly succumbing to our final environmental assaults, space exploration and colonization has been unsuccessful and times are desperate. A few decades previously, a broadcast was discovered and decoded by the brilliant Dr. A. He discovered that the message was sent by an alien race that was named the Undying and leading them to the planet Gaia. Unfortunately, he also discovered a second message hidden in the broadcast that spelled doom and risked everything to try to stop people from venturing to Gaia.
We meet a young girl named Amelia who managed to convince a backer to smuggle her onto Gaia. As a scavenger, her goal is to loot enough tech to buy her way back off the planet and hopefully help her pay for her sister. Jules was automatically my favourite character. He is the scholar who has studied the glyphs and is obsessed with languages, who just wants to discover who the Undying were and is horrified to think of people looting a site of such archeological importance. Amelia, on the other hand, is only worried about her sister's well-being and whether there's going to be something valuable enough to loot from said archaeological site. I found her character to be a really nice balance to her academic counterpart Jules. Each character had their strengths and weaknesses, as well as a unique voice. The book was written in first person narrative, with alternating viewpoints so I feel that it could have been incredibly confusing if they didn't have strong personalities that shone through their chapters.
The story wasn't perfect so that's why I took 1/2 a star off my rating. I felt like we lost some of the backstory or development that led to where our characters are in the book. Although I felt that I received enough information to understand what was going on, I was satisfied but not heavily invested. Some of it was that the authors are assuming that you will infer (for example how the planet became so damaged) and other parts seem like they were being held back for the narrative's purpose and more information would be revealed in the future. Those aspects I can understand. If the book had been a little longer I feel that those history and world building aspects could have been perfect.
Overall, I was very invested in the story and our main characters. I enjoyed the ride and cannot wait to read the next book in the series when it comes out.
The story is set in the near future as our planet is slowly succumbing to our final environmental assaults, space exploration and colonization has been unsuccessful and times are desperate. A few decades previously, a broadcast was discovered and decoded by the brilliant Dr. A. He discovered that the message was sent by an alien race that was named the Undying and leading them to the planet Gaia. Unfortunately, he also discovered a second message hidden in the broadcast that spelled doom and risked everything to try to stop people from venturing to Gaia.
We meet a young girl named Amelia who managed to convince a backer to smuggle her onto Gaia. As a scavenger, her goal is to loot enough tech to buy her way back off the planet and hopefully help her pay for her sister. Jules was automatically my favourite character. He is the scholar who has studied the glyphs and is obsessed with languages, who just wants to discover who the Undying were and is horrified to think of people looting a site of such archeological importance. Amelia, on the other hand, is only worried about her sister's well-being and whether there's going to be something valuable enough to loot from said archaeological site. I found her character to be a really nice balance to her academic counterpart Jules. Each character had their strengths and weaknesses, as well as a unique voice. The book was written in first person narrative, with alternating viewpoints so I feel that it could have been incredibly confusing if they didn't have strong personalities that shone through their chapters.
The story wasn't perfect so that's why I took 1/2 a star off my rating. I felt like we lost some of the backstory or development that led to where our characters are in the book. Although I felt that I received enough information to understand what was going on, I was satisfied but not heavily invested. Some of it was that the authors are assuming that you will infer (for example how the planet became so damaged) and other parts seem like they were being held back for the narrative's purpose and more information would be revealed in the future. Those aspects I can understand. If the book had been a little longer I feel that those history and world building aspects could have been perfect.
Overall, I was very invested in the story and our main characters. I enjoyed the ride and cannot wait to read the next book in the series when it comes out.
I listened to the audiobook it was pretty good! The narrator was really good I liked how there was a male and a female to voice the characters. I wasn't blown away by it but it was still enjoyable.
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Really 3.5 stars
Read my full review on my blog: https://sedunaway.com/2018/02/28/unearthed/
“Indiana Jones teams up with Lara Croft Tomb Raider, in space.
Seriously! There are futuristic grave robbers and scavengers, ancient booby traps set up in ruins found on a different planet, and alien technology. This is a book whose plot immediately lends itself to a graphic novel format, a movie, or even an audio book format. If you are wary of picking this one up, maybe give the audio book a try first.
Unearthed was a non-stop space adventure, told from two points of view: Amelia Radcliffe (preferably known as Mia) is a young scavenger, set out on a journey to locate advanced technology on Gaia that she hopes she can use to pay back old debts; Jules Addison is a young archaeologist, intent on studying the ruins on Gaia, hopeful that there are lessons to be learned that can potentially save humanity on Earth.
Mia and Jules were delightful characters and I enjoyed the switch between their points of view. While the split POV was well handled, I could have use a little less internal monologue. The internal monologue did not slow the pace of the book, but it occurred enough that I began to get a bit annoyed with it and I skimmed through sections of it.
Mia and Jules have fabulously witty banter, which I loved! The romance was believable, albeit a little distracting at times. Just keep in mind that the two characters are teenagers – their hormones were distracting for both the two of them and me at times!
The end of the book will leave you full of anticipation, crying out loud for the sequel! Thankfully, we do not have to wait too long as the sequel, Undying, is set to release in the U.S. on December 4, 2018. (Thank you Disney-Hyperion!)
All-in-all, this was a fast-paced and thoroughly entertaining space adventure! I can’t wait to read the sequel!
Side-note: For those of you who are immediately put off by a book set in space, or if you’re wary or hesitant of a space-set thriller, fear not! The majority of this book takes place in a very small setting: on an isolated and unpopulated planet known as Gaia, whose atmosphere and gravity are very similar to Earth. The biggest difference between Gaia and Earth are the oxygen levels; on Gaia, humans must supplement their oxygen intake for about 8 hours a-day.
Read my full review on my blog: https://sedunaway.com/2018/02/28/unearthed/
“Indiana Jones teams up with Lara Croft Tomb Raider, in space.
Seriously! There are futuristic grave robbers and scavengers, ancient booby traps set up in ruins found on a different planet, and alien technology. This is a book whose plot immediately lends itself to a graphic novel format, a movie, or even an audio book format. If you are wary of picking this one up, maybe give the audio book a try first.
Unearthed was a non-stop space adventure, told from two points of view: Amelia Radcliffe (preferably known as Mia) is a young scavenger, set out on a journey to locate advanced technology on Gaia that she hopes she can use to pay back old debts; Jules Addison is a young archaeologist, intent on studying the ruins on Gaia, hopeful that there are lessons to be learned that can potentially save humanity on Earth.
Mia and Jules were delightful characters and I enjoyed the switch between their points of view. While the split POV was well handled, I could have use a little less internal monologue. The internal monologue did not slow the pace of the book, but it occurred enough that I began to get a bit annoyed with it and I skimmed through sections of it.
Mia and Jules have fabulously witty banter, which I loved! The romance was believable, albeit a little distracting at times. Just keep in mind that the two characters are teenagers – their hormones were distracting for both the two of them and me at times!
The end of the book will leave you full of anticipation, crying out loud for the sequel! Thankfully, we do not have to wait too long as the sequel, Undying, is set to release in the U.S. on December 4, 2018. (Thank you Disney-Hyperion!)
All-in-all, this was a fast-paced and thoroughly entertaining space adventure! I can’t wait to read the sequel!
Side-note: For those of you who are immediately put off by a book set in space, or if you’re wary or hesitant of a space-set thriller, fear not! The majority of this book takes place in a very small setting: on an isolated and unpopulated planet known as Gaia, whose atmosphere and gravity are very similar to Earth. The biggest difference between Gaia and Earth are the oxygen levels; on Gaia, humans must supplement their oxygen intake for about 8 hours a-day.
fast-paced
It took me awhile to get through this book. The second half was definitely stronger than the first, but this felt a lot like a YA-version of Firefly with a bit of archaeology thrown in. It was mildly entertaining — and the story made for a good audiobook, I must admit — but it ultimately it felt like a lot of wasted potential.
I really, really loved Jules. When it was mentioned he was a scholar, I expected it to be in a STEM field, and was pleasantly surprised to find out he was a linguist. Jules is a little awkward, dorky, and occasionally unsure of himself, but also quite earnest and it's impossible to not like him. It took me a little longer to warm up to Mia. I found her to be a little prickly and her backstory didn't really move me, but I enjoyed her wit and quick banter. She felt a little in the realm of manic pixie dream girl, but she grew on me eventually. I would've liked to see Jules & Mia's relationship move at a more realistic pace — it was kind of like instalove — but understand why it developed the way it did. As a team, Jules & Mia have skills and knowledge that complement one another well, and it was great to watch them work as a team. Their dialogue is great. Their hot-and-cold relationship? Eh.
I wish that we'd had more time to get to the big plot point, although I supposed that's what the sequel is for! However, this book was filled with Jules & Mia moving from place to place and try to solve the puzzles (which, honestly, weren't that hard to solve). The puzzles are also hieroglyphs (from what I could tell) and we ended up with lengthy descriptions of what was happening — this is one book I would LOVE to see adapted as a graphic novel (although it WILL be interesting to see what the film adaptation does with all of this!). I was listening to the audiobook, and I did find my attention wandering at times. There was a tendency to dump information on the reader, but there were still fundamental world-building elements that were left unaddressed. The last... two or three chapters were by far the most interesting of the book, and I'll be interested to see what's in the sequel and whether or not this could've all been one book. I would've liked to see a little more world-building and being able to explore this fantastic universe that Kaufman & Spooner have created. Gaia and the Undying sound very cool. It just felt a little too narrow-focused for my liking. The plot also moved very slowly. Listening to audiobooks are often a very slow affair for me, and with Unearthed there was a lot of stopping-and-starting, but I was surprised by how little the plot progressed between listens.
Finally, I don't think first-person works for multiple perspectives (it's a gripe I'm also having with my current read, A Reaper at the Gates). It just felt... off, and continuously threw me while listening. We were constantly looking at the same event from two perspectives which, for the most part, just frustrated me. Nothing new was added by looking at the same plot point from two perspectives and the constant expounding of Jules & Mia's emotions kind of made their relationship seem contrived.
Overall, this book had a lot of potential and I kind of want to see where that cliffhanger goes (I mean... if you paid attention to all the clues, you could see it coming). I much prefer Kaufman & Spooner's Starbound trilogy, but I am hoping that Undying will be the action-packed thriller I was hoping for.
I really, really loved Jules. When it was mentioned he was a scholar, I expected it to be in a STEM field, and was pleasantly surprised to find out he was a linguist. Jules is a little awkward, dorky, and occasionally unsure of himself, but also quite earnest and it's impossible to not like him. It took me a little longer to warm up to Mia. I found her to be a little prickly and her backstory didn't really move me, but I enjoyed her wit and quick banter. She felt a little in the realm of manic pixie dream girl, but she grew on me eventually. I would've liked to see Jules & Mia's relationship move at a more realistic pace — it was kind of like instalove — but understand why it developed the way it did. As a team, Jules & Mia have skills and knowledge that complement one another well, and it was great to watch them work as a team. Their dialogue is great. Their hot-and-cold relationship? Eh.
I wish that we'd had more time to get to the big plot point, although I supposed that's what the sequel is for! However, this book was filled with Jules & Mia moving from place to place and try to solve the puzzles (which, honestly, weren't that hard to solve). The puzzles are also hieroglyphs (from what I could tell) and we ended up with lengthy descriptions of what was happening — this is one book I would LOVE to see adapted as a graphic novel (although it WILL be interesting to see what the film adaptation does with all of this!). I was listening to the audiobook, and I did find my attention wandering at times. There was a tendency to dump information on the reader, but there were still fundamental world-building elements that were left unaddressed. The last... two or three chapters were by far the most interesting of the book, and I'll be interested to see what's in the sequel and whether or not this could've all been one book. I would've liked to see a little more world-building and being able to explore this fantastic universe that Kaufman & Spooner have created. Gaia and the Undying sound very cool. It just felt a little too narrow-focused for my liking. The plot also moved very slowly. Listening to audiobooks are often a very slow affair for me, and with Unearthed there was a lot of stopping-and-starting, but I was surprised by how little the plot progressed between listens.
Finally, I don't think first-person works for multiple perspectives (it's a gripe I'm also having with my current read, A Reaper at the Gates). It just felt... off, and continuously threw me while listening. We were constantly looking at the same event from two perspectives which, for the most part, just frustrated me. Nothing new was added by looking at the same plot point from two perspectives and the constant expounding of Jules & Mia's emotions kind of made their relationship seem contrived.
Overall, this book had a lot of potential and I kind of want to see where that cliffhanger goes (I mean... if you paid attention to all the clues, you could see it coming). I much prefer Kaufman & Spooner's Starbound trilogy, but I am hoping that Undying will be the action-packed thriller I was hoping for.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Went in to it blindly but really liked it! It's heavy on the sci-fi aspects but makes it enjoyable with the sub-plot romance. Don't we all love to see a little romance in a book? Well spoiler alert it ends on a cliffhanger so be aware of that ;)
adventurous
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No