Oh hi friends! Today we're bringing you some mini reviews for one of the series Hollis has decided to tackle and complete for 2024. This was another one she'd read all but the final book for but as this is YA things could really go.. any which way. Guess we'll find out. Enjoy!
Marguerite Caine's physicist parents are known for their groundbreaking achievements. Their most astonishing invention, called the Firebird, allows users to jump into multiple universes—and promises to revolutionize science forever. But then Marguerite's father is murdered, and the killer—her parent's handsome, enigmatic assistant Paul— escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him. Marguerite refuses to let the man who destroyed her family go free. So she races after Paul through different universes, always leaping into another version of herself. But she also meets alternate versions of the people she knows—including Paul, whose life entangles with hers in increasingly familiar ways. Before long she begins to question Paul's guilt—as well as her own heart. And soon she discovers the truth behind her father's death is far more sinister than she expected.
Title : A Thousand Pieces of You
Author : Claudia Gray
Series : Firebird Trilogy (book one)
Format : eBook (overdrive)
Page Count : 368
Genre : YA sci-fi
Publisher : HarperTeen
Release Date : November 4, 2014
Hollis' 2.5 star review
Okay, I looked back at my first time with this read and I'm happy I wasn't in love with this from the start because this rating would be something of a come down. But it seems like some of the issues I had today I also had back in 2015 so that's a nice bit of consistency!
This is a multiverse, dimension-hopping, almost-thriller but definitely conspiracy mystery, and the best part of the whole experience is when we pop into those different worlds. Some starkly different from the baseline and others so similar with just minor shifts in the timeline. It was a great variety and each felt different and fresh and interesting. But thankfully Gray doesn't just gloss over the fact that said dimension-hopping is consequence free and there is (not a lot, but some) dialogue around what that invasion is doing to the original owners of said bodies. Particularly in light of what we discover near the end of the book. I like that this was explored because honestly that's part of the horror of what the Big Bad is doing, beyond just the whole moustache-twirling goal to take over the world and have phenomenal cosmic powerz.
All that being said, much like my first time with this, what did drag things down were the romance shenanigans. I really struggled with how we could accept the fate and destiny and connection of it all and then immediately.. not accept it. It kind of feels like an excuse to drag things out and even with where we are at the end.. I think things might get dragged out? But at least the love triangle is over. I think.
Complaints aside, this holds up fairly well as far as content and references go, and it was a quick easy read. Past me liked book two more than the first so let's hope that stays consistent, too. Onwards!
Ever since she used the Firebird, her parents' invention, to cross into alternate dimensions, Marguerite has caught the attention of enemies who will do anything to force her into helping them dominate the multiverse—even hurting the people she loves. She resists until her boyfriend, Paul, is attacked and his consciousness
scattered across multiple dimensions. Marguerite has no choice but to search for each splinter of Paul's soul. The hunt sends her racing through a war-torn San Francisco, the criminal underworld of New York City, and a glittering Paris where another Marguerite hides a shocking secret. Each world brings Marguerite one step closer to rescuing Paul. But with each trial she faces, she begins to question the destiny she thought they shared.
Title : Ten Thousand Skies Above You
Author : Claudia Gray
Series : Firebird Trilogy (book two)
Format : eBook (overdrive)
Page Count : 424
Genre : YA sci-fi / dystopian
Publisher : HarperTeen
Release Date : November 3, 2015
Hollis' 2.5 star review
Welp, looks like that hit was waiting for book two because past me thought this was a four star experience. Maybe because the end was a fun unexpected-ish cliffhanger? I don't know. But y'all I struggled to push through this because haha what a naive fool I was to think the romance entanglement shenanigans had resolved. This is a trilogy after all. Gots to milk it.
And boy was it milked.
But also it took way too long for our heroine to sort through the concept that fate and destiny didn't negate nurture and experience and that bit of drawn out melodrama was just.. a slog.
So most of this was a milky slog is what I'm saying I guess.
Except for the bit where we discover, yes, Marguerite is a bit of a special snowflake but she's not the reason for it all. I have no idea if I appreciated that the first time around because there's no review to reference but I certainly like it now!
But much like my review for book one, I did appreciate that morals and ethics and consent once again played a role in all the adventure-time. And in a bigger way, which is appropriate, and how that might inform what decisions are made next. I still don't quite grasp the mechanics of how control is possible to do said adventure dimension hopping but you know what.. I'm just rolling with it. I'm trying not to think too hard about, well, any of it, beyond the bit that is enjoying being back in beast binge mode. So, you know, onwards!
A million universes. A million dangers. One destiny. The fate of the multiverse rests in Marguerite Caine's hands. Marguerite has been at the center of a cross-dimensional feud since she first
traveled to another universe using her parents' invention, the Firebird. Only now has she learned the true plans of the evil Triad Corporation—and that those plans could spell doom for dozens or hundreds of universes, each facing total annihilation. Paul Markov has
always been at Marguerite's side, but Triad's last attack has left him a
changed man—angry and shadowed by tragedy. He struggles to overcome the damage done to him, but despite Marguerite's efforts to help, Paul may
never be the same again.So it's up to Marguerite alone to stop the destruction of the multiverse. Billions of lives are at stake. The risks have never been higher. And Triad has unleashed its ultimate weapon: another dimension's Marguerite—wicked, psychologically twisted, and always one step ahead.
Title : A Million Worlds With You
Author : Claudia Gray
Series : Firebird Trilogy (book three)
Format : eBook (overdrive)
Page Count : 419
Genre : YA sci-fi
Publisher : HarperTeen
Release Date : November 1, 2016
Hollis' 2 star review
It's easy to blame the feeling of repetition on the fact that I read these back to back but the amount of rehashing within this instalment alone, for things that had already been rehashed in previous chapters, felt a little bonkers.
Rehashing about romance. Rehashing about the previous versions of themselves. Repeating conversations and plans and.. well, you get the idea. And then there was one scene that seemed so bizarre I couldn't even take it seriously and while it only happened one time, the irony of the scene itself sorta plays into the whole vibe.
There were so many elements in this finale that felt OTT but also a few that just felt anticlimatic and you know what? The concept of this world was interesting, obviously, and I do want to revisit some other books that touch on the same thing, but this particular take just didn't live up to the promise. Though I do blame that mostly on the characters as opposed to the story framework itself.
I'm not mad I invested (minimal, this only took like two days to finish) time and energy into finishing this series but I am sad something that I thought would be worth it, especially after all these years, and have a satisfying ending, turned out to be.. not.
Thanks for checking out these mini reviews!
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