Check the Shelf Book Review: A Thousand Pieces of You

Summary (From Goodreads)

Marguerite Caine s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention is the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite s father is murdered, the killer her parents handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite can t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter, she begins to question Paul s guilt and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.

“A Thousand Pieces of You “explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.”

Shannan’s Summary

Marguerite’s father is dead.  Nothing can change this, but she can see that her father gets justice.  To do this, though, she will have to travel through the layers of time.  Each choice made by every person has caused a new layer of reality, and her father’s killer is now living in one of these realities as if Marguerite’s life hasn’t been changed forever.  But as she travels from one layer to the next, she realizes the reality she thought she left behind may not be as true as it seemed.

First Off…

I love time, space, or dimensional travel.  And really all I needed to know about this book to be interested  was it dealt with alternate dimensions.  The fact that Claudia Gray wrote it made it even better.

Thoughts:

I liked that the story jumped straight into the middle of things.  It doesn’t begin by trying to explain all the logic and science behind why they can travel through dimensions, just that they can and there are an infant amount of dimensions.  It took me a while to get into the rhythm of the flashbacks, which are common through the book, but I liked that method of storytelling and thought Gray did a good job of making past and present seamless.  I also enjoyed seeing the different dimensions that Maggie travels too.  It’s interesting to think how one small choice could snowball into a completely different life, or one almost the exact same.

It actually kind of bummed me out that there weren’t more worlds or at least different worlds in the book, but it’s just because I really liked seeing how things changed from one world to the next. Which makes me excited for the next book, because I would assume there will be more reality hopping in it.  I just find this concept so interesting.

What I wasn’t a huge fan of was all the relationship turmoil through the book.  I get that a lot of it was trying play out the scientific morality, but I don’t need all the details, or sound effects, of the relationships, especially when I’m listening to an audiobook.

The Voice

I thought Tavia Gilbert did a great job reading. Several accents were needed and she was able to make different characters in different accents to the point I questioned if it was really one person doing the reading.  This reading defiantly added to the depth of story, and since I have a bit of obsession with accents, I’m defiantly glad I listened to this book.

In the End

I thought this was a unique version of dimensional travel that had me intrigued.  I would have liked a little less in the relationship triangle, though.

10 Second Summary:

1. Science was well thought through:  The concept of the science is well developed.  It doesn’t deal with a lot of details but does feel plausible.
2. Interesting dimensions: I loved seeing the different dimensions that surfaced through the book.
3. Bigger focus on relationships: I could have done with a little less of the relationship angst, especially details of the most intimate parts of a relationship.

I think right now I’m at Paperback with the story but love the cover.  I’ll wait to see how I feel about the whole series before I commit to a version of the book.