A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

ARC, 357 pages
Release Date: November 4, 2014
Published by: HarperTeen
Firebird, #1
Source: ATWT
For fans of: Time Travel, Romance, Sparkly Covers, YA


Every Day meets Cloud Atlas in this heart-racing, space- and time-bending, epic new trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray.

     Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after       Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.

     A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.
 

*MY THOUGHTS*

     With this being my first book by Gray, I was a little skeptical.... Especially after seeing some not so stellar reviews of her other works... But still I gave this one a shot anyways. I'd never forgive myself if I didn't find out what was beneath that beautiful cover. 
"And I hate the way they looked at me, admiring but appraising, the same kind of hard, greedy assessment they' give an expensive sports car. Not one of them sees me.."
(ARC)
     As it turns out, this book was actually very good. The writing itself was very good and flowed perfectly. And that's saying something because time travel novels are hard, and this one is about different DIMENSIONS. I'm pretty sure this was a little more difficult. But everything stayed tigether and there weren't any holes left out of her writing. 
"Sometimes it pays to be a secretive bastard."
(ARC)
     But, it did get a little info dumpy at times. My logic though, is that it had to be. This book would've been way too long had she tried to spread out all the rules that the Firebird could do instead of just telling them all at once. Even with the info dumps though, it did not weigh down the story. 
"So it looks as though the same groups of people find each other over and over. Not invariably, but far more than mere chance would suggest.."
(ARC)
     Another thing she did really well was the dimension travel. I loved how they were all unique but still came down to the same one point, love. I was impressed that she kept them together, because as a reader sometimes it's hard t keep them straight in your head, so I can only imagine being in the head of an author. Gray really did think of everything in this novel and it came out to be a brilliant, beautifully written story that will take readers on different mini adventures. It really made me think, what are other me's doing in other dimensions.
"I've always thought real love could only come later. After you both know each other, trust each other. After days, or weeks, or months spent together- learning to understand everything that isn't spoken out loud."
(ARC)
     Another small thing that bothered me was the pacing of the story. It started off intriguing , but then got really slow towards the middles. Slow to a point where I wanted to skip ahead. But I'm glad I didn't because I would've missed something vital to the story. The event came up multiple other times in the story and I would have been VERY confused lol But then, the end came and every time I turned a page something new was happening. It really made me stop and pause for a second. it just caught me of guard the way it was slammed into the story like that. Especially since it had been stagnant for so long.
"Nothing could have torn you two apart. [...] 'Nothing but death."
(ARC)
     As for the romance, I hated the love triangle part of this, but clearly she wrote it that way for a reason. In the end she picked a clear winner, but still it bothered me. I just didn't feel it was necessary. Maybe it was just because I didn't want to like him, but I just didn't feel like it needed to be done.
"Change comes from within, right?"
(ARC)
     This novel was unique and so full of adventure. It showed that regardless of where you are or where you are, the most constant of your emotions is love. Clearly, it knows no boundaries, even dimensions.
Overall, I give this

     

Labels: ,