Review: Undying by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

This book picks up two weeks after the last moments of Unearthed, Mia and Jules are hiding in the walls of the spaceship that is now orbiting Earth and packed full of Undying. Our heroes must find out the plan of the Undying, get themselves to earth, convince people they aren’t crazy, and stop the Undying from taking over Earth. 

I would recommend this series to anyone who likes ban together humanity to save Earth science fiction, other planet exploration, puzzles, and also to the person who likes a little romance in their SciFi. 

With the way Unearthed ended I assumed that this book was going to feel more like the second half of a book than a sequel/end of a series. But I was wrong about that. This book definitely felt like it’s own story (that obviously depended on Unearthed because the nature of series but I think you are picking up what I’m putting down). 

I absolutely flew through the first half of this book. I loved the way the relationships between Mia and Jules and Dex and Atlanta played off each other. I loved the addition of Neal, everyone loves a clever sarcastic supporting character. And everyone has a friend with a ton of followers because of thirst trap pictures. 

I really really enjoyed parts of the gangs travels to Prague, it was often fraught and also managed to lean towards the theme of working together. 

For a reason I’m not sure about, the last 1/3-¼ of the book I had a really hard time keeping focus. I cried a tear or two at the sad bit (though with these authors I never really believe they will actually kill someone. I really really want them to surprise me with that though) but having already have read Starbound, Hunted, Unearthed, and the Illuminae Files I tend to expect the ending to pull a couple punches. I am getting over my interest in authors ‘killing’ characters. If you want the emotional impact of killing a character, maybe actually kill them.
This is not to say I hated the ending, I found the ending sweet and lovely. I liked the message of trust and that we should make every attempt to work together to overcome massive global problems currently facing us. I appreciated the small nod to the people who aren’t down with that goal, and I like the optimistic note on which the book ended. 

One thing I missed in this book that I normally get from Kaufman and Spooner books was a real sense of place. I was confused about our location a few times and I really expected a more immersive feel to being in Prague. Normally I really understand the locations of the characters in their books, but I was a bit underwhelmed with the setting. 

I am very of two minds about the Undying aren’t aliens revelation. I feel like I would have liked it better if we hadn’t been misdirected at the beginning of the novel with the blue blood thing. If we had been given a clue in Undying that could have let the reader figure out that it’s fake (obviously we know about the trip 60 years earlier but I would have appreciated something about the blue). I didn’t find the fact that the first books ended with “whatttt they aren’t aliens?!??” and then this book did the same thing again. Why have Unearthed end on that revelation if you were just going to undo it immediately in Undying?
Back to positives! I found this book pretty funny. I really enjoyed the multiple attempts of the teenagers to let the adults save the world, I thought that was a very funny play on the teens save the world thing that always happens in YA. The way the characters interacted with each other was often quite funny, especially when we add Neal into the picture. He was also an excellent way to prevent kissing and keep the romantic tension going. 

I do wish I liked this book a little more than I did, but I still did enjoy myself. Haven’t decided on a rating, probably four because I would have given the first half a five and the second a three. 

I am very excited to read whatever these two have put next! Together and separately of course. The Other Side of the Sky comes out in 2020. Meagan Spooners Sherwood (a gender-bent Robin Hood retelling) comes out in March, along with Amie Kaufman’s sequel to her middle grade I haven’t read yet (but will get on very soon). Kaufman’s new series with Jay Kristoff, Aurora Rising, kicks off in May. So much from these two to be excited about.

I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads and finished reading it on January 26th, 2019.