REVIEW: A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray (Firebird Trilogy #1)

Title: A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray
Pages: 357
Published by: HarperTeen
Publication date: 7th October 2014
Genre: Science Fiction
Format: Paperback
Amazon UK – Book Depository

Synopsis:

A thousand lives. A thousand possibilities. One fate.

Marguerite Caine grew up surrounded by cutting-edge scientific theories, thanks to her brilliant physicist parents. Yet nothing is more astounding than her mother’s latest invention, a device called Firebird that allows people to leap into alternate dimensions.

When Marguerite’s father is murdered, all the evidence points to one person – Paul, her parents’ enigmatic star student. Before the law can touch him, Paul slips into another dimension, having committed what seems like the perfect crime. But he didn’t count on Marguerite.

With the help of another physics student, Theo, Marguerite chases Paul through various dimensions. In each new world Marguerite leaps into, she meets another version of Paul that has her doubting his guilt and questioning her heart. Soon, she is swept into an epic love affair as dangerous as it is irresistible.

My review:

This book, though it had some flaws, was absolutely amazing. I really loved it and thought that it was a great idea for a story. I became so engrossed I was flying through it unable to put it down. I’m so excited to read the second book and see where this story is going, I honestly have no idea what to expect.

I loved how it was all laid out. At first I was expecting it to start from the beginning, Marguerite’s father is still alive and it builds up to his death and then explores the alternate dimensions. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that you are literally pulled right into the story from the start. Marguerite’s father has already died and the whole family is grieving for him, unsure what will happen next. Then Theo comes along and tells Marguerite he has the two prototype Firebird’s and they can chase Paul through various dimensions and get their revenge for him killing her father. I was definitely intrigued by this point and couldn’t wait to see them actually travel to another dimension.

Another aspect that I loved was how the past and the present were intertwined throughout. As Marguerite and Theo discover new dimensions, Marguerite also finds herself reliving past events and going over and over where everything went wrong with Paul. She goes over various moments with Paul in her head and chides herself for letting herself get close to him when he was planning to kill her father all along. It was brilliantly written, it picked up on all the right moments which made it easy to follow without feeling like you were being overloaded with too much information.

It was so interesting seeing these various dimensions and how Marguerite lives her life in each dimension. The world building for each dimension was amazing, Claudia Gray did a great job of describing the detail of each new world and this new – and sometimes strange – life Marguerite finds herself in. When she enters the first dimension, I felt that she was a bit of a hypocrite. She criticised Theo for taking drugs instead of helping her catch Paul but on the first day she gets drunk and goes clubbing. It annoyed me that she would hurt Theo when she hasn’t got her act together, either. I didn’t feel any real connection to Marguerite which I’m not too happy about considering she is the main character, but this story is only getting started so I’m hoping I will like her more in the second book. I also thought that they spent too much time in the second dimension and found myself getting a little bored. I don’t really know what I expected from this book but I thought that they would explore more dimensions. I think they explore a lot more in the second book though so I’ll definitely be reading that. It picked up again when they moved on and I thought the third dimension was possibly the best one. The ending wasn’t too action-packed but it was very exciting and I did enjoy it.

I was a little disappointed with Marguerite’s relationship with Paul. Throughout the book she explores her romantic feelings for him and when she first felt these feelings. Personally, I didn’t feel any connection to Paul and didn’t really like his character at all. Even their romantic moments together, I didn’t feel any spark or a connection between them. When I ship fictional characters, I get very passionate about them but I didn’t feel anything like this with Marguerite and Paul. I just felt that their relationship was flat and it bored me, if I’m honest. I much preferred Marguerite with Theo as I love his character. I connected with Theo right from the start and I really liked him and Marguerite together. But that probably isn’t going to happen now which is disappointing but I still love Theo. He is definitely my favourite character and I hope to see a lot more of him in the second book.

Another part of the book that disappointed me was the ending. Without giving it away, I was disappointed because I guessed the ending of the book very early on, so I wasn’t too surprised when I got to it. That being said, I still found it very enjoyable and thought it was a great plot twist. There was another plot twist at the end that I was so happy for. It was one of my favourite parts of the book, seriously it made me incredibly happy.

I would definitely recommend this book if you like science fiction and time travel. It was very interesting and I think it will make an amazing trilogy.