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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
So, I just finished this book, and I have a LOT of thoughts, but mainly I'm just annoyed. The plot wasn't fleshed out, and took a back burner to the very single traited main characters who mentioned how attracted they were to each other on every page. Like I get it. She/he is cute. Move on already. I am so sick of instalove!!!! This book was marketed as an Indiana Jones type story set in space, but it fell prey to so many tropes that it read more like a fan fiction of those movies. Overall I'm going to give it a 2/5 stars, because it did get better in the last 50-60 pages. And I am vaguely intrigued by the prospect of the next book.
a trilogy packed into one epic. kira is a xenobiologist who becomes merged with an alien technology which changes the state of play across the galaxy with her in the middle. but she holds on to you the whole way, you’re right there with her, and that’s what makes the book worth it.
the first third is good, a bit stilted, the middle stalls completely, then the last half runs smoothe as silk. the paolini has the audacity to stick a glossary and timeline and a whole bunch of other appendices at the end as if this was his opus. sorry mate nowhere near. there’s nothing here to make this a classic. it’s just good average sci-fi.
Paolini REALLY lost me as a potential fan when he tried to explain what a female menstruating was like, stabbing pains and inconvenience.... wow. he really doesn’t know shit and should have rewritten it.
but if you want a readable sci-fi, the pay off of pushing past the half way mark is worth it, a good read.
the first third is good, a bit stilted, the middle stalls completely, then the last half runs smoothe as silk. the paolini has the audacity to stick a glossary and timeline and a whole bunch of other appendices at the end as if this was his opus. sorry mate nowhere near. there’s nothing here to make this a classic. it’s just good average sci-fi.
Paolini REALLY lost me as a potential fan when he tried to explain what a female menstruating was like, stabbing pains and inconvenience.... wow. he really doesn’t know shit and should have rewritten it.
but if you want a readable sci-fi, the pay off of pushing past the half way mark is worth it, a good read.
Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner have done it again. The duo have written a fantastic scavenger hunt in space young adult novel that had me, as an older reader, on the edge of my seat and screaming bloody murder at the cliffhanger. The tale of Unearthed takes place in the future where earth has used up nearly all it’s resources and is hoping that the alien signal they received from ‘the undying‘ is the answer to their prayers. Kaufman and Spooner introduce us to the stories protagonist Mia and Jules, who we learn to love and admire their intelligence and street smarts with alternating POV chapters. With danger lurking at every step, the duo must work together to unlock the secrets of the planet Gaia and race to beat the other scavengers to the alien technology.
I fell in love with Unearthed from the very first page. The action was high, the intrigue just the right balance and the bonds of friendship and romance solidifying as the story progressed. I simply raced through the book desperate to see if Jules and Mia would make it through the traps set by an alien race and I was not disappointed. The eclectic cast of characters were a mix of charming, funny and infuriating. I am absolutely salivating for the next book already.
A lot of people have already commented that this book is a lot like Indiana Jones meets Lara Croft and they’re not wrong. I would probably throw in that it’s also a bit like Firefly and The Mummy if you still need convincing.
I fell in love with Unearthed from the very first page. The action was high, the intrigue just the right balance and the bonds of friendship and romance solidifying as the story progressed. I simply raced through the book desperate to see if Jules and Mia would make it through the traps set by an alien race and I was not disappointed. The eclectic cast of characters were a mix of charming, funny and infuriating. I am absolutely salivating for the next book already.
A lot of people have already commented that this book is a lot like Indiana Jones meets Lara Croft and they’re not wrong. I would probably throw in that it’s also a bit like Firefly and The Mummy if you still need convincing.
Ok this was so much fun! Although things start happening right away, it wasn’t until about 50 pages into this book that I got hooked. I absolutely love the Indiana Jones in space feel, even with the alien a la CRYSTAL SKULL angle. Mia and Jules meet after they’ve both landed on the foreign planet Gaia, led by messages from a long dead alien race. They are there for very different reasons. Jules wants to explore the planet for historic and academic reasons, Mia is there to scavenge treasure. They clash a lot at first but come to understand each other and I loved watching them learn to work together and trust each other. And the romance that blooms from that. Of course so much is going on at the same time. They’re trying to survive an uninhabited planet, follow the clues and avoid the traps in the alien temple they’re exploring and outrun all the people trying to get to the end first. Then as is standard for Spooner and Kaufman, some wild and surprising things happen that change everything. Instead of standalone companions, this appears to be a true series and it ends on quite the cliffhanger. I can’t wait to find out what happens next!
Love Triangle Factor: none
Cliffhanger Scale: high!
Love Triangle Factor: none
Cliffhanger Scale: high!
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Trigger warnings: violence, death, explosions, gun violence, blood, mentions of...forced prostitution? I guess that's the best way to refer to it.
31/8/2022
I am fully aware that this is not a book that works for everyone. But it's a book that very specifically works for me, and therefore it's still a 5 star book as far as I'm concerned.
11/12/2018
I was a little nervous about how I'd feel rereading this because WHAT IF I JUST GOT CAUGHT UP ON THE HYPE TRAIN LAST YEAR AND IT'S NOT ACTUALLY AS GOOD AS I REMEMBERED?? Spoiler alert: it was as good as I remembered.
27/11/2017
So here's the thing: this, other than The Upside of Unrequited, was my most anticipated book of the year from the moment that I read the first chapter in one of those chapter sampler bind ups at the start of the year. I was hooked from page 1, and I knew that I was going to love this for the following reasons:
- Archaeology (my undergrad degree is in archaeology)
- In space (I am trash for archaeology AND space. Put the two together and I'm sold)
- Amelia Radcliffe's name is a nod to the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters, which I LOVE.
- Meagan Spooner confirmed on Twitter that I was the first person to notice this (we flailed excitedly over the Amelia Peabody series at the Melbourne launch last night)
- Amelia is basically Rey from The Force Awakens but with pink and blue hair.
So OBVIOUSLY I was 100% on board with this.
And I couldn't wait until the launch last night to start reading it, so I bought a copy over the weekend. And believe when I say it did not disappoint.
It's action packed, it's gripping, it's full of puzzles to be solved and bad guys to escape from and it's basically a shit ton of fun from start to finish. I honestly don't have a single gripe with this book (WHAT. WHO EVEN AM I??), because I was hooked from the very first page until that freaking cliffhanger ending (okay, I have a minor gripe with having to wait for book 2 to come out).
So yeah. Maybe I'm wearing my rose coloured I-love-archaeology-but-I-HATE-excavations-so-I'll-just-read-books-about-archaeology-instead nostalgia glasses, but this was a blast and it's definitely among my favourite books of the year.
(Also, FYI, the cake at the Melbourne launch party? Was delicious.)
31/8/2022
I am fully aware that this is not a book that works for everyone. But it's a book that very specifically works for me, and therefore it's still a 5 star book as far as I'm concerned.
11/12/2018
I was a little nervous about how I'd feel rereading this because WHAT IF I JUST GOT CAUGHT UP ON THE HYPE TRAIN LAST YEAR AND IT'S NOT ACTUALLY AS GOOD AS I REMEMBERED?? Spoiler alert: it was as good as I remembered.
27/11/2017
So here's the thing: this, other than The Upside of Unrequited, was my most anticipated book of the year from the moment that I read the first chapter in one of those chapter sampler bind ups at the start of the year. I was hooked from page 1, and I knew that I was going to love this for the following reasons:
- Archaeology (my undergrad degree is in archaeology)
- In space (I am trash for archaeology AND space. Put the two together and I'm sold)
- Amelia Radcliffe's name is a nod to the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters, which I LOVE.
- Meagan Spooner confirmed on Twitter that I was the first person to notice this (we flailed excitedly over the Amelia Peabody series at the Melbourne launch last night)
- Amelia is basically Rey from The Force Awakens but with pink and blue hair.
So OBVIOUSLY I was 100% on board with this.
And I couldn't wait until the launch last night to start reading it, so I bought a copy over the weekend. And believe when I say it did not disappoint.
It's action packed, it's gripping, it's full of puzzles to be solved and bad guys to escape from and it's basically a shit ton of fun from start to finish. I honestly don't have a single gripe with this book (WHAT. WHO EVEN AM I??), because I was hooked from the very first page until that freaking cliffhanger ending (okay, I have a minor gripe with having to wait for book 2 to come out).
So yeah. Maybe I'm wearing my rose coloured I-love-archaeology-but-I-HATE-excavations-so-I'll-just-read-books-about-archaeology-instead nostalgia glasses, but this was a blast and it's definitely among my favourite books of the year.
(Also, FYI, the cake at the Melbourne launch party? Was delicious.)
This book was an enjoyable space romp and I had fun. I was just at Disneyland and went on the Indiana Jones ride, and this has similar adventure vibes. There's lots of crossing and double-crossing, puzzles to solve, ancient alien civilizations. However, sadly, the two main characters, one a genius, the other street smart, were so slow on the uptake at times, I had trouble believing in them. They fell for things that smart people would have seen coming from a mile away and failed to see other things right in front of their faces. I do realize that they are teenagers and their brains aren't fully developed, but this is book world. We can pretend! However, I did like the ending enough that I will read book two.
See this and more reviews at Little Read Riding Hood.
Having loved the series these two authors previously wrote together, These Broken Stars (Starbound Series #1), I knew I have to check this out as soon as I heard about it. I had very few doubts that I would like it, so not only did I jump all over the chance to get an audio CD of Unearthed from the publisher, I pre-ordered the hardcover too. Even though I had both versions, I exclusively listened to this on the CD.
General thoughts:
I really enjoyed the dystopian world built but Kaufman and Spooner. It is certainly something I could see happening to us in the not so distant future. I also really liked how we (the readers) are just thrown into the story and the details are all brought to light in such a way that there is no big info dump like sometimes happens in sci-fi stories. There is very little I didn't like, but the one thing that really bothered me was the ending. I don't mind cliffhangers, but this one made the story just seem ... unfinished?
More detailed thoughts :
I love dual narration. I also love when the narrators make an effort to get the same accent when they are reading the same characters, just from a different POV. I also really like how seamlessly Kaufman's and Spooner's writing styles come together without a hitch. I think each author took a different POV, but I would be lying if I said I knew that for a fact just by reading/listening. I also really love how they make these younger characters believable in the situations they find themselves in. Some YA stories you just can't ever figure out HOW this character got into the position they find themselves in, but that isn't an issue here. At first, maybe, but you come to see how Jules and Mia find themselves on another planet, and the circumstances just make sense.
Jules and Mia ... I was able to relate to them both on some level, even though they are basically opposites. And even though from start to finish they only know each other a matter of days, they go through a lot together, which lends the blossoming romance an air of credibility. The whole trauma bringing people together thing is in full force in Unearthed. There were several instances where I was just nodding along, thinking, "Yeah, I'd probably do/say/think the same thing in their shoes."
But the ending ... Not that it was bad per se, it just seemed like it could have ended either a few pages earlier or another couple of pages could have wrapped it up. I am NOT going to even hint about what happens, just that I think we were told a bit too much right there at the end. It would have made more sense to me to leave us questioning a few more things. I mean, if you had paid attention at all, there were enough clues dropped that had things not been confirmed you probably would have guessed anyway, however the wondering 'what if' in the interim would have been fun. The theories and discussions we could have been having during the wait for book 2 are basically gone. And then it just ENDS.
Did I love this as much as I thought I would? Almost. Was I disappointed in the story? Not at all, just where they chose to end it. Will I snatch up book 2 whenever the time comes? You bet!
Having loved the series these two authors previously wrote together, These Broken Stars (Starbound Series #1), I knew I have to check this out as soon as I heard about it. I had very few doubts that I would like it, so not only did I jump all over the chance to get an audio CD of Unearthed from the publisher, I pre-ordered the hardcover too. Even though I had both versions, I exclusively listened to this on the CD.
General thoughts:
I really enjoyed the dystopian world built but Kaufman and Spooner. It is certainly something I could see happening to us in the not so distant future. I also really liked how we (the readers) are just thrown into the story and the details are all brought to light in such a way that there is no big info dump like sometimes happens in sci-fi stories. There is very little I didn't like, but the one thing that really bothered me was the ending. I don't mind cliffhangers, but this one made the story just seem ... unfinished?
More detailed thoughts :
I love dual narration. I also love when the narrators make an effort to get the same accent when they are reading the same characters, just from a different POV. I also really like how seamlessly Kaufman's and Spooner's writing styles come together without a hitch. I think each author took a different POV, but I would be lying if I said I knew that for a fact just by reading/listening. I also really love how they make these younger characters believable in the situations they find themselves in. Some YA stories you just can't ever figure out HOW this character got into the position they find themselves in, but that isn't an issue here. At first, maybe, but you come to see how Jules and Mia find themselves on another planet, and the circumstances just make sense.
Jules and Mia ... I was able to relate to them both on some level, even though they are basically opposites. And even though from start to finish they only know each other a matter of days, they go through a lot together, which lends the blossoming romance an air of credibility. The whole trauma bringing people together thing is in full force in Unearthed. There were several instances where I was just nodding along, thinking, "Yeah, I'd probably do/say/think the same thing in their shoes."
But the ending ... Not that it was bad per se, it just seemed like it could have ended either a few pages earlier or another couple of pages could have wrapped it up. I am NOT going to even hint about what happens, just that I think we were told a bit too much right there at the end. It would have made more sense to me to leave us questioning a few more things. I mean, if you had paid attention at all, there were enough clues dropped that had things not been confirmed you probably would have guessed anyway, however the wondering 'what if' in the interim would have been fun. The theories and discussions we could have been having during the wait for book 2 are basically gone. And then it just ENDS.
Did I love this as much as I thought I would? Almost. Was I disappointed in the story? Not at all, just where they chose to end it. Will I snatch up book 2 whenever the time comes? You bet!