Shades of Earth by Beth Revis

Shades of Earth by Beth Revis
Across the Universe #3
Release Date: January 15, 2013
Publisher: Razorbill
Source: Borrowed
Goodreads Stars: 4
Rating: Essential
Buy the Book: Amazon UK

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. - Goodreads

I'm feeling a lot of different emotions now that I've read this book. Across the Universe is one of the first debuts and series that I started reading when I was a baby book blogger, and now it has come to an end. Since reading the first book, I've experienced so much both as a blogger, in 'real' life, and as a reader. I am so happy that such a good series has been with me along the way. Does that sound weird? Probably.

After the epic cliffhanger that was in A Million Suns, I had been dying to get my hands on this book. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get my hands on an ARC (I have bad luck when it comes to giveaways!), but I think that helped build up the tension and excitement that I was feeling when I finally had this in my hands for the first time. 

Amy and Elder travel to Centauri-Earth for the first time, and after a bit of a rough landing, they go about their business. They need to look after Elder's people as they discover this new planet, while also protecting them from this giant threat.

There is not much I can say about this book without spoiling you tremendously. I think everyone should go into it knowing as little as possible, so I'm just going to be brief and vague. 

Centauri-Earth is everything that I was hoping for. If you've read my review of A Million Suns, or talked to me about the book, then you'll know I was really hoping for there to be dinosaurs on this new planet. Well, I can now say that my dreams weren't far off! The inhabitants of this planet were awesome, and I was kind of cheering for them because EEP!

Amy still annoyed me, although definitely nowhere near as much as she did in A Million Suns. She got on my nerves throughout most of the book, but at the end she was fabulous. She whined a lot in the beginning, and she acted very selfishly. She did get over herself fairly quickly, though not fast enough for me to actually like her character. Until the badass moments at the end, of course! 

Elder also annoyed me, but in the end he was also great. He really stepped up and became the leader that he wanted to be. I may have almost shed a tear or two over his bravery. 

There is a bit of a love triangle going on, between Elder, Amy, and a new guy named Chris. Honestly, this is the main thing that knocked a star off of my rating. Amy was attracted to Chris from the get-go, which I wouldn't have minded quite so much if it hadn't happened so late in the trilogy. Introducing another love interest - no matter how positive the reader is that the new guy is just temporary - this late in the game is annoying and pointless. Amy flirted with Chris a lot, and it got on my nerves. 

But whatever, I still ended up loving this book. There are a couple of things that I would have liked to have seen, though: 

1. An epilogue. I'm not usually a huge fan of epilogues, especially in YA books, but I think this book could have done with one. I would have loved a time-jump into the future by a few decades, or even a century. I want to know what happens to the characters beyond what we saw. Maybe this is just because I love the new planet so much? 

2. More creatures! Okay, this one is definitely because I loved the new planet so much. We see a new time of plant, and two new types of animal. And that's it. I would have loved to have discovered more, and while I think it would have been difficult to fit in due to all the action and surviving, I think the lack of creatures or plants or general wildlife took away from my experience of stepping onto a new planet. 

3. Less predictability. I know, I know, I say this about almost every book I read. Is it so bad that I want to be shocked for once? I wasn't expecting any of the history that came with the new planet, or the new discoveries to do with Earth and Godspeed, but I would have liked to have been kept in the dark about the aliens.

Anyway, that's all I want to say because if I continue then I'm likely to get into spoiler territory. If you have read Shades of Earth already, then you should tweet me to let me know what you think of it! Or let me know in the comments, although I'd like to try to keep those spoiler-free!