Review of A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

Title/Author: A Thousand Pieces of You (Firebird #1) by Claudia Gray
Publisher/Date published: Harper Teen, November 4th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: 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 parent’s 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.

Ok, so I liked the concept of A Thousand Pieces of You, because hello fascination with parallel worlds, but I had a couple of issues with the way it was executed.

But first let's go with the stuff I liked: I really liked how every universe was different and how one of them was alike except for some crucial details. I loved seeing what new things they would stumble on next and especially the one where Marguerite was Russian royalty. That was awesome. Her older brother was one of my favourite characters, he's awesome, like a brother should be.
I also liked Marguerite's temper, she's quick to jump to conclusions and it was a rather interesting flaw, cause it sets things in motion. And I definitely liked the science of it all, I would KILL (not literally, obviously) for a Firebird of my own. I mean, come on, how cool would it be to travel to other dimensions and get answers to all my WHAT IFs. Seriously, get me one of those things.

So the overall concept was entertaining, but like I said, I do have some issues with it as well. I was REALLY annoyed at the love triangle. I mean, COME ON. One minute she's almost having sex with one of the guys and then she's realising she's actually in love with the other one? I mean, are you kidding me?? It's cruel to the guy and I did not like it at all. I get you can be confused, but seriously, that was a step too far for me. And also: if you tell one guy that 'every Marguerite' loves him, how can you justify not knowing how you feel about him in another dimension? At the moment it was really sweet, but after she has these doubts about her feelings for the other version of him I was like, ok, did you just say that to get him to sleep with you? Also, how do you go from having a non-physical relationship to having sex in basically 5 minutes after you've kissed for the first time? I'm not slut-shaming, it was just all up in my face all of a sudden and I was like WAIT, WHAT just happened???
I'm just not a fan of the romance, and it was a pretty big part of the story.

The other thing that doesn't add up in my mind is that when you use the Firebird, the body you have in your own dimension disappears. HOW? And where does it go?? The Firebird is only meant to take your spirit, so why does your body vanish? I get that it's handy, cause else you couldn't be gone for months and all, cause you know, a body doesn't survive well without someone to feed it and everything. But it makes no sense. I know it may be a minor detail, but it really bugged me.

There's this creepy corporate intrigue going on and I'm not really sure how I feel about it, but I'm interested enough to maybe pick up the next book and find out what the heck's going on.

My rating: 3 stars