[Review] A Thousand Pieces of You and Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray

A Thousand Pieces of You and Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray

Double Review

Rating: 5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis:

A Thousand Pieces of You

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.

Ten Thousand Skies Above You

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.

As I haven't reviewed either of the two books of the Firebird series, I decided to combine this into a dual review. Granted, I also read the first book in the summer, so let's see how good my memory is!

A Thousand Pieces of You tells the story of Marguerite Caine, the artistic daughter of two genius physicists, who uses her parents' invention, the Firebird, to travel to alternate dimensions in order to avenge her father, who was apparently killed by his student, Paul Markov. The Caines' other student, Theo Beck, accompanies her on this journey, and realizes that the mystery behind her father's killer is more complicated than she thought.

Alternate dimension travel is right up my alley. And Claudia Gray's writing isn't too heavily filled with science-jargon to confuse those who do not have the slightest idea what theoretical physics is or the science behind potential alternate dimension travel. Her writing is actually quite romantic, conveying the message that no matter what dimension it is, Marguerite and Paul will always find a way to be with each other. 

Their romance in the first book was at first very iffy to me - you fall in love with the guy who murdered your dad? Wait what? I felt bad for Theo too, because Marguerite couldn't make up her mind between Theo and Paul. As I read on though, and into the sequel, Ten Thousand Skies Above You, it made sense why Paul and Marguerite were together. Paul was absolutely the sweetest. And even though Theo doesn't get as much love to, he's still adorable. While of them love Marguerite, there isn't really a love triangle and nothing of that nature tears the trio apart, and I appreciate that. They all see each other as practically family, and the bonding shows. 

The way Claudia Gray writes each dimension, where even the slightest changes can cause a new dimension, is brilliant. Each dimension brings forth "new" characters, new settings, and different periods of time. She juggles all of them and manages to explain their existence and reason for coming to being with ease. And the entire cast of characters is used! Minor characters in the first book become important in the most unexpected ways in Ten Thousand Skies. 

However, not all concepts are entirely explained to us, and if I were to go into detail about Ten Thousand Skies Above You, I'd probably spoil it, but not everyone is entirely good or entirely evil in this series, and I loved each plot twist the 2nd book gave. I love both books, but I like the sequel just much more, because of how much more developed everything was! Characters were fleshed out, especially Paul and Theo, and Wyatt Conley, as well as the dimensions. It can be confusing at times, watching characters jump from dimension to dimension and explain the concept of splitting your soul, but I feel like these would be cleared up in the last book.

The Firebird series draws attention away from the scientific aspect, or the potential of, for alternate dimension travel, and instead focuses on the abstract. As the main character is an artist, it is only fitting she observes her change of style as she changes dimensions. Even though it changes, it's still present and constant, like Marguerite's love for Paul. Now that's some English analysis. 

This series certainly has its poetic pieces, too, if you're interested in that.

Ten thousand skies, and a million worlds, and it still wouldn't be enough for me to share with you. Nothing less than forever will do. 

The plot line is leading up to something really big in the final book of the trilogy, especially with that cliffhanger, and I hope all our questions are answered in it!