by Claudia Gray Marguerite Caine is an artist in a family of scientists. Her parents are physicists that invented a device to travel to parallel-universes that they call the Firebird. When Marguerite’s father is murdered, all fingers point to one of his assistants: the quiet and awkward Paul, who immediately jumps into another universe to avoid being caught. And the chase is on. Marguerite, along with her parents’ other assistant, Theo, follow Paul to the different universes. With each jump Marguerite learns more about the two guys, and the truth about her father’s death.
Why yes, this book caught my eye because of the cover, but the plot was what sucked me in. Alternate universes are always fun to read about, and Gray did an amazing job building each world Marguerite landed in. One of the places Marguerite visited was Tsarist Russia (as shown on the cover, so it’s not a spoiler!) which was beautifully depicted by Gray. Unfortunately, that part was also a fault in the story — it was oddly long and slow compared to the other universes Marguerite goes to. That’s because the adventure gets overshadowed by romance at times, but what’s a YA novel without a complicated love triangle, right?
Overall, it was a really fun book to read. I can’t wait to read the second book in the series, Ten Thousand Skies Above You.