Unearthed

By: Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner

Narrated by: Steve West, Alex McKenna

Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

When Earth intercepts a message from a long-extinct alien race, it seems like the solution humanity has been waiting for. The Undying's advanced technology has the potential to undo environmental damage and turn lives around, and their message leads to the planet Gaia, a treasure trove waiting to be explored.

For Jules Addison and his fellow scholars, the discovery of an ancient alien culture offers unprecedented opportunity for study...as long as scavengers like Amelia Radcliffe don't loot everything first. Despite their opposing reasons for smuggling themselves onto the alien planet's surface, they're both desperate to uncover the riches hidden in the Undying temples. Beset by rival scavenger gangs, Jules and Mia form a fragile alliance...but both are keeping secrets that make trust nearly impossible.

As they race to decode the ancient messages, Jules and Mia must navigate the traps and trials within the Undying temples and stay one step ahead of the scavvers on their heels. They came to Gaia certain that they had far more to fear from their fellow humans than the ancient beings whose mysteries they're trying to unravel. But the more they learn about the Undying, the more Jules and Mia start to feel like their presence in the temple is part of a grand design - one that could spell the end of the human race....

©2018 Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (P)2018 Listening Library

Liked the Characters & Pace

I really enjoyed the characters, pace, and plot. However, there’s a romance element I didn’t really vibe with, but that’s just my personal preference

Loved it! Great! Must read for Illuminae fans!!

Pretty perfect! Great for Sci-Fi beginners and old veterans in the genre like myself! Gripping and on the edge of your seat from the very beginning to the last uttered word! Another great addition to Amie's great storytelling, with the help of Meagan Spooner. If you love Amie's other work, read this. I was introduced to her and Jay's Illuminae Files and decided to pick this up, I am now as much in love with Earthbound just as much as I am in LOVE with The Illuminae Files. Can't wait for the 2nd in this brilliant duology on the 22nd of January! Just a few days!

Very good book with one minor catch

Any additional comments?

A couple of plot elements didn't seem 100% logical to me, but overall I thought this a good book with a very interesting story that captured my interest. Narration was great. My only complaint was the rather sophomoric romance between the two main characters; I think that element could have been handled/written better. I overlooked this because I really did enjoy the story, but the reason for 4 stars instead of 5. Looking forward to book 2 in the series.

Can't wait for the next one!

Great narrators, fun story. A good YA read. I hope the author is a fast writer, because I want to find out what happens next.

did you expect anything else???

Aime Kaufman and Meagan Spooner can do no wrong! Everything they put out is pure gold, and this is absolutely no different. The story pulls you in immediately and does not let go until the very last word. yes it's YA and yes that makes somethings very predictable but just like every other series I've read from either of these two, in the grand scheme it just doesn't matter, the stories they tell are captivating.

Good thriller, good plot

This was a good listen......had a good plot, mysterious too. Great visualazation/detail . charactors were likable. Once I got used to the female narrator's voice, I loved it. It took a minute though. Sci fi parts were not hard core until the end. It was a fun ride.

Indiana Jones in space with vocal fry

The first thing that jumps out is the female narrator sounds like she either has a horrific cold, or has been smoking since she was 8 years old. This was a tad distracting throughout. It's not so bad when she's been talking for a while, but especially when she is starting to speak, that vocal fry is very predominant. Steve West of course has a gorgeous accent and voice, making his chapters especially enjoyable. I liked that both narrators did a decent job imitating each others' accents so the voices were still fairly consistent across both of their narrations. This wasn't my favorite Amie Kaufman book, but it was still entertaining and I loved the relationship between Jules and Mia. There were definitely parts that felt like they might have been better in a video game where you get to figure out the puzzles yourself rather than hear about it *cough* like Uncharted *cough* but I was entertained throughout which is my main criteria for a book. I liked that there was a larger, overarching mystery on top of the temple puzzles, and that part was what kept me interested (beyond the relationship between Jules and Mia). I see how some people complain it starts off slow - I would argue it doesn't start slow, it merely gets better further into the book. I will admit to having predicted the twist at the end from fairly early on, but i was still happy to see my suspicions confirmed - and by the end they haven't been 100% proven correct, which I like because it keeps me wanting more for the next book to see how much of my prediction was correct. I'm very much looking forward to the next book.

great book, events started to become predictab

actor's performances where great. I am giving the story a 4 star only because it became obvious as to what was going tp happen next

great start to a series

I'm so glad that this is going to be a serious because that Cliffhanger though. Now to impatiently wait until next year. loved the narrator's.

Enjoyable, if risible

I enjoyed the previous series by these two authors and this new duologyu follows the formula of a teen aged pair in a sci fi setting and their two perspectives. In this case, we have an uptight English scholar and a Chicago street scavenger thrown together on an unexplored planet. Since I had to opportunity to listen to the Audible versions of both books in the series at the same time, this review will have a larger perspective than just a single book.

Story: Jules's father was one of a select group of experts on the Undying race of aliens. He was among the originals who decoded their message and gave the coordinates of a new world to explore, Gaia. There the IA (the Earth-wide police) found technology that could save a dying Earth. But Jules' father found a second message hidden among the first that was a warning - a warning no one wants to hear with the lure of Earth-saving technology on the line. When his father is imprisoned for telling the truth, Jules secretly travels to the Undying planet Gaia. The Undying are not there - only ruins are left and the IA has restricted all ships going there. But scavengers are sneaking in - and on one of these ships is a hidden stowaway Mia, there to find enough contraband tech to sell up and save her sister. Jules and Mia meet and must depend on each other to survive. But each is keeping secrets.

I have to believe that Kaufman and Spooner were directed by their publisher to 'dumb down' the books even further from the Starbound Series. Plot points are continually repeated to make sure everyone is on the same board; e.g., after the 40th time a character named Mink is brought into a conversation, you'll get a whole paragraph remind you of her connection to the characters. It got VERY tedious after awhile. The plot itself is risible. I could suspend disbelief somewhat on the Starbound Series but it is REALLY hard here. The aliens are cliched, the ruins generic, the whole 'Indiana Jones trap aspects REALLY inexplicable for a technologically superior race, and the reason the undying reached out to humans comical. My eyes hurt from rolling so much throughout.

Jules and Mia's luck is, of course, tantamount to their escapes. I wish it was because of intellect but it is clear the authors wanted to balance Mia's survival skills with Jules' book learning by ensuring they solved all the riddles together. But really, when you think about it for just a minute, the ludicrous nature and reasoning of those riddles become hard to surmount. Especially since the scavengers following them were able to do so easily since all the traps were sprung. Why bother with the traps in the first place since any alien species finding it could set off the traps in advance and then just walk through.

The characters are uber likable and that is the heart of the book. You'll really like Jules and Mia and want to follow them through their travails. And in liking them, you'll probably look over the complete silliness that is the plot. There is a lot of mystery in the beginning but the reveals throughout were underwhelming and further highlighted the problematic nature of the plotting.

This first book takes place fully on the forbidden planet Gaia. Much of it involves running from other scavengers, which includes being forced into a temple and having to solve its riddles in order to move forward. Jules is the only person on the planet who can read the Undying Glyphs and Mia has the common sense to see what Jules overlooks. The next book has a complete tone shift and takes place on Earth.

In all, it is a nice Summer read if you don't look too closely at the plot. This first book was much better and more tightly written. It all begins to fall apart quite a bit with the second book. I listened to the Audible version and it was ok - I couldn't help but feel there were too many accents for the narrators to deal with and so it could be frustrating at times.