Weekend Reads #106 – Unearthed by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Happy Saturday y’all! It took me way too long to read Unearthed by Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner but I finally finished it last night. In short, I wasn’t impressed. However the ending won me over and I will eagerly look forward to the sequel. If you enjoy scifi that will be very reminiscent of a Battlestar Galactica episode crossed with Indiana Jones, than I believe you will enjoy this one.

Also be sure to read past the review to see which book y’all voted on for me to read this month. I’m excited about it 😀

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I received this book via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

Unearthed by Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner
Series: Unearthed #1
Published by Disney-Hyperion on 2018-01-09
Length: 384 pages
Reviewing eARC from Netgalley
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2018 New Release Challenge, COYER Winter Switch

When Earth intercepts a message from a long-extinct alien race, it seems like the solution the planet has been waiting for. The Undying's advanced technology has the potential to undo environmental damage and turn lives around, and Gaia, their former home planet, is a treasure trove waiting to be uncovered.

For Jules Addison and his fellow scholars, the discovery of an alien culture offers unprecedented opportunity for study... as long as scavengers like Amelia Radcliffe don't loot everything first. Mia and Jules' different reasons for smuggling themselves onto Gaia put them immediately at odds, but after escaping a dangerous confrontation with other scavvers, they form a fragile alliance.

In order to penetrate the Undying temple and reach the tech and information hidden within, the two must decode the ancient race's secrets and survive their traps. But the more they learn about the Undying, the more their presence in the temple seems to be part of a grand design that could spell the end of the human race...

Unearthed by Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner was one of my most anticipated reads for 2018. I was really looking forward to it, I couldn’t wait to get started. But there are a lot of problems with this book that I couldn’t get over. And when I say problems, please remember it’s my opinion. Some readers may enjoy what I found wrong with the book.

Unearthed follows two main characters and alternates POV between them as the story unfolds. One character is a scavenger, uneducated yet street smart and quick thinking, and on Gaia to make fast cash to save an illegal sister. The other is a scholar, an academic who breaks the law to uncover the truth and dangers awaiting the society on the newly discovered planet Gaia. In theory this all sounds intriguing, yet it didn’t play out that way. The two characters were so stereotyped that it’s laughable. I don’t even have to say names or differentiate between them because all you need to know is in their stereotypes. It’s kind of sad.

Jules, the scholar, and Mia, the scavenger, meet up by chance on Gaia’s surface and their relationship is built on a mutual need for survival and lies. Yet somehow these two fall in love? Sorry, I’m not buying it. Jules flat out lies to Mia about his identity and why he wants to travel to a smaller temple. Mia lies about….well just about everything. It’s her job. The romance felt forced and fell flat on the pages. I didn’t buy any romantic chemistry between them, but when they were antagonizing each other that was believable.

And then there’s the plot. For about the first three quarters of the book, the plot moved at a snail’s pace. There was a lot of repetition that wasn’t needed, and mostly it was Mia and Jules exploring this temple of the Undying on Gaia. Now I’ll admit I was really curious and intrigued by the Undying and how humans discovered and traveled to their dead planet. But all of that is skipped over in favor of solving some grand puzzle the Undying left for only those that were “worthy.” Again that was intriguing, yet like the romance it fell flat on the pages. I found myself skimming most of the book and just wanting to reach the end.

However the last quarter of the book picks up with a rather intriguing and horrifying revelation. I couldn’t read this last section fast enough and honestly it is the book’s saving grace. I don’t want to say too much about it because SPOILERS but I will say that if you have started the book and are feeling how I felt the majority of the book to stick with it because it pays off in the end.

Overall, Unearthed was just an okay read for me. I could have lived without reading it, but the ending redeemed the slow pace and has me itching to get my hands on the second book. I think one of the things that intrigued me most about the book is the dystopian element hinted on by Mia and Jules. It doesn’t play out in this book, but I’d like to learn more about Earth during their time and what humans have done to make society collapse. If you enjoy sci-fi and puzzles, I think you’ll enjoy this book. Just be sure to read to the end 😉

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Well it’s the second Saturday of the month so it’s time to announce the winning book for January. Thank you to all that voted! The book I’ll be reading from my TBR shelf this month is….

I am really excited to dive into this one. I love Beauty and the Beast retellings and I have high hopes for this one. The reviews are a little mixed which is why I’ve held off to now. Check back in two weeks for my review 😀 Thanks again to all who voted!

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