Review: Unearthed by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Title: Unearthed 

Author:  Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Publishing Date: January 9th 2018

Pages: 384
Genre: YA Sci-Fi Thriller

Series:  Unearthed #1
Source: Audio

 

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...

I loved the Starbound series and was really excited to see these two duel it up again.I didn't know what I was in for with this book. I think I was expecting more Starbound and I got something totally different. I see the excitement in the book and I did enjoy this read. This book was a lot of action. It was a little slow going for me in parts, becuase I am not an action advenrture kind of reader but there was other stuff to enjoy that kept me reading this book. 

There was a message sent to earth from an alien race. The message said anyone who dares our planet holds riches beyond your imagination. Come and get it. It's yours. There are those who want to study and also those who don't trust this alien race. There are some that want to loot it and see it and then there are those that want the information to save the Earth... which is in trouble. Amelia is a looter. She works on her own and is ont he planet alone when she runs into trouble and also runs into Jules... who wants to uncover what this alien race was hiding. Why would they just give all this information and treasure away. Well they team up for different reasons... lying to each other... and when they start to become friends and have their voyage underway... they are basically kidnapped by some mercanaries. Their boss wants the treasures and now Jules and Amelia are the pawns that are being used to uncover all the secrets and puzzles that is in the way of the treasure. 

I did get a little bored at times in this book. I am not an action adventure person in books. Movies yes. I have a hard time with it in books. If you are a action adventure type of reader.... this book is so for you. This is the only thing that I didn't like about the book. I liked the action I just wish there was a little more relationship, story, and world building and a little less action. 

The story... fabulous! I love the idea of an alien race leaving basically an Indian Jones type of scavenger hunt for humans. Would I trust them. Um no. I would be more like Jules,skeptical. I also wouldn't want to loot the stuff. It should be studied and on dispay for the world to see. Anyways. The story was so unique and so well thought out. I was very impressed by the story, the puzzles, the information, the world buidling. 

I loved the characters. They were both boneheads most of the time but they were so likable. I loved Jules. He was so smart. Nerdy sexy. I loved his brain. He was so charming too, oh and so clueless! Oh how I loved him. Amelia was street smart, bold, ruthess, a real go getter. She had a love for family that gave her no boundries. 

These two worked well together too. They fought a lot. The bickered they bantered they hated. Of course in the end, they loved. I did enjoy the romance. They belonged together and so couldn't see it. The love was fast. Days. But they almost died together more than once. So I guess that speeds things up ont he romance front. 

The bad guys weren't always bad guys andt he good guys weren't always good guys. The lines were blurred. I appreciated these books becuause I feel its realistic. The lines are blurred so many times in real life and sometimes the good guys do bad things and bad guys choose to do good things.. or do the bad things for good reason. Lines are blurred. Life is not black and white. Ever! 

So all in all. Great story, unique and interesting. Great characters that I just adored. Loyalty, friendship,romance, and adventure. It was a pretty good read. 

I enjoyed it. I will for sure be picking up the next book. 

Amie Kaufman is the New York Times bestselling co-author of Illuminae (with Jay Kristoff) and These Broken Stars, This Shattered World, and Their Fractured Light (with Meagan Spooner.) She writes science fiction and fantasy for teens, and her favourite procrastination techniques involve chocolate, baking, sailing, excellent books and TV, plotting and executing overseas travel, and napping.
She lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband, their rescue dog, and her considerable library. She is represented by Tracey Adams of Adams Literary.

New York Times bestselling author Meagan Spooner grew up reading and writing every spare moment of the day, while dreaming about life as an archaeologist, a marine biologist, an astronaut. She graduated from Hamilton College in New York with a degree in playwriting, and has spent several years since then living in Australia. She's traveled with her family all over the world to places like Egypt, South Africa, the Arctic, Greece, Antarctica, and the Galapagos, and there's a bit of every trip in every story she writes.
She currently lives and writes in Asheville, North Carolina, but the siren call of travel is hard to resist, and there's no telling how long she'll stay there. She's the author of the award-winning Starbound trilogy (These Broken Stars, This Shattered World, Their Fractured Light) and the Skylark Trilogy (Skylark, Shadowlark, Lark Ascending) as well as the upcoming Beauty and the Beast retelling Hunted.
In her spare time she plays guitar, plays video games, plays with her cat, and reads.