Jane Unlimited is for sure one of the best books I have read this year, The story was very unique and once I started to read it I couldn't put the book down. The story was very addictive and intriguing, the writing style of the author was amazing and she did an amazing job with the descriptions! It was as we were part of the story, part of an amazing and unique new world. I will recommend this book to all my friends for sure <3

This is definitely a departure from Cashore's earlier trilogy (perennial favourites) but it's weird and different and challenging in a way that I find both intriguing and exciting. I'll be putting this one in a lot of people's hands.

Wow, where to start? Perhaps with Jane herself; a young woman drifting after the death of her beloved Aunt. The real action begins after Jane decides to honour a request made before her Aunt's demise to accept any invitation to the house Tu Reviens. Which is why upon the arrival of Jane and her friend Kiran, at Kiran's family home - the mysterious Tu Reviens, readers are introduced to most of the other main characters as they are also residing there currently, prior to a 'Gala' event.

Without giving too much away there are mysteries to solve, adventure, crazy science, a touch of romance and a main protagonist full of potential plus a celebration of art and artists... and many, many umbrellas. Written in very distinct sections, each one almost a novella of it's own, the book works, as each section adds layers of nuance and understanding to the one before.

Plus there is the most enchantingly lovable dog, who is a character in his own right and not just a pet.

Hopefully you will enjoy this delightfully quirky, charming novel too.

With thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with an ARC.

This review will be posted on the ppld.org website when the book becomes available to be placed on hold - typically two weeks before publication date.

Wow. That was...wow.

Jane's parents died when she was quite young, but she never felt like an orphan due to the amazing parenting skills of her quirky Aunt Magnolia. When Aunt Magnolia heads off on a photography expedition to Antartica never to return, Jane feels unmoored. She drops out of college and continues her dead end job at the university bookstore. When a surprise visit from an old friend results in an invitation to a mysterious mansion, Tu Reviens, Jane jumps on the chance to experience something new. Not only that, but Aunt Magnolia has told her to NEVER turn down an opportunity to visit the enigmatic island retreat, and Jane is eager to learn more about Magnolia's connection to the place.

That was a hard synopsis to write, as this is a book that somewhat defies description. The book starts off as kind of an Agatha Christie meets Jane Eyre meets John Fowler's the Magus, and then quickly turns into an almost Whitehead inspired choose your own adventure. Jane makes the same choice several times with different consequences each time, and the result is a compilation of strange, horrifying, thrilling and delightful stories and plot twists. Cashore's storytelling abilities are on full display here as she seamlessly weaves together a number of different genres. Character development, while it seems like it would be secondary, is also an integral part of the story. I loved all of the side characters (some of them almost eclipse Jane), and would read an entire book about almost any of them.

Jane, Unlimited is a book that I'll reread in a year or so, because there was a lot of intricate plotting and connections that I'm sure that I missed. I actually don't think I've ever read something quite like this, and that's saying something because I read a lot. The unique format of the book was attractive to me, though I can see it being frustrating for some readers; it's not until Jane makes her second choice that you really start to realize what is happening. If you read this book (and you should), I'd say just relax and enjoy the ride - it's a wonderfully weird one. I can't wait to see the art in the final copy, as I think that the right images before certain stories will add to the peculiar ambiance that permeates the book.

The ending felt both forced and rushed to me, but I think I'll enjoy it more the second time around (as I said earlier, this book practically demands to be reread). I almost loved this one, and now I really can't wait to see what Cashore comes up with next. 4.5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Really loved this book. The whimsical nature of the main character and her individualized umbrellas caught me up in the story right away. With shades of The Westing Game and Choose your Own Adventure books, I was ready to go along wherever the story took me.

Not the Graceling follow-up I was hoping for, but an intriguing story nonetheless. Glad to see Kristin Cashore work coming back to the shelf and hoping for more!

Groundhog Day meets Clue in this fun sci-fi romp of a mystery. You may feel your brain's capacity tested by the mind-bending plot, but it is well worth the effort.

For some readers, Twilight was a saving grace bringing them back from years without reading. For others, The Hunger Games was that catalyst. The book that reintroduced me to reading for pleasure was Fire by Kristin Cashore. I became so immersed in this amazing world that I didn’t want to leave. Luckily, Graceling was already available. These two books are so important to my reading history that I didn’t hesitate to pick up the new book coming out by Cashore.

In fact, I didn’t even read the summary, I was so confident that it would be great. I was absolutely right up to about 30% on my reader when the story was winding down and I still had a seeming 70% to go. How can this be? Well, there’s a time jump. So panic sets in as Grounhog Day trauma comes to the forefront of my mind. I cannot begin to say how much I loathe that movie. All of my favorite shows have had that repeating day episode and I can barely watch. A quick Goodreads search brings my fears home. Yes, it is one of those books.

But this is Cashore, so I keep reading. An amazing thing happens! This is not a train wreck of boredom, with miniscule changes each jump. For Jane, one seeming small change, following a different person at a crucial moment, indeed changes everything.

The world Jane lives in has been dismal since her guardian, Aunt Magnolia, died on an expedition to Antarctica. She’s lost and can’t see which direction her life should go until she comes to a magical place where she can see all the possibilities. Tu Reviens is a place made up of lots of different parts of other houses where a host of characters just as unique live.

The plot is interesting, but it’s not why I love this book. Cashore’s characters and writing style are much more intriguing. “Every umbrella is born knowing that sound, its soul straining for that sound, waiting patiently through rainless day after rainless day for the day when raindrops will thrum against its skin.” Inanimate objects are given souls in this world and frogs are revered. If you like magical realism, fantasy or sci-fi, give this book a try.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm still not entirely sure what I just read. Was it a mystery novel? A spy story? A journey into self acceptance and actualisation? Or a choose your own adventure book? The jury is still out. It was delightfully potty in the best way in any case.

Jane promises her Aunt Magnolia, who raised her since her parents died, that she would never turn down an invitation to the home of familt friends, Tu Reviens. Aunt Magnolia dies and Jane finds herself adrift and directionless until one day she is called upon tk keep her promise.

This book is written in what if sections very remeniscent of the Ian Livington kids adventure books. However instead of choosing your own adventure Cashore guides us carefully through a series of scenarios neditating on decisions abd consequences and on both the random cruelty and random kindness of fate. There's a lot of intelligeng chatacyerisation there too and some sharp dialogue. Overall I really enjoyed this.

Where it fell down for me was that it's written in present tense and not quite well enough for me not to notice it. Basically I hate present tense narrative but if it's done well then I stop noticing that's what the delivery method is. I didn't quite here and thag jerked me out of the flow.

The other factor was in places this is 90% dialogue. Persobally I prefer a 60/40 split dialogue to narrative.

I got this because I am a fan of the autjor's Graceling series. This was completely different and I might not have picked it up if I didn't alrrady like the author. I am glad I did because this was a great book. Not a reread but definitely an enjoyable experience.

Good but some of the story lines were weird and confusing. It would be nice if it were more clear in the beginning that the rest of the chapters were different endings depending on her decision-which you will follow. One of the story endings were confusing and probably could have been left out. Some were quite fun!

This is a bizarre book. Cashore handles the possibility of multiple dimensions in an interesting way, but I'm not sure that it's a good book. The description doesn't give the style away so it's a surprise, but that will probably turn off certain readers and also prevent its true audience from finding it, at least until people start talking about it. It also took a long time to reach the part where the storytelling device becomes clear, and is slow to do so, so I imagine some readers struggling to even get there, and then to be extra disappointed if they do. I also found myself rolling my eyes at some of Jane's leaps in assumptions because they seemed to come out of nowhere, and many things seemed to happen to Jane rather than be done by Jane. Ultimately, I might recommend this to people, but only with a cautious caveat that will probably turn them away anyway.

As a fan of Graceling and Fire, I was really excited when I learned that Kristin Cashore was releasing a new book. Unfortunately, I felt that this title fell a little flat. While the "different choices, different paths" concept was interesting, I felt that Cashore took on too much. First of all there were too many characters to keep up with. Every time Cashore rewinds to follow the path of Jane's different choices, you have to reorient yourself with all the characters and recall where Jane stands in her relationships with each one.

Also, changing the genre every time you follow a different one of Jane's paths, added a "trippy" feel to this book reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland. While this may work for some readers it did not work for me.

This was an interesting experiment, but I'm not sure it succeeded. I think the idea of switching between genres is interesting - the premise is that after the scene is set and characters are introduced, Jane makes decisions and each one plays out in a different genre. Then the book goes back to that moment of decision, and another story unfolds.
I think that some of the genres worked better than others: the mystery was probably the strongest, the science fiction the weakest. I see that Jane was unlimited in decisions and choices, but curiously, I found the different genres serves to unmoor her and the other characters from any sort of foundation. This might have been Cashore's intent, because that plays into the idea of unlimited possibility, but it also weakened my attachment to and interest in the characters.
I have already recommended it to others, and I'm sure I will recommend it again. I'm glad I read it, overall.

I really enjoyed the first half, but once it did the time jump thing I kind of lost interest. I am not huge into reading mysteries and real mystery fans may enjoy it more then I did.

I *LOVE* Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue so was ecstatic to see that Kristin Cashore finally had a new book coming out! Sadly, this book is very different from that series. I tried hard to distance myself from my love of her other books and read this one objectively, but I just couldn't do it. I wanted more of her fabulous fantasy writing and her characters and world building. I just wasn't ready for a multiverse reality, I guess. These characters also were either less developed or less like-able for me as well. I'll still buy it for my middle school library because I have students who will enjoy it.

I was really enjoying this book and then I was all kinds of frustrated with the Kindle copy because it was a mess! I know it's an ARC/Galley, but this is, literally, the first time this has ever happened. I know the ending and I never even heard the set-up for it. It seems I missed about one quarter of the book and the parts I got were not in order. I'm bummed. : <

Interesting science fiction title which builds suspense throughout the beginning of the novel. Strange things are happening all around Jane, and she begins to piece together that her friend's house is not what it seems. She has only accepted the invitation to visit the mysterious house after reconnecting with Kiran, her high school tutor, and remembering her deceased and beloved aunt instructed to her accept an invitation if it is ever offered. Still grieving her aunt's death and with no particular future plan, Jane accepts and begins a life changing journey which takes her further than she planned.

What a TRIP! I'm going to be thinking about this book for a while.

After Jane's aunt, Magnolia, dies in Antarctica, she feels adrift. When a tutor from the past, Kiran blows into town and invites her to her mansion on an island, Tu Reviens. Aunt Magnolia made Jane promise to visit Tu Reviens if she was ever invited. The estate is a collection of art, architecture and people. While at Tu Reviens, Jane notices some fishy things going on, with the servants hiding things and forbidding her from certain parts of the estate and with the art going missing. Perhaps Jane will be able to uncover the many mysteries of Tu Reviens.

This novel works with the concept of multiverses. The layered mysteries and clues make Tu Reviens and this book an enigma. I felt that there wasn't much movement in the plot, which makes sense based on how the novel was structured. This book felt like a prequel or a prologue to a greater story. I think those who are taken with Ally Carter novels or mystery/fantasy could truly enjoy this novel.

This was an interesting story but five possibilities may have been too many. I enjoyed each of the stories, but it started to drag after a while. Some of the stories gave me a sense of who Jane was and built her character, but those that didn't were the ones that slowed the story down. Overall, it was an enjoyable read that I would recommend.