Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
Just like the last book I read (The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater), I discovered this book back in 2016 when I was no where near ready to read it. So I'm glad I read it now, when my reading kick picked up even though I have no time because I'm trying to keep my 4.0 GPA. Anyways, Claudia Gray wrote this magnificent book and I want to tell you about it now.
Marguerite Caine has always been surrounded by people she thinks are pure genius for as long as she can remember. This is pretty normal considering her parents are well known physicists with groundbreaking achievements. Their most astonishing invention being the Firebird, which allows its users to jump into different alternate dimensions. And it's not simply you and your body jumping into that universe, you jump into where your self in that dimension is at that exact moment in time; Therefore you can only to jump to dimensions where you already exist. The Firebird promises to revolutionize science forever. But then Marguerite's father is murdered, and the killer is one of her parents handsome grad-student assistants, Paul, that has practically become part of their family. Before the law can touch him, he escapes into another dimension where he believes nobody can get to him. Little does he know that Theo, another one of the handsome grad-students, has been repairing the Firebird prototypes and that he plans on going after him. Theo doesn't know that Marguerite is going to convince him to let her go because she is angry and out for revenge. She refuses to let the man who destroyed her family go free. She will race after Paul through different universes encountering the alternate versions of those 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. It's not long that she discovers the truth behind her fathers death is far more complicated that she could've imagined.
I read reviews for this book before reading it of people who didn't like it, which was a huge mistake because it made me worried that I wouldn't like it either. Little did I know I had nothing to be worried about because I loved it! My favorite aspects were the interweaving dimensions, the characters and the love triangle? (Yes you read that right).
The different dimensions of futuristic London, Semi-Medieval Russia and an Oceanographic dominated world are fascinating. When Marguerite became Grand Duchess Margarita was when I was the most intrigued with the story line and irritated because of the broken Firebird that seemed almost impossible to fix. But this was the section of the book that legitimately brought me to tears (because of her dad) therefore it was my favorite part.
Some people may argue that the characters have no depth, but I found myself attached to them by the end of the story, which only happens to well written characters (in my opinion of course). Marguerite was strong willed and determined but was also full of emotion and love for, not only her dad, but her whole family. Theo was the only one who had aspects of being shallow until near the end of the story. Paul was another one who I seemed to be rooting for the entirety of the book, something about his large demeanor but shyness made me drawn to him. He wasn't the stereotype of a wanna-be-bad boy like Theo was.
And the love triangle?? Dare I even say that I enjoyed it?? Because I did. A lot. I am not the biggest fan of love triangles and typically I find them cringey and annoying but I didn't mind this one. Like I mentioned previously, I found Paul more favorable than Theo so of course I was hoping for him and Marguerite to get together and I will still hope for them while I continue the series.
For those not wanting to try this series because of the bad reviews they've seen, I would recommend you give it a try. And if you feel like you want to DNF it (I never did, but hypothetically because I was worried I might do that) push through because you will get to the meat of the story and it will be worth it.
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