brittanyae 's review for:

Undying by Meagan Spooner, Amie Kaufman

4.0

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"Our planet is an insignificant speck, when set against the scale of our galaxy. But the fact that we are tiny, and alone, and yet we survive--that does not make us insignificant. It makes us magnificent."

So... controversial opinion here, but I liked this more than the first book. I know - I know! - but it's true. And that's not to say that I disliked the first book; I actually found it quite fun. The whole "Indiana Jones in space" vibe was super interesting to me. I loved reading about Jules and Mia cracking all these codes and puzzles in this 50,000 year old temple, and after the cliffhanger ending, I was pretty intrigued and ready to pick this one up.

Then I made a silly mistake. I added it on here to mark as currently reading, and the top reviews that were showing on the page were people saying they thought it was a let-down. So it sort of sucked the wind out of my sails, and every time I would go to pick it up to read, I just sort of felt like I needed to prepare myself not to like it. Which is so dumb - I'm so mad at myself for going into this expecting it to be disappointing. It put me in such a weird reading slump where I wanted to be reading but just... didn't at the same time, and I feel so silly for letting other people's opinions impact mine so much before I even started this book! But the first night I really picked it up and sat down to give it a chance, I read 200 pages in one sitting.

Guys, I really enjoyed this sequel, okay? My biggest issue with the first book was that it just focused too much on the 'insta-love' trope between Mia and Jules. They were busy thinking about how hot the other one was when their lives were literally on the line. But this book! There's so much other stuff going on, and 3 other major new characters to focus on as well, so there wasn't a lot of time for that. Don't get me wrong, they're still thinking about how their relationship will handle it all when the world either, y'know, ends or survives, but any time either character started thinking about it too much, they reeled themselves back in this one and would think something like, "I don't have the time to think about it right now." Which was a nice change! They felt more mature in this one, definitely. It was good character growth, which I suppose is to be expected when saving the world is on your shoulders.

I know some people also thought this book had too much of a 'happily ever after' ending, and... well, yeah, it sort of did. But man, sometimes I just like reading a story where things work out! I like it when our heroes win sometimes! I'm down for a good angsty story every now and then, but a happy ending never hurts once in a while. I thought the ending of this tied things up quite nicely, honestly. (Though I would not object to / would love to someday see a little novella or short story about everyone's lives post-world saving, and seeing how much Earth changed in the end, etc.)

Overall, I really liked some of the changes in this book. I liked seeing Mia and Jules grow up a bit. I really liked getting to know Neal and Dex and Atlanta more; I thought they all were interesting additions to our cast of characters. Part of me missed the book being set in space a bit, but I also really enjoyed the road trip sort of aspect of this one. It was different than the first book, yes, but it also felt like a natural follow up. The first book was focused a lot on getting back to Earth, and this one was all about saving it once they got back. Glad I finally got out of my head and read it!