A Thousand Pieces of You (Firebird, #1)

by Claudia Gray

[nannah]

(3.5)

It's so difficult to form a definite opinion on this one. There are parts and aspects of it I love, and many things I don't. One thing I can say for sure is that this book didn't disappoint when it came to the number and the enjoyability of its surprises. Because dang.

Book content warnings:
drug addiction

Okay so Marguerite's father has just been murdered, and the main suspect (Marguerite's close friend and -- maybe more??) is jumping dimensions to escape. This book's universe is a multiverse, and that multiverse is this book's setting. Marguerite and her father's other assistant, Theo (of which the suspect, Paul, is the 1st), jump dimensions to chase after the killer, swearing vengeance.

Going in knowing nothing, I expected this book to be an exciting vengeance story about science and strong main characters and lots of twists. I was right about a couple things: there IS an abundance of fun science and those main characters are life-like and seriously fantastic but that exciting vengeance story died about 1/4 of the way.

In its place crept this sappy romance between Marguerite and one of the people she meets dimension jumping. She was stuck in this dimension because the device that allows inter-dimensional travel was just "plucked" off one of them. Literally, plucked - and the both of them just stood there. I'm assuming because the plot demanded it of them, but even so the dialogue that follows is somewhat laughable. It stands out so awfully because the writing is pretty good. So. The author obviously meant to strand them in this dimension so she could have them make eyes at each other for about 1/2 the book that's literally plotless without that romance. It's disappointing, to say the least.

The main three characters (Marguerite, Theo, Paul) are so well done, though. They had solid arcs and character. And mostly, they kept me wanting to read. Their interactions were never stale or repetitive, and they had such real interactions that it's hard to believe they're fictional - which is always the best feeling!

The plot isn't as clean as those three main characters. It's absorbing, even if it is a little messy. All those dimensions, the new versions of themselves . . . it's almost more distracting and annoying than eye-opening. The plot should be about finding Marguerite's father, right? Instead, we have a love triangle, or a love triangle in which the version of the dude isn't the version of the dude that's in Marguerite's dimension and man, I really didn't want to read all that drama!

But overall, yeah, I enjoyed this book. I might read on to see about what happens to Marguerite's family, but I'm in no rush.