Shades of Earth by Beth Revis

Shades of Earth by Beth Revis
Series: Across the Universe #3
Published by: Razorbill on January 15, 2013
Genre: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Space
Pages: 369
Source: Purchased
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Rating: ★★★★½

Amy and Elder have finally left the oppressive walls of the spaceship Godspeed behind. They're ready to start life afresh—to build a home—on Centauri-Earth, the planet that Amy has traveled 25 trillion miles across the universe to experience.

But this new Earth isn't the paradise Amy had been hoping for. There are giant pterodactyl-like birds, purple flowers with mind-numbing toxins, and mysterious, unexplained ruins that hold more secrets than their stone walls first let on. The biggest secret of all? Godspeed's former passengers aren't alone on this planet. And if they're going to stay, they'll have to fight.

Amy and Elder must race to discover who—or what—else is out there if they are to have any hope of saving their struggling colony and building a future together. They will have to look inward to the very core of what makes them human on this, their most harrowing journey yet. Because if the colony collapses? Then everything they have sacrificed—friends, family, life on Earth—will have been for nothing.

Death will come on swift wings to whomsoever opens this book.

This. Book. Has. So. Much. Death.

Beth Revis is like a fiction mass murderer. I did not expect so many people to die in Shades of Earth. It’s written like a realistic war book. There is violence, there is devastation, and there are casualties. People you love will die. People you hate will die. People you never got to know—who you were indifferent about—will die.

Shades of Earth is a brilliant conclusion to the Across the Universe series, and you will not be disappointed! We get all the answers that we longed for since the first book and they will blow your mind! Despite all the death and destruction, this book is really satisfying. I loved seeing everything unravel and putting all the pieces together!

It was around the halfway point that this book became truly un-put-down-able. Each chapter would end on a treacherous cliffhanger, that left me with no choice but to keep reading and power through the book! It got even worse when Elder and Amy were physically separated so with each cliffhanger, I would have to power through the other person’s chapter, just to find out what happened to the first person!

Amy’s character development was phenomenal. She has always been a pretty strong character, but by the end of the book, she was pretty incredible! She honestly had me shaking in my boots a little bit. She became so badass, so determined, and so do-not-fucking-mess-with-me.

One thing that did annoy me was the small love triangle that developed.. ugh. Like so many love triangles, it just felt pretty pointless. Luckily it was kind of subtle and definitely didn’t dominate the book. Most of the book was all about the murder, the mystery, pushing away the lies, and uncovering the truth.

My other small annoyance is a spoiler, so… I just couldn’t sympathize with the hybrids. Honestly they were just so closed-minded and stupid. Like “Oh my god humans have arrived, THEY ARE THE ENEMY! LET’S BLAME THEM FOR THINGS THAT THEY DIDN’T DO, BUT OTHER PEOPLE IN THEIR SPECIES DID! Let’s shoot first and think later!” I mean, god… Are people still that stupid hundreds of years from now? Let’s blame the entire human race for what ONE group of people hundreds of years away did. That’s just stupid. And in some ways, I guess that was the whole point. But the fact that I couldn’t sympathize with them AT ALL was a little annoying. I would have preferred a conflict that I could relate to a bit more.

But ultimately, this book rocked. Fans of the Across the Universe series will not be disappointed! This book has all the same factors that made me fall in love with the previous books. We have realistic devastation (not everyone makes it out alive), true horrors, political corruption, lies, manipulation, and romance. It’s pretty awesome to have that all packed into one epic book!

The Verdict