Bianca
Written on Dec 8, 2014
I would love you in any shape, in any world, with any past. Never doubt that.
"When eighteen-year-old Marguerite Caine's father is killed, she must leap into different dimensions and versions of herself to catch her father's killer and avenge his murder"--
When eighteen-year-old Marguerite Caine's father is killed, she must leap into different dimensions and versions of herself to catch her father's killer and avenge his murder. The plot contains profanity, sexual situations, and drug use.
- ISBN10 0062357697
- ISBN13 9780062357694
- Publish Date 7 October 2014
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 4 December 2015
- Publish Country US
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers Inc
- Imprint HarperTeen
- Edition International ed.
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 368
- Language English
Reviews
sarahjay
Written on Dec 7, 2014
Kelly
Written on Nov 26, 2014
http://www.divabooknerd.com/2014/12/a-thousand-pieces-of-you-by-claudia-grey.html
A Thousand Pieces of You is a a science fiction romance that will leave you utterly breathless. It was more than a science fiction thriller, but a sultry and intense romance. Reminiscent of Cristin Terrill's All Our Yesterdays, it follows the story of Marguerite, an artist amidst a family of scientific genius. Her parents both brilliant inventors, and has spent her seventeen years sharing her home with undergraduate students that her parents have taken in and nurtured. Including young protégés Paul and Theo. But when it seems her parents life work is destroyed, her father killed and Paul fleeing the scene with what he believes is the only Firebird prototype and has now become the only suspect... And Marguerite wants revenge.
With Theo by her side, the two transport themselves throughout the dimensions. Only able to follow Paul into alternative worlds that where they already exist, Marguerite, Paul and Theo materialise into the body of their other self. It isn't until Marguerite finds herself as a Princess and daughter of a Russian Tsar, that she is forced to confront Paul. With her Firebird in ruin and Theo unable to jump into her world, Paul is adamant of his innocence. But if he didn't kill her father, than who did? It seems the lives of the Princess and her Lieutenant are heavily entwined and it isn't long before Marguerite finds old feelings beginning to resurface. But Theo can't be convinced of Paul's innocence and Marguerite begins to suspect that Theo's motives may not be seeking justice for her father's death, but proving Paul's guilt.
It was beautifully written and a stunning blend of romance, science fiction and flourished with passion and suspense. The romance is sultry, intense and will have readers yearning for Lieutenant Markov. I'm curious to see what the second installment of the Firebird series will bring, as the conclusion of A Thousand Pieces of You felt befitting and complete. And that cover ain't half bad either.
Stephanie
Written on Nov 25, 2014
shannonmiz
Written on Nov 17, 2014
What I Liked/What Entertained Me:
- The idea as a whole I mean, different dimensions is a great plot. Especially while chasing potential murderers in and out of what I assumed would be all kinds of crazy places.
- The story moved at a really good pace, and I never found myself bored.
- The dimensions we did see were fascinating! I loved the early 20th century style Russia, and high tech London. Especially Russia though.
- I didn't dislike the love story. Actually, I think if it were given just a bit more time, it could have been really great.
- I just was entertained, for no reason that I can actually articulate, because I did have a lot of problems with this book. But it was fun for me, and I will read the sequel. I know that isn't all that helpful, but it's all I've got.
What I Didn't/What Didn't Make Sense or Work:
- The romance was too sudden. I don't think it qualifies as insta-love because the characters all shared affection for each other (platonically or otherwise) for quite some time, but it went from zero to The Notebook pretty quickly. Also, there's a love triangle. Usually, I don't even mind them, but this one isn't necessary. It's just one of those "all the boys looooove me" situation, which irks me at best.
- There were a lot of conveniences that bugged me. Obviously, I can't go into too much detail on specifics, but things just worked out too easily for my tastes. It was just "problem solved!" but... how? Why? And even when it was explained, the explanation was too easy.
- The characters were okay. They weren't great though. They were pretty basic, and didn't have a lot of distinctive characteristics. Marguerite didn't really stand out to me at all, I never felt any particular like or dislike toward her, she was just there. Theo and Paul weren't much better, by the end, I figured it didn't matter who she loved, because they were pretty much the same dude anyway. Her parents seemed pretty cool though, let's skip this trio and read about them.
- More dimensions, please. Seriously, like a day in techno-London, a few weeks in Russia, and then a couple for like, 33 seconds. Where were all my dimensions!? I wanted more. I needed more. I wanted to go to the moon, or like, some weird made up trippy kind of place.
Bottom Line: Honestly, if I were basing this on content alone, it would be maybe a two star. But inexplicably, I did sort of like it, so I have to factor that in, because sheer enjoyment is a big factor for me. I won't be mowing people down to get to the sequel, but I am sure I'll give it a read at some point.
This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight
abigailjohnson
Written on Nov 8, 2014
Comparing A THOUSAND PIECES OF YOU (ATPOY) to other recent YA novels about parallel universes, the one that is the most similar is Anna Jarzab's TANDEM. Both books feature protagonists whose parents are involved in exploring these parallel universes, have love triangles with different versions of the same guy, and must impersonate royalty in one universe. The edge definitely goes to ATPOY though since Marguerite travels to multiple universes and the characters are much stronger.
Another plus about ATPOY is that because the POV is from a non-scientist, I didn't have to sift through tons of theoretical physic discussions regarding parallel universes. There were a few straightforward, simple explanations that left me feeling like I understood what was going on but I was never bogged down by explanations.
And the romance was pretty good too. Lots of great twists and genuine heartache. I do wish some of the flashbacks in the first half of the book were left out. I understand the need for character back story to explain the connection between characters, but they did slow the pace down for me. Still, overall ATPOY was a great read and I'll definitely be looking forward the rest of the Firebird trilogy.
Kelsenator
Written on Nov 6, 2014
Great start to a series, can't wait for the next one.
jnikkir
Written on Oct 20, 2014
[Final review:] This review can also be found at my blog, There were books involved...
-----------------------------
ACTUAL RATING: 3.5 stars
This is a book that has made it abundantly clear to me that, if I'm in the mood for something, and a book gives me that something, then I will forgive quite a few issues while I'm reading. I wanted a book dealing with awesome parallel universes, a ship I could sail (you know what I mean), and a plot that kept me engaged. I got all of those things from A Thousand Pieces of You -- plus characters who were interesting, well-realized, and (though some of their decisions were a bit questionable) ones I found myself rooting for.
However, now that I've come down off of that "ooooh this book is so shiny" high, I find myself thinking back on many aspects that weren't so great. Overall, I'm still left feeling pretty positive about it, but where my original, "I-just-finished-this-book" rating was 4 stars, I think maybe my final feelings are more around 3.5.
But there was definitely a lot of good stuff in this book. It starts off with a bang: Marguerite's father has been murdered by one of his assistants (Paul), and she teams up with Theo (another assistant), who helps her use the Firebird (universe-hopping technology) to track down Paul and get revenge for her father's death. But while that's where we jump into the story, the book itself is mostly told in a series of back-and-forth's between present-day scenes, and pre-murder flashbacks. I found this method of storytelling it to be totally engaging -- it kept things moving and kept me glued to every part of the story -- the flashbacks and the current events.
Another awesome thing was the whole system of parallel universes. I feel like parallel universe stuff is usually done by having the parallel universes just be slightly different than the main universe. Well, that's not the case in this book. We get to see a super awesome futuristic London; a world where technology hasn't advanced past train travel and Russia is a major power (hello upside-down city on the cover!!); a world where the oceans have risen and much of the population lives in ocean bases... it was just super cool to see all these worlds that were so different from ours. Because really, if there were infinite parallel universes, isn't it pretty likely that you'd run into some pretty crazy stuff when bouncing between them? I loved that.
Also with parallel-universe stories, you usually have to deal with running into your double, or people who'd know your double, etc... But when you travel to parallel universes in A Thousand Pieces of You, you actually jump from your body into the "you" in that other universe, and basically have to cope with living their life for a while. Which I thought was yet another really unique way of doing things.
However, jumping into the "you" in other universes does cause some problems with, say, important decisions that you end up making on behalf of your other self, without your other self having any say in the matter... >_< I can't say much more than that without spoiling things, but yeah. While I was reading, I didn't really latch onto this idea, but there's some potentially questionable decisions that Marguerite makes on behalf of her "other selves", which sort of upset me now, looking back.
Something else that I enjoyed while I was reading, though, was the romance. While I was reading, I totally shipped it. I mean, I still do. This romance is definitely full of feels (I may have shed a tear at one point...).
"I would love you in any shape, in any world, with any past. Never doubt that."But it's also sort of weird, because of the whole "multiple versions of the same person" thing. There's a lot of talk about the soul of the person being the same in every universe, so like, this couple should be in love across the universes -- which, hello potentially epic love story that I really wanted to love. But idk. There's just... problems... with how Marguerite thinks she's falling for one guy, then insta-loves over one of his "doubles", and then is totally torn about liking the original guy... And this doesn't even bring the totally different guy into the equation. It was the weirdest love-square/triangle-thing ever.eARC, 57%
In conclusion...
I'm glad I still remember how I was glued to this book as I was reading, because those positive feelings are what will probably encourage me to read the sequel when it comes out. Yeah, it has its issues, but if you're willing to sort of gloss over those, I think A Thousand Pieces of You is definitely a solid addition to the "parallel universe" category, and fans of multiverse stories should definitely check it out. :)
You might also enjoy...
--
There were books involved...
Amber
Written on Aug 23, 2014
Rating: 3.5
Parallel universes are one of my favourite subject matters, so when I saw that A Thousand Pieces of You was about a girl who could travel through different universes to catch a murderer, I was thrilled. That, along with the beautiful cover, is what made me request the book. And I am so glad that I did because A Thousand Pieces of You is bloody good!
The action kicks off right away when Marguerite and her parents’ hot lab assistant go off in search of her parents’ other hot lab assistant, who allegedly killed Marguerite’s father. Straight away, the reader is thrown into a whole different dimension where things are very similar and yet very, very different. I was captivated throughout the book because I couldn’t wait to see what happened next with Marguerite’s quest.
I love the way Gray tackled parallel universes. It was a bit like dimension travel, with Marguerite and her hot lab friend using things called Firebirds – which her mother created – to jump between worlds and take over their parallel self’s body for a time. Once they leave, everything for that host goes back to normal. And the best part is that each different universe has developed differently. Some have been more slow to develop than others, which was great because it gave a sort of time travel feel to the book – another one of my favourite things!
The only thing that didn’t amaze me about this book was the characters. Marguerite was cool, but that’s the only word I can think of to describe her. Yes, she was a universe jumping badass, but she just didn’t interest me all that much. I didn’t feel a connection. And then there’s Hot Lab Assistant #1, whose name I can’t even remember because he meant absolutely nothing to me #burn. Their little romance grossed me out.
There was a ship that I shipped but I don’t even know why I shipped that ship in particular. I thought that the couple had good chemistry, but they didn’t have enough scenes! Or enough build up! I guess I liked them because they were there.
I did have an issue with one particular plot point in this book. It’s a very minor spoiler, so shield your eyes if you’re worried: Marguerite, whilst in a host’s body, has sex with someone. This was not okay to me because the host had no way of giving consent, and Marguerite was USING her host’s body to get what she wanted. It was violating and not consensual on the host’s part, and it really rubbed me the wrong way. I would hope that this gets addressed in the next book in the series, perhaps to go alongside Marguerite’s character development, but I don’t see that happening. Still, my fingers will be forever crossed.
A Thousand Pieces of You is a true thrill ride that manages to incorporate many of my favourite things: parallel universes, historical fiction, time travel (kind of), and more. I’m very interested in seeing where Gray takes this series and her characters, I just hope that she focusses on the important issues at hand rather than the love triangle that wheedled its way in there. Also, a message to the author: please make your plot twists more shocking. Please? *creepy grin*
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