Official Synopsis from Amazon: Cloud Atlas meets Orphan Black in this epic dimension-bending trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray about a girl who must chase her father’s killer through multiple dimensions.
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.
A Thousand Pieces of You explores an amazingly intricate multi-universe where fate is unavoidable, the truth elusive, and love the greatest mystery of all.
Genre: Science fiction, Young Adult
Setting: Modern day California, with various visits to different dimensions involving a more modern London with hovercrafts, an Imperial feeling Russia where Tsars still exist, and a world where climate change has affected the globe.
My copy came from: I borrowed a digital copy from my local library.
Review: A dimension bending world with predictability, but I loved it anyways!
A Thousand Pieces of You was the December book for Hype or Like Friday, and I’m happy to say that I really enjoyed this month’s selection! This was a rare science fiction read for me, and while I enjoy science fiction, I don’t read a whole lot of it.
The science fiction of this novel focuses on different dimensions – these dimensions are explained as different worlds that exist simultaneously as ours. Worlds where maybe you didn’t take that job, or you did decide to travel the globe and not go to school. Where maybe WWII didn’t exist. Different choices make for different worlds, and these worlds exist in the same time frame as our current world. So there is no time-travel here, but rather dimensional travel, and as some worlds are more advanced and some are less advanced, it feels a bit like time travel, but it’s not. Trust me, this is a lot less confusing in the book! I’d use quotes to illustrate here, but apparently when you get a digital copy from the library, you can’t underline any text in the book. Which was super annoying! But this was my first digital borrow from the library, so maybe I just couldn’t figure it out. I used the Overdrive app on my iPad and wasn’t all that thrilled with it (I couldn’t re-size the text, or find any of my bookmarks).
Our main character is Marguerite, age eighteen, who is the daughter of two physicists who invent the Firebird, a way of travelling between dimensions. I really enjoyed Marguerite. She was strong and smart, and she doesn’t have the science background her parents have, so you aren’t constantly subjected to scientific information, which made this book more readable.
The book starts off with Marguerite’s father being killed by one of his research assistants, Paul, and Marguerite and Theo, another research assistant, start racing through different dimensions to find Paul and kill him. The story was non-stop, and I really enjoyed the action in this book. There are several predictable plot points, I called out two of the major reveals of the book at the very beginning, but while there is predictability here, it is so much fun I didn’t care. I kind of wanted to be Marguerite and travel in the different dimensions.
There were a few frustrating plot points involving stealing or destruction of the Firebirds which just felt like forced plot points intended to trap our characters in certain dimensions. There was also a submarine scene that started out completely ridiculous, but then turned into a major twist that I didn’t see coming!
I can’t wait to read the next two books in the trilogy, and I’m excited that all of the books are already out so no waiting years for cliffhangers to be resolved. Looking forward to seeing what dimensions our crew travels to in the next two books!
Bottom Line: Fun and fast-paced. It definitely gets a LIKE from me!
Links to A Thousand Pieces of You on Amazon and Goodreads
Hype or Like Friday is a Goodreads group hosted by Jill at Rant and Rave About Books, Larkin at Wonderfilled Reads, and Britt at Geronimo Reads.
luvtoread 
I’ve seen this book around a lot!! I really enjoyed your review and how it didn’t give too much away.
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Thank you! It’s a great start to a series – really a lot of fun!
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The cover is gorgeous and I still haven’t read it even though I own it! 🙀
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That cover is so beautiful! And the covers for the next two are just as gorgeous. I think you will really like this book – it was a lot of fun!
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I certainly hope so!
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I read this book earlier this year and enjoyed it a lot. Definitely a like from me as well.
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I was surprised I liked it as much as I did – so much fun! Did you enjoy the rest of the series? I’ve just finished book two and didn’t like it as much, but hope book three is better.
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This is the first Hype or Like Friday book that I felt lived up to the hype very well. Nice review, as well. I’m also curious about what two plot twists you were able to figure out before they were revealed?
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Thanks!! Yeah, the hype is totally justified for this book – such a unique idea! SPOILER WARNING FOR ANYONE READING THE COMMENTS – but I knew right away that Paul was good and that her dad was still alive. The bit about Theo at the end I didn’t see coming at all, even though that was probably foreshadowed the most of anything! 🙂
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I knew Theo was a bit shady throughout the novel, and I knew Paul hadn’t done it but I was completely shocked by her father actually being alive
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It seems in books and movies that whenever they can’t find a body then that person is still alive. I was glad that he was still alive – I was actually thinking that he and Paul were conspiring together and that Paul knew where he was and was protecting him, so I was wrong on that front. I was surprised that he had been kidnapped!
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Yeah it’s hard for a book to surprise me which is why when this one had, it made the book just that much better
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Yep! I’ve finished the second book and there are twists in that one that I didn’t see coming at all – I’m really looking forward to book three 🙂
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I need to purchase the second book!
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You may want to have book three at the ready for when you finish book two. It ends on a big cliffhanger, and I’m anxiously waiting for my library copy to come available!
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Haha okay will do ☺
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I’m glad you enjoyed it so much! I definitely agree with the predictability and the forced plot points, and how awesome the overall concept is. It’d be awesome to read other authors’ takes on interdimensional travel; hopefully we’ll be seeing more like this soon. Great review! =)
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Thanks! Yeah, I really love the concept of the interdimensional travel and the overall story here. It was such a fun read!
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So here is your sci-fi read. Multiple universes is a plot device that I like a lot. It allows the author so much creative liberty. This does seem like an enjoyable read.
About using the texts for quotes, I guess you can longpress on the texts to copy them and paste them in a separate app (say the WP one) for use when you post the review. Give it a try.
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Yeah, this one counts as sci-fi! And I really enjoy the multi-dimensional plot as it brings up a bunch of ethical questions and plot opportunities that are interesting to read and ponder. If most sci-fi is like the few that I’ve read then I’m in for some really excellent reads and new worlds! 🙂
And good grief – yes, I could do a screenshot… aaahhh – thanks!! Hadn’t even thought of that! There actually were a fair amount of great quotes in this particular book.
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I think sci-fi is also like other genres in that there are some excellent books and a lot of mediocre ones too. And talking of suggestions, maybe you could try The Martian too. Its an NYT bestseller as well.
Ha ha, yes. Even screenshots. But never mind, maybe next time! 😊
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Ah yes – The Martian is on my list! I’ve got a copy, but since I’ve already seen the movie I keep pushing that one further and further down the list… but everyone says the book is great so I want to read it at some point.
So many books to read!! 🙂
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Maybe you can do it as one among the 100 you wanna do this year.
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Yeah – maybe! I intended to get to it last year, but then made the mistake of watching the movie and my desire to read the book dropped way down. But I think I’ve forgotten enough of the movie (which I thought was boring) to make the book more interesting. So I hope to get to it this year!
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Are the other two books in the trilogy already out?
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Yes they are! Which is good – because I’ve since read book two and it ends in a big cliffhanger. Now I’m just waiting for my library copy of book three to become available.
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I don’t know that I could ever be one of those fans who have to wait for a new release. I’m not very good at remember books unless they make a massive impact on me, the kind that change they way I think. Those are VERY few and far between, not even one per year.
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Truth be told, waiting on GRRM’s Winds of Winter has pretty much ruined me for series. I love the series, but it’s been such a long time to wait! And of course, I’ll need to re-read the books before the new one is released because I also can’t always remember the details. I’m starting to prefer series that I can easily get back into without re-reading all the prior books (like Agatha Christie, or the Anne books).
I find that since I started this blog I’m able to remember more of what I read, because I’m writing about it and taking notes while reading.
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Yes, I have a terrible memory when it comes to books and TV, which is why I don’t read series or watch TV series. For instance, everyone waited for the newest Orange is the New Black. I had seen all the previous seasons, but I didn’t watch the new one because I would have to re-watch all the old ones. I can’t just re-watch the previous season because I forget how we got THERE. I hate it so much. My husband has a great memory for such things, which frustrates me. I did read the Anne series last summer, but that was the only one. Something that I discovered with reading/reviewing a series at Grab the Lapels is that the further along I got, the fewer people would read my posts. They hadn’t read the previous books, so by the time I hit, say, book #4, no one could follow along other than people who had also read the series.
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I can never remember what happens in series – at least with TV it is a bit easier for me to get right back into the swing of things because it is visual, and there usually is a short recap at the beginning! I watch Orange is the New Black too and I cannot remember how this last season ended…
Yeah, I can see that happening with books that are series – after all, if you haven’t read book one of the series, why read a review of book four or five ? And if I have read book one, but haven’t read the other books, I may skip the review of book four so I don’t get spoiled as to what happens in the next books. But – if you happen to get a person or two who has read and enjoyed the series and they comment, then that is worth all the trouble! 🙂
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