JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Unearthed by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

When Earth intercepts a message from a long-extinct alien race, it seems like the solution the planet has been waiting for. The Undying’s advanced technology has the potential to undo environmental damage and turn lives around, and Gaia, their former home planet, is a treasure trove waiting to be uncovered.

For Jules Addison and his fellow scholars, the discovery of an alien culture offers unprecedented opportunity for study… as long as scavengers like Amelia Radcliffe don’t loot everything first. Mia and Jules’ different reasons for smuggling themselves onto Gaia put them immediately at odds, but after escaping a dangerous confrontation with other scavvers, they form a fragile alliance.

In order to penetrate the Undying temple and reach the tech and information hidden within, the two must decode the ancient race’s secrets and survive their traps. But the more they learn about the Undying, the more their presence in the temple seems to be part of a grand design that could spell the end of the human race…

Unearthed is the first book in a brand new duology by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, described best as ‘Lara Craft and Indiana Jones teaming up in space’.

I love the setting of this novel, and how fun it was to read. This is an adventure novel set in space, but there’s also a touch of romance in there. Jules and Amelia have great chemistry, growing close over the course of the novel and working together to solve the mystery.

Both Amelia and Jules have troubled history that’s driving them to better understand this ancient alien culture. They meet in the abandoned temples of Planet Gaia — Amelia has illegally gained passage to this planet as a scavenger and she is looking for anything she can sell in order to save her sister. Jules, a young, black English archaeologist, is desperate to find and solve some of the many mysteries that Gaia holds. His father always hypothesised that there were many clues inside Gaia — clues left by the coded messages of the Undying.

“My father’s always told me that my integrity matters more than any other part of me, and he’s shown his over and over, in the face of unbearable pressure, to protect even those who don’t want his protection.”
JULES

This book is filled with plenty of riddles and puzzles, and any reader who loves solving mysteries will devour this book. Anyone who has read Amie & Meagan’s previous series will also love Unearthed. The dialogue and banter between the characters is really fun and hilarious, and the two characters compliment each other really well.

The ending of this book will have you desperate for the sequel— Amie and Meagan have done a stellar job of setting up the characters and their relationship, and drawing the reader in. We become heavily invested in their stories, and the ending of the book (no spoilers!) is such a cliffhanger that the reader will be so excited for Book 2 next year.

“I’m double-checking the bands of my climbing harness and listening with half an ear while Jules talks to himself. Every chance he gets he starts scribbling in his little journal, working through ideas aloud and staring at pictures of glyphs from his wrist unit.”

I loved that Jules and Mia were knowledgable in some really untraditional things for this genre. Physically, they’re not really strong, but they’re both really intelligent and they use things like maths, linguistics and music to solve the puzzles in the temple. It’s quite refreshing to read in this kind of setting and I really enjoyed following along as they solved the mysteries and progressed to the next stage of the puzzle.

“I lead the way for a while. Not every room in this place is a puzzle requiring Jules’ expertise, and while I can’t read the glyphs, I am starting to know what their patterns indicate. Like Jules said, the glyphs are based on math, and once I started to recognise the equation for their language, their simpler instructions – step here, don’t walk there – aren’t hard to translate.”

The plot did unfold in a rather predictable way, at some points. There were some moments where I saw what was coming next, or was unsurprised when particular moments of betrayal happened. I did feel like there could’ve been stronger world building in the book, particularly at the beginning when we first learn that Amelia and Jules are on this alien planet. At times, I felt a bit confused about the connection between this alien planet and Earth. After a while, I just pushed my confusion aside so that I could keep reading.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I’m really keen to see how the story ends in book two. I recommend this to fans of Amie & Meagan’s, but also YA fans and young readers who love to read thrillers and adventure novels.

Unearthed
Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
December 2017
Allen & Unwin Publishers

Stray by Rachael Craw

Stray is the sequel to Spark and is the second book in a young adult science fiction trilogy by New Zealand author Rachael Craw.

Stray follows on from where Spark finished. Evie is a Shield: designed to kill in order to protect, but now the Affinity Project have finally come for her as she always feared. Evie is studied, tested on, and lectured on what she can and can’t do. She longs for her boyfriend Jamie and she’s desperate to prove that her brother Aidan is innocent and to clear his name.

The strongest part of this book – and the whole series – is the relationship between Evie and her friends and family. There is wit and humour present in this book, even amongst scenes filled with tension or horror. Kitty is a wonderful character and her and Evie really complement each other well in a scene.

Spark, the first book in the trilogy, felt like it contained a fair bit of info dumping, especially about the world and the technology and the history of Evie’s family. However, in Stray, information was woven into the story seamlessly, with well-written integration and easy-to-understand explanations. I thoroughly enjoyed this book more than Spark, and felt the plot progressed quicker and it was more of an exciting read.

The only negative I have about this book, and it’s slightly nitpicking, is Jamie’s characterisation. I seem to be the only reader who felt he was a little bland, perhaps one dimensional. I felt I couldn’t relate to him or understand him and I doubted Evie and Jamie’s chemistry. Also, there were a few times in the book where I felt like things weren’t explained as clearly as they could’ve and I had to reread certain passages. But this didn’t occur often and events later in the novel usually answered any questions I had.

To anyone who is interested in reading Stray, make sure you’re quite familiar with Spark and have read it – or reread it – recently. When I picked up Stray, it had been a few months since I’d read Spark and I really struggled for the first one hundred pages. That is, until all of the technology and familial relations and problems from the first book came flooding back and I remembered what happened.

I recommend the Spark trilogy to all young adult readers. It’s fast-paced and intriguing and Stray builds upon Spark with lots of action and fighting and danger. More information is uncovered, and more threats become known. Also, Rachel Craw does well to answer some questions for the reader whilst also leaving some things open to make readers eager for book three, Shield.

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

These Broken Stars is the first book in a trilogy by duo Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. A perfect blend of young adult, fantasy, and science fiction, These Broken Stars presents a unique and interesting world. Luxury spaceliner Icarus suddenly plummets from hyperspace into the nearest planet. The main characters, Lilac Laroux and Tarver Merendsen, miraculously survive and must work together to stay alive on this uninhabited, deserted terrain.

Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe and Tarver is just a war hero, but without the recognition he deserves. They bicker, disagree, and they struggle to stand each other. But they have a common goal: survive. And the entire book is shaped around this sole desire.

Amie and Meagan have put two characters together who are very different, and the authors have forced them to work together. They’re in a deserted location with the possibility of death, and the experience changes them. They grow over the course of the novel, and they are fast at observing abnormalities about this strange new world that they’re now trying to survive in. Lilac and Tarver soon realise that something shocking happened here, and they work to uncover it.

The sunlight feels pale and cold, but I know it’s the only thing standing between us and a much bigger problem. A problem we’ll face when the sun starts to sink.

Amie and Meagan have written an engaging, intriguing and well-written novel, filled with diverse characters and beautiful prose. Sometimes the pace seems a little slow, and sometimes Lilac seems too spoilt, but this is necessary. Lilac is like that because of the family she’s from, and the pace of the book sometimes feels slow because they’re the only two people in this terrain and the reader knows something is just around the corner, waiting to appear and challenge the characters.

Lilac and Tarver are authentic and the development of their relationship is realistic. Amie and Meagan have crafter multi-layered characters that propel the story along and give life to the novel. This is just as much a character-driven story as it is a plot-driven story. Lilac is stubborn and defiant, and Tarver is impatient and resourceful. Since they’re the only characters in the story for 90% of it, they held their own in the novel and kept the reader interested.

The prose is very descriptive and the dialogue surprisingly minimal. Amie and Meagan rely on imagery and description and seamless internal dialogue to paint their world, and it’s impossible for the reader to not enjoy this book. It’s wonderful, and it’s a trilogy that I’m very eager to continue!

Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

I love books that take risks. I love books that stray outside the usual format and dare to try something different. And I love those books even more when they work. Simply put: this book is dead sexy.

Illuminae is the first novel in a new science fiction series by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff and it’s suspenseful and intriguing and follows a slightly different format. Instead of written prose and dialogue, this book uses reports, emails, medical documents and blueprints to tell the story. Although this takes a bit of getting used to (it took me about 100 pages before I felt like I fully grasped who everyone was and where they were and what was really happening), there comes a point in the novel where you’re completely drawn in – you’re not only invested in the characters, but you’re invested in the secondary characters and the setting and the artificial intelligence unit called AIDAN.

This book is big enough to knock someone out, but it’s easy to read it quickly. Some pages are blueprints and some don’t have many words, and some pages simply introduce the next few pages of the novel. This helps build suspense, because although you’re reading through the book quite quickly, you know there’s so much more to be revealed.

There’s enough of a resolution at the end of Illuminae that you are satisfied with what Amie and Jay have created, but you also question how they’ll write the next one. Will it continue from the end point of Illuminae? Or will the story in the second novel focus on someone else or something completely different? I can’t wait to read the sequel, and I’m excited to see where they take this series.

Not everyone is going to like this book, and I think that’s because it takes a bit of time to get into it. It’s a new format and a new world and a new way of writing. So if you’re reading this book and you find yourself not liking it, just please keep going. Soon, you won’t be able to put it down.

My Score: 9/10

Spark by Rachael Craw

Evie doesn’t have a choice.

One day she’s an ordinary seventeen year old, grieving for her mother. The next, she’s a Shield, the result of a decades-old experiment gone wrong, bound by DNA to defend her best friend from an unknown killer.

The threat could come at home, at school, anywhere. All Evie knows is that it will be a fight to the death.

And then there’s Jamie. irresistible. off-limits.

Firstly, this cover is amazing. The colours and the design work really well together, and it’s quite a unique book cover for a young adult/fantasy novel. And I love the book even more for that.

The premise of this novel is immediately engaging. Evie is trying to deal with the death of her mother AND her DNA-bound responsibility to save Kitty, who happens to be her best friend. She develops enhanced abilities that help her defend Kitty. A few examples of this are: her hearing improves, she can see inside someone’s mind and replay their memories, and she can heal. She’s a strong character and she’s determined and bold and compassionate and very likeable.

The concept behind the story was interesting. Because of DNA manipulation from earlier generations, Evie ‘sparked’ and became a shield to Kitty, who is being hunted by a ‘Stray’, aka someone who was also a victim of the DNA manipulation and is destined to murder. I feel like this kind of storyline hasn’t been done yet in a YA setting. And YES, this novel is probably considered to be a fantasy/science fiction novel BEFORE being considered a YA novel, but let’s face it, it’s half-half. And I definitely haven’t yet read a YA novel with any kind of similar premise.

That being said, it took about 50 pages for me to get into the storyline, mostly because I was confused as hell and I really couldn’t work out the DNA thing or the Spark thing or the anything, really. Maybe there was too much description too early on? Or maybe there was one tiny sentence I missed and therefore it took a lot longer for me to understand anything? Either way, it took some time for me to engage with the story, but when I did I couldn’t stop reading the novel and now I must get the next novel in the series, Stray (which also has a stunning cover, by the way. My respect goes to the designer who made these covers).

The romance between Evie and Jamie is well-developed. Jamie is both protective and loving, and the relationship in this novel doesn’t overpower the main storyline. This book is very plot-driven, but the budding relationship between Evie and James works well to provide readers with a momentary break from the fast-paced plot.

I recommend this book to YA and fantasy readers. Spark is a mix of both genres, and once you grasp the concept behind the series, you’ll devour it in one sitting.

My Score: 8/10

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