A review by novelheartbeat
Unearthed by Meagan Spooner, Amie Kaufman

4.0

I don't know why I waited so long to read this book, it was so fun! It was kind of a mash up of The 100 (season 7 specifically), Skyrim, and Tomb Raider. I loved the setting being on another planet in an alien temple full of puzzles. So cool! Those scenes made me want to play Skyrim! The world was absolutely my favorite part of this book and I had no problem picturing it all in my head.

I love space books and alien books, and I found the Undying and their tech fascinating. It all seemed completely plausible, too - the Earth was dying, oxygen and water are scarce sources, so humanity struck out to find another inhabitable planet. I loved the setting of Gaia, too, because it's a desert world due to recurring solar flares destroying all life on the planet every couple of years (or however long the regular intervals were).

I liked the two main characters but didn't love them. I wish I had connected to them a bit better. They did both have pretty distinct personalities. Jules was pragmatic and pedantic, and Amelia was fierce and resourceful. They came from very different backgrounds - Jules was a rich boy and the son of a famous scholar, and Amelia was kind of a street rat that had to steal and scrape to get by. The romance was sweet, even if it didn't do much for me. I felt pretty meh about them together. It was endearing that Amelia's driving force was saving her sister, but just like with the romance, I never felt that emotion behind it.

The narration was fantastic! Jules is narrated by Steve West (one of my faves); and Amelia's narrator, Alex McKenna, was new to me. I liked her voice because it was different - she's got kind of a scratchy voice, but not in an unenjoyable way.

There were a couple surprises along the way. I found the big twist at the end to be predictable, but I still enjoyed the journey in discovering the answers.

Spoiler

I was shocked by the fact that Jules' and Amelia's bosses were the same person. That was a great little twist. I pegged the Undying as being humans that made the tech pretty early on - but I was kind of thinking that it was a time travel situation. (I guess maybe it still could be!) I'm super interested to see what the "Undying" humans at the end meant when they said they were going to take the Earth back!

 THAT LAST LINE OMG. That was just rude. What an ending!!


This review was originally posted on Novel Heartbeat. To see a breakdown of my assessment, please visit the full review here.