The Scientific Proof of Destiny

"I meant it when I said I didn't believe in love at first sight.
It takes time to really, truly fall for someone.
Yet I believe in a moment.
A moment when you glimpse the truth within someone, and they glimpse the truth within you.
In that moment, you don't belong to yourself any longer, not completely.
Part of you belongs him; part of him belongs to you.
After that, you can't take it back, no matter how much you want to,
no matter how hard you try."

--Claudia Gray, A Thousand Pieces of You

Genre: YA Science Fiction

Publisher: Harper Teen

Pages: 368

Publication Date: November 4th, 2014

Source: eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review

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Previous Books in Series: First book in the Firebird Trilogy

Goodreads Description

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.

The Story

People, please excuse me while I get my geek girl freak on. This book introduces us to the idea that there are alternate dimensions and universes that are layered on top of one another. Marguerite is our main girl whose father recently was killed and is using her parent's research to travel between dimensions in hunt for his killer. She believes one of her parent's research assistant's is her father's murderer so she teams up with a different assistant to bring justice to her father. This whole idea of millions upon millions of alternate universes laying atop one another is such a fantastic piece of mind-fuckery I was in awe the entire time. The idea that there could be alternate versions of yourself living all these crazy different lives IS SO FREAKING COOL! Add into that storyline the component of fate and destiny and you get a recipe for amazing. But I'll talk more about that later.

Seriously though, this alternate dimension and travel between them made my nerd girl heart sing. The science behind it, experiencing Marguerite in different types of lives was just so freaking cool. Hint: Take a peek at the cover and it gives a major hint to where a piece of the story goes and anybody that knows me knows how freaking excited I was when this location came into play. Can I jump universes?

The Inevitable

You guys. I LOVE reading books that discuss the idea of fate and destiny. So. Freaking. Much. What's even cooler than this topic? The exploration that certain people in every single alternate universe will be drawn to each other. They talked mathematical pull that in every universe, certain people will always find one another. If that isn't one of the most gosh damned romantic things I've ever read, I don't know what is. I believe in fate. I believe in destiny. I believe wholeheartedly in the quote at the top of the review. I don't believe in love at first sight either but I believe in a connection, a moment. I found this line to be so perfectly in sync in what I believe and just ever so beautiful. Reading about Marguerite experiencing different versions of herself yet knowing that at the core of her soul she is the same as are the people she loves was absolutely amazing to read about. It gave me all the warm and fuzzies feelings.

The Details

The details and descriptions of the different realities was really fantastic. Claudia Gray did an amazing job with visualization of all these different worlds. I could see each universe perfectly in my head and I thoroughly enjoyed one particular universe for many, many amazing reasons.

The Jumpers

Marguerite, Theo, and Paul are the main focus of the story and we meet them in turn in each universe as well. The mystery surrounding Marguerite's father's murder kept me on my toes while not exactly guessing, see below. I can't give away too much plot but I can say that I LOVED how certain character's stories intertwined and developed. So much freaking love for this aspect. I REALLY want to be able to talk more details but I can't! I'll let you read and find out :)

The Shock

This is actually both a Belle and a Beast for me. There was one major reveal of the plot that I felt was starting us and Marguerite right in the face the entire time. How she didn't question this avenue or add things up was a little questionable to me because this is a very smart girl we are talking about here. However, while the biggest "shocker" didn't surprise me...it wasn't exactly what I thought either. So I guess I was still surprised at the endgame of the plot twist but the majority of it was a little too obvious to me.

The End

Again, a more pseudo-Beast. I loved how the book ended. I didn't know it was a trilogy when I requested it, I thought it was a standalone so I was a little irritated I was getting involved with another series thinking it would end on a cliffhanger with no answers but IT DOESN'T! While there are definitely ways to extend this story, this book was a completed story with the best type of an open ending if you can even call it that. The major issues of this story is resolved, we have our answers, a circle is completed. While I would like to read more about the characters because I like them, the book felt like a complete and independent book. There's room for more for sure but I liked that this particular story resolved. Yay!

Backstage Pass

While I was hesitant to start this because it's the first book in a trilogy, I was pleasantly surprised to feel very satisfied at this book's ending. Don't let the trilogy scare you. If you love sci-fi and the idea of destiny and romance, you'll love this book. It is smart, funny, and heartfelt. A great read to get your mind thinking.