A Thousand Pieces of You

A Thousand Pieces of You

☆☆

Status: DNF

Type: Duology

Series: Firebird

Maguerite is the daughter of two famous brilliant scientists, who have invented a device named the Firebird that transports you between parallel universes. Everything is well, until Maguerite dad is murdered, allegedly by their assistant Paul. Now, Mauguerite, along with Theo-another assistant of theirs-have to take the Firebird and jump across dimensions to find Paul-who jumped across dimensions also-and kill him, to avenge her father's death. But when the truth comes out, it arises more questions than answers.


This book got boring to me. It was nice at first, until it became all about love, love, love. And don't even get started with the love triangle. It was just unnecessary. It's clear from the beginning that she likes Paul, Theo is just someone she flirts with. They don't like each other, they just flirt just because. She is also Mary Sue. Like at a club, all the boys were falling all over her. In one of her alternative universes, she's a Russian princess, everyone seems to favor her, even her AU father, Vladimir, over the other kids. Another thing, I feel like Paul is more stoic than shy and I'm was concerned how Mag was soo determined to just straight murder this guy, not thinking of the consequences. And I hate how she gets so hype about killing him but the moment he says "I didn't do it", she just believes him right away, with like, no evidence or anything. He could be lying for all she know. He could be a good actor and know how to hide it. Just like the Selection, this is a romance, not science fiction. You know, why couldn't this be about Maguerite and her sister, Josie? All in all, I may skip this one, read the sequel, and give the series a second chance. Stinkin' pretty covers!

Pros:
•The cover is pretty
•I like the whole jumping into alternate universes thing
•Maguerite is artsy and barely knows anything of science, unlike the rest of her family.

Cons:
•Dull
•All about romance
•I think Paul and Mag have sex, I dont know, I didn't get around to that part.

No favorite or least favorite characters

I rate A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray two out of five stars.

This book was incredibly entertaining. It was so fun to follow the characters through all the alternate dimensions and watch them live those different lives. Highly recommend!

I also think it ends in a way that can easily be read as a standalone. Which is perfect for me sometimes when I don't necessarily want to get into another series.

Audiobook narration was cool. The Russia part had Russian accents so I enjoyed a lot. Otherwise, story was very weak.

—avert your eyes, spoilers ahead—

So many problems!
• Ok the SciFi was not my favorite as it wasn't well explained. Please just read Recursion by Blake Crouch which also has a consciousness device but it is so well thought out and properly explained.

• They made a dimension jumping device which lets your consciousness jump dimensions but the damn device jumps physically with you. That's basically a teleportation device! Leave parallel worlds, you guys can teleport. Just change your device a little and you have another scientific discovery.

• The body remains behind but in what state? What if somebody walks in on you while you're dimension jumping? Don't tell me it's quantum physics and say it's hard to explain. What is this, Ant-Man?

* Also just remembered, for you to be able to jump dimensions and come back to your original dimension, you would need to know how many dimensions in total there are, and what dimension you're jumping into next to act as a point of reference. But do we know that? Noooooo. Think Shades of Magic by Schwab where we knew and used tokens from each world. Otherwise, there is no way Paul knew which dimension he was jumping into next. (Can't believe I'm realising this 3 days after finishing this disaster).

• The romance! Ugh. The love triangle. Ughhhh. If I wanted to read a love triangle, I'd read Twilight.

• Stupid Russian storyline! Meg has sex with the love of her life in another dimension, TWICE, while she is in an alternate version of herself, with the guy from that dimension. Dudeeee! Think of the consequences for your other self! Also, if you're gonna do it, at least have safe sex. But nooooo! I really just stopped caring for the story at this point.

• The only likable character is Paul, but not by a lot. Theo is just downright suspicious from page one. Meg is awful for making stupid decisions. She went from trying to kill Paul to trying to kill Theo with barely any thought.

• Till the last page, we're talking about the love triangle. Oh go to hell, Theoooo! We don't like you. “If I have to let somebody else have you, at least it's him.” Oh fuck offfffff!

• Lastly, if people can overtake your body and consciousness and make you do bad things, maybeee make a device that blocks other people from jumping into you. Phhhhhbbbbttt!!!

Honestly this story could've been a stand alone book so.. I feel like the next two books won't be as good as this one

Read my full review here: https://vicsense.wordpress.com/2018/01/07/a-thousand-pieces-of-you-firebird-1/

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THE COVER IS GORGEOUS.

RUSSIAN PAUL IS GORGEOUS.

THE CHIVALRY AND VALOR IS BLINDING.

I”m all about narratives set in Imperial Russia. Lieutenant Markov is the best; too bad he isn't a main character.

Existem alguns livros que acabam com a gente, mas da melhor forma possível. Terminei de ler Mil pedaços de você há tempo o suficiente para me recuperar da história, mas ao abrir um post novo para escrever esta resenha, lembrei tudo o que senti durante a leitura.
A premissa de Mil Pedaços de Você é bem interessante: você fica pulando de dimensão em dimensão buscando vingança e de repente se depara com amor. À primeira vista, pensei que essa fosse uma história de vingança e perseguição, mas com o tempo percebi que mesmo que estejamos pulando dimensões, correndo através de universos paralelos uma e outra vez para vingar a morte do pai da personagem principal, essa aventura toda se torna pequena em comparação ao foco maior: o amor.
Honestamente, eu nem sei como escrever essa resenha (e essa é um das razões por eu demorar tanto para escrevê-la) porque a trama é recheada de plot twists, personagens adoráveus e seu “fio” condutor é brilhante. Nossa heroína é a filha de dois cientisitas brilhantes que vai utilizar a invenção de seus pais para perseguir Paul Marakov, um dos assistentes de se pai que era considerado um membro da família até os trair, de dimensão a dimensão com a ajuda de Theo, outro assistente. Ela é focada na vingança até se apaixonar e perceber que Paul pode não ser o responsável pela porte de seu pai – a ironia dessa paixão triangular foi o que me fiscou em um primeiro momento (ainda que eu não goste de triângulos amorosos).
Deixando de lado a questão amorosa por um momento (porque o senso de imediatismo de Marguerite, sua proatividade, só funciona para o amor – ela poderia sim ser mais proativa em outras questões, porém... provavelmente isso foi importante neste momento para o crescimento da personagem), o ritmo da narrativa é muito fluído, os pulos de uma dimensão para outra são bem explicados e a experiência desse deslocamento foi maravilhosamente descrita – as explicações cientificas também parecem terem sido muito pesquisadas (e de forma completa). O romance começa de forma rápida e faz nosso coração bater em seu ritmo.
Antes de acabar essa resenha, vamos falar de alguns aspectos gerais: A forma como Claudia Gray construiu esse mundo não foi nada do que eu esperava (de um jeito bom), entretanto o triângulo amoroso é tudo aquilo que já encontramos anteriormente: os dois interesses amorosos são um pouco genéricos demais para a profundidade ansiada pela premissa, Marguerite [ainda] não tem uma voz ativa e distinta na trama (entretanto, ela cai de cabeça em tudo o que faz, o que é uma boa característica) e mesmo que eu tenha adorado tanto a narrativa quanto os personagens, ainda procuro o que faz deles personagens únicos. O uso de referências da cultura pop teve o propósito de linkar a trama com a realidade do leitor e essa foi uma manobra inteligente – é claro, alguns podem não gostar, mas as referências a Beyonce e Leonardo DiCaprio, por exemplo, estão lá.
De forma geral, foi um começo completo para a série. É uma boa trama sci-fi com pouco sci e mais “amor”, porque mesmo que Marguerite esteja procurando justiça por seu pai, ela o deixa em segundo plano em sua jornada pelo amor. Tenho boas expectativas para os próximos volumes, já que o jogo com a moral e o que os americanos chamam de “grey area” (area cinza) estão com tudo. A escrita de Gray é sempre um ponto muito forte, delicada e sensível, em certas cenas era como seguir uma canção e me deixei envolver por suas palavras.
Para finalizar, a trama não é perfeita, mas algo na escrita realmente fez sua mágica já que há algo de poético na ironia do desenvolvimento dessa história romântica. E mal posso esperar para te contar o que achei do segundo volume.

Really quite good overall, I just had some minor issues with it.

The biggest issue I had was that some of the science things in the book seemed either really, really far-fetched, or they just didn't make sense at all. I saw this as a sci-fi, and I prefer my sci-fi's to have some believability in them. This just wasn't doing it for me.

It had interesting characters and decent romance. I feared a bad love triangle at first, although that quickly ended (bless).

Overall, a good read- I'll definitely have to pick up the second one at some point!

Rating 3.5

How do I feel about this book...

I loved the premise. True, there are probably some things I'm over looking when it comes to the science-y part of the book and I'm ignoring all the parts I am a little confused about. Traveling between universes, much like time-travel is something I tend to be skeptical over and.... well, something always irks me about them.
In this case, I did think it worked out pretty well.... ignoring how mass can't be sent yet your body just disappears

The romance wasn't all there for me. I liked how it began. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book. There is a slow build up and and and... then I feel guilt... followed by frustration with this girl who is forgetting that she loved the dude before even going on the adventure!!

Adventure? Interesting.

I really feel like I need to read the book again to get it all because I feel like I am missing something although everything I know works out.
Oh– I'm not attached.

Okay, the worlding is awesome and the description of the places. I'm not attached to the main characters. I liked Theo but, easily forgettable. Paul is a good character but... hmmm. Marguerite I just couldn't attach myself to. I'm building up liking her but, I don't yet. Almost as if I don't know her completely yet.

Liked reading the book but, didn't find it to be anything super special.
I would recommend it but, probably as a library book first.
Not sure if I'll read the sequels since... well... I'm really on the edge with it and I don't think the sequel is set up much in this book.

Ah, this saddens me immensely, because I am absolutely in love with the concept of this. Travelling between dimensions? Living the life that could have been yours, if only some choices had been different? Experimenting with what could have been! That is immensely cool! And that aspect of the book I think is great, though I think it's taken further in the next of the series, it's just that I was incredibly bored by everything else. I didn't find the characters too interesting and it probably didn't help that certain plot points about certain characters weren't very surprising at all, which is fine, but it might have helped otherwise.

Also, they touch upon this a bit at the end of the book, and this series obviously can't continue without that aspect of it, but I was a bit bothered with them taking over their other's selves bodies and doing whatever the heck they want with it. Marguerite at one point has sex with Paul while she's a Russian princess, which is sort of gross, but also brings with it that the other Marguerite may very well be pregnant (due to sex she'll barely remember) and that one instant may have just ruined her life. She thinks about that for an instant, and then is obviously distracted by that dimension's Paul being wounded and dying, so it was kind of *shrug* and move on. I mean, if they had to go there, I had hoped for more consequences for it. More repercussions. Anything.

I finished this pretty quickly because it was an audiobook, and maybe some of my lack of enjoyment was due to the narration and perhaps it would have been better if I had read it, but eh. It was a bit too much on the “YA side of YA” for me, if ya know what I mean.

Muito, muito bom. O livro foi uma curva gaussiana para mim. Como comentado, começou como uma distopia confusa com as várias idéias de mundos paralelos e destinos, mas que evoluiu para um romance, que embora baseado em uma tradicional cliché dos romances, foi adorável e apaixonante (sim, gosto de romance para menininha, julguem-me, I don't care). A parte da Rússia com certeza foi a preferida de todas.
A relação que a protagonista tem com sua família é muito boa, e rara nos dias de hoje termos personagens que são ligados à família amorosa. Marguerite não é a melhor das protagonista ou a mais forte, mas talvez sua personalidade comum tenha contribuído para desempatar (?) um pouco a história. Achei as atitudes dele de impulsos, mas toleráveis - licença poética ao sentimento e não ao raciocínio.
Discordo que seja um triângulo amoroso bem construído, já que, como ela mesma percebi em alguns momentos, há uma grande diferença entre o flerte e o se apaixonar.
O final teve o reviravolta esperada, mas fiquei surpresa com as descobertas e bem animada. Apenas achei negativo a falta de mais perguntas e pontas soltas para um próximo volume. Caso fosse um stand alone, mas com um pouco de detalhes, estaria de bom tamanho. A autora conseguiu amarrar os pontos da estória e não deixar muitas dúvidas.

Uggh. I can't. I just can't.

I gave up on this book on pg. 206, and have no desire to finish it. Seriously, how can you fuck up something with so much awesome potential?! How can you take a sure-fire sci-fi thrill ride and turn it into a romance that's as bland as Victoria Beckham's pout?!?!

You don't care for any of these two-dimensional characters and you definitively do not care for the painfully forced romance that blossoms between them. No matter how hard she tries through her (albeit fairly engaging) prose, Claudia Gray gives us no emotional depth to make anything in this story resonant or significant. And for a book pivoting around avenging a murder, nothing seems to get done! All they do is stare at each other's lips and fantasise. In fact, during one scene where the two main characters kiss, I was expecting at least one line of dialogue mid-snog along the lines of “But wait, what about your father?” “Who cares? SEX!!!”

Honest to God, I can't reccommend this to book to anyone. Sci-Fi fans, this is NOT for you. For this is NOT a Sci-Fi novel. It's a romance. And romance fans, look elsewhere also. Nothing new or enticing is on show here, and pretty much everything you hate about the romance genre is milked for all its worth.

The only things the book has going for it are a rather engrossing and compelling first chapter, and a nice cover. Speaking of which, this is a prime example of the ancient mantra ‘Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover'. A Thousand Pieces Of You has a specatcular cover, but the story itself doesn't live up to any form of expectation.

ALTERNATIVE BOOKS:
Sci-Fi fans: Check out Pivot Point by Kasie West for a much more satisfying use of parallel universes
Romance fans: Check out anything by Rainbow Rowell or Gayle Forman for a deeper, more emotionally impactful love story

We again have another favorite book. I was highly anticipating the release of this book and that was mostly due to the cover. But this book was so much more awesome than the cover made me think it was. I was not disappointed in any aspect. The one flaw in the book and it is minimal, is the fact that I was able to predict a small detail that we learn at the end.

The writing and descriptions in this book were great. Claudia Gray has a very unique and intriguing way to draw you into the story. The way she described all the science in the book was great. She was descriptive and went in depth, but at the same time she would add humor to it to fit with Marguerite's lack of science understanding. I loved the way everything was introduced and explained in the different universes. Even when the universe was very similar to Marguerite's real home, we always knew what the differences were. Having Marguerite be an artist who focuses on detail was very important in regard to this story. The narrator needed to be someone who was detail-oriented but who also had a very limited understanding of physics. The whole basis of other universe travel was based on physics and using equations to understand why things happened.

Paul Markov was a very complex character who we knew very little about, however as the story went on we learned more about his life and his interactions with Marguerite. I loved the little flashbacks throughout the book that gave you a better understanding of why it was so shocking that Paul could kill Marguerite's father and destroy all the data and leave.

There were many twists and turns in this book that set many things up for the next book and the rest of the series. I appreciate that Claudia Gray didn't leave us with a huge cliffhanger because that is just cruel, but she still has me beyond anxious to read the next one and find out what they are going to do to stop the villain, (not naming him because spoilers).

Overall, this was an amazing start to a new series. It contained so many elements of what I appreciate in a book, there was the science aspect, the whole fantasy, multiple universes aspect, the humor, and of course the romance. The cover of this book is just as amazing as the actual book. And it is going to look great on favorites shelf.