A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray (SPOILERS)

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray
Series: Firebird #1
Source: Bought hardback
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: November 4th, 2014
Age Group: Young Adult

Every Day meets Cloud Atlas in this heart-racing, space- and time-bending, epic new trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray.
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.

I've long been meaning to read a Claudia Gray novel. She's been one of those authors on my To-Read list forever. 

And after reading this book... I don't feel like I got the real Claudia Gray experience because, while three stars is not a bad rating, I feel like had my reading experience been any different, I would've rated it much higher - and only then could I really claim I read a CG novel. 

I bet you're wondering what I'm talking about. Well... I knew all the important plot twists... because of the synopsis. 

SPOILER The synopsis (which, by the way, is not the synopsis on my actual copy. My synopsis is much better done) hints very strongly and when I say hints strongly, I mean it told me that Paul is going to be innocent. So right of the bat, I knew everything the book tried to convince us at first was a lie. 

Though, I'm not sure if I would've bought Paul's guilt even without the synopsis because the whole idea he killed Marguerite's dad was shaky at best; it's been a single day since he's been killed and yet she is absolutely certain he did it, and tries to convince us it's so indisputable that she is going to kill him for it. 

And yet... we learn the police only said they suspected him; they haven't even fished her dad's body from the river, let alone determined anyone's guilt, so I was floored at her certainty. If Gray at least told us the evidence against him instead of getting away with 'suspicious behavior', maybe it would've been slightly more plausible.   

But the main spoiler steamed from one major character missing from the synopsis all together - Theo. The fact he was excluded from the synopsis told me everything I really needed to know; that he was the actual traitor. The moment I figured that out (i.e, page five, when we met him), I was able to see all the hints and double meaning in his words and actions. It wasn't even fun; it was just so easy. SPOILER

I don't know if it was due to these "insights" or what, but I felt like every major twist was easy to figure out afterwards - even the reason Marguerite's time-traveling experience is different than your average Joe *snort*.

Now as for the characters themselves - I liked them all. I liked Marguerite, I liked Paul and I liked Theo. I even liked the love triangle because it wasn't a love triangle. It felt more like Marguerite was trying to convince herself to fall for Theo because she was out to kill Paul and therefore should not have feelings for him...

Speaking of Paul - while I liked him, I think someone ought to tell him the Dumbledore way is not the right way. I hope you understand what I'm saying here.

Despite this, the love story between Paul and Marguerite was one of the things I liked most in this book - especially when we reached the tsar world. Honestly, I would love to read an entire novel set in that universe because the relationship between lieutenant Markov and Marguerite was absolutely captivating and beautiful, and reminded me strongly of the relationship Buttercup and Westley had in the beginning of Princess Bride.

Also... I would love a closure for this story-line. Just saying... 

One of the thing that really bothered me throughout this book was the logic behind the dimension-travel. The whole multiverse idea is really cool, ain't gonna lie, but why would you want to travel between the worlds if not for nefarious reasons such as stealing another life if yours sucks, stealing technology, etc?

What did Marguerite's parents wish to achieve?

In short (because this has gone on long enough), I feel like I will read the next book, but it's not at the top of my list.

Nitzan★