In the distant future, the Earth has become a more difficult place to survive, from overpopulation, to lack of resources. An ancient alien race has sent out a message offering the humans of earth a new technology and planet to potentially help the human race. Amelia, a scavver, sneaks out to planet Gaia to find technology that will bring her home and save her sister. Jules is on Gaia to follow up on his father's belief that the aliens were warning the humans about the new tech, not giving them a way to save themselves. Even though each of them is fighting for something completely different, they will need to count on each other to survive the world, pass alien tests and riddles, and save their families.

I loved this book. It moved fast. I loved the characters, both main and minor. I wish that the alien tests were better developed and explored, but this is forgivable because it was well done.

This was such a fun read to start the year off with. I loved the characters, I liked the plot and a nice twist at the end made me want the sequel now!

Jules and Amelia were well done characters. They both have their strengths and their weaknesses which played off of each other nicely. They were also so cute together. Their romance was a bit predictable, but still fun to watch. It was nice to know that even when you go to another planet you could maybe find your soul mate. These two never would have met on earth, but were obviously meant to be together. Jules was adorable in his nerdiness. Amelia was smart and calculating and tough as nails. It was also nice to see them have moments of awe as they moved around this alien planet, they just didn’t take it for granted. There are some solid secondary characters through out the book that I both liked and hated. Some started off bad, but came through for Jules and Amelia when it was needed.

The plot was nicely done, even though it was a bit predictable and slow at times. I liked the puzzles and traps that the Undying had set for them in the temples. It gave it a bit of an Indian Jones feel to it. I also liked that there was a mathematics component to understanding their language. I had pretty much figured out what was really going on with the Undying a few pages before the characters, but there was a twist thrown in at the end that was a surprise. It will be very interesting to see where the authors take the story in the sequel. Some nice tech was written as well, but I liked that Jules still used an old fashioned notebook and pen to keep notes in. That made it feel more realistic.

The writing was fantastic, I really felt like I was on the planet with them, seeing what they saw and feeling it as well. Great descriptions of the planet and the temple. I think it would be nice to see some of the Undying’s language though. I think some of that was lost in the descriptions of what it looked like.

Overall a good solid start to a very interesting new science fiction series.

Unearthed brings an interesting concept to life: looking back at history in the future. While it takes place in a sci-fi setting where humans have found access to Gaia, a planet that seems almost habitable for our species, much of the narrative is done thinking about the past. It pairs up an unlikely duo - an archaeologist and a scavenger - in a nonstop adventure that continues from beginning to end of the book. Readers looking for action and adventure, get on this story. And readers who want something for substantial, perhaps save this one for a day when you want something light.

The thing about this book is that it’s a lot of action for fun times and adrenaline rushes, but there is not much of the plot. We’re far in the future and the International Alliance - composed of politicians that came together and enforce a certain hegemony over space travel and the industry at large in the world - has received instructions from an alien species, the Undying, about their secrets. What are their secrets? Perhaps it is valuable technology, like the raider Mia needs to sell in order to save her sister. Perhaps it is the entrance to the secrets of survival, as the intellectual Oxford-man Jules wants to discover. This is the question that hangs over readers throughout the book. It’s constantly in the background - this one piece of puzzle - and does not get resolved until well into the conclusion of the story.

This book felt like one large obstacle course that kept on going, with mercenary conflict mixed in-between as boss points. Jules and Mia pass through checkpoints in their adventure and have to unlock puzzles to stay alive and continue forward. I can easily imagine it as a video game. As a book, however, the lack of substance in actual story (in contrast to the action-based plot) makes it tiresome. Especially when the characters ask the same questions over and over again without headway.

“They forget to see the stars, as humanity once did, as we all used to do when we were children. When we learned about other stories and cultures for the sake of doing so, for how those revelations changed us, what made us. Gaia is the chance to learn on a scale we’ve never imagined before, and instead we’ve become traitors and thieves.”

There was a pretty good exploration of character and motivation in Unearthed. Mia and Jules are on opposite sides of the tracks. She dropped out of school, he grew up in a college-area. She wants to take the alien’s technology, he wants to study them. She thinks he’s privileged and naive, he thinks she’s desecrating artifacts and is too desperate. Despite these differences, they manage to make a smart and efficient team. It was great seeing their trust in each other and having their prejudices fall away when they discover more things about the other. Mia is more action-prone, quick on her feet, and has great survival instincts. Jules is a hard worker and passionate, biracial scholar but new at this whole adventure aspect. I thought they were pretty great characters.

“I ought to resent everything she’s done, and everything she’ll do, if we escape this place. But just like the left-behind histories we uncover - hers in ruined buildings, mine in vanished civilizations - our own story is more complicated than one simple truth.”

The focus is mainly on these two characters. There are mercenaries that come into play, especially for plot and conflict reasons, but don’t make a lasting imprint. It is reminiscent to Spooner and Kaufman’s previous trilogy’s first book, These Broken Stars, since the secrets are discovered by two characters working together.

The romance began on hormone-charged attraction at first (which, I found very funny to see both characters remark on) to something more substantial as Jule and Mia’s journey brings them together. It’s pretty good though for the most part. There are a lot of “being in this situation brings out the sensitive parts of us” scenes that end up in unexpected honesty, but that is to be expected in this one large obstacle course of a book. Quite light, and not that big of an emphasis. It’s a very “at this moment, at this point in time, we feel this camaraderie” type of feeling.

“Together, we’re something more than we are apart, something more than I’ve ever been before.”

I liked Unearthed! I thought it very exciting and action-packed. However, I do feel like the lack of headway in storyline and exploration regarding the world make it a bit superficial. Like I said before, great for adventure-loving spirits but perhaps a skip for readers who become impatient with too much adventure and not enough discovery. The introspection on what it means to find an ancient civilization is well-thought out, and the sci-fi bits are ultimately quite light. There is a cliffhanger for book 2, and I'll definitely be picking it up to find out more about the world. Two words that I would describe this book with are fun and charming - it’s here for a good time, but not necessarily a long time.

Posted to Goodreads and will be posted to Amazon.
For a more in-depth review watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acC8ZXCPQu4&feature=youtu.be

In the future when the Earth is near extinction humans receive a message from an alien species with a promise of hope. The aliens send instructions for a portal that will The people of Earth build a portal that will allow humans to travel to another world with technology that may hold the secrets to humans salvation. Scholar Jules and scavenger Mia have both found their way through the portal to the new world. They have opposing interests however when a new threat surfaces the two must team up to solve ancient puzzles to save the world.

This book was just a fun, fast paced adventure. The world building was excellent and the descriptions of the alien world and its mysteries were incredible well crafted. The characters were well developed and their evolving relationship was sweet and realistic. This is a must read for YA sci-fi fans.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unearthed is described as a cross between Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider in space, and I absolutely loved it!

The dynamic between Jules and Mia was so much fun, and I loved how their skills as a scholar and a scavenger complimented each other. At the start, it seemed like their philosophies and mutual goals clashed with each other – Jules wanted to research and preserve alien artifacts, while Mia just wanted to sell them off to save her sister. As they worked together to solve riddles in an alien tomb, while escaping from raiders, their combined knowledge and experience helped them through.

Being set on a different planet, I also enjoyed the world-building of how humans found themselves on Gaia, and the birth of scavengers. There’s just so much adventure in this new world and I loved discovering what the answer to each riddle was within the Undying temple. It was interesting gradually learning more about them as Jules would get excited about his research and the possibility of encountering an alien race. The descriptions of each puzzle was so vivid and it reminded me of those point and click adventure games (like Broken Sword) where you have to solve the puzzle to progress.

While Mia’s role as a scavenger and pawning off rare artifacts to the highest bidder may be met with scorn, the development of her character was fantastic, giving us a deeper insight into why people may participate in crime. She’s quick on her feet, incredibly brave, and also resourceful, and she’s learnt how to use her skills to pay off her sister’s debt. Joining Jules on his adventure forces her into uncharted territories, particularly when it comes to the amount of danger they will face. I loved seeing her get the two of them out of a bind.

Jules on the other hand, is so sweet, reflective, sensitive and intelligent. While he doesn’t really know what he’s doing at the start, needing to force himself to overcome his prejudices around Mia, I loved how he grew on his own and learnt to trust his instincts a bit more. He’s the type of person who finds it hard to go with the flow, but exploring the Undying temple while being chased definitely forces him out of his comfort zone.

As with Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner’s These Broken Stars series, I loved how the romance was developed over the course of the book. They banter, learn to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and leans on each other for their survival. While their romantic interludes may contribute to the foreboding atmosphere of the novel, especially when there are raiders hunting them down, I thought it was adorable.

Unearthed is a thrilling archeological adventure set on another planet, filled with riddles, alien artifacts and a shippable couple. While the plot was slightly predictable with a contrived ending, I really enjoyed the adventure and can’t wait for the next one!

This was a super fun read, full of suspense, twists, and literal cliffhangers. While the relationship between the two main characters seemed a little rushed to me, I still enjoyed getting to know the characters and see them develop trust with each other. I'll be recommending this one to readers who enjoyed Amie Kaufman and/or Meagan Spooner's other books as well as anyone who loves the puzzles and traps of Indiana Jones.

Lara Croft and Indiana Jones on a space adventure? SIGN ME UP.

I wasn't sure what to expect. The plot of two kids exploring alien ruins on a distant planet in hopes of saving Earth could either be very good or very bad. The book isn't perfect, but I was intrigued about the alien race from the very start and that continued through the entire story. I had suspicions about who or what the Undying might be, and the end may have confirmed my suspicions and has me now excited for the sequel. The two main characters were interesting, and the touch of romance didn't really detract from the story much. Overall, it was a fun sci-fi read that a lot of teens are going to enjoy.

This could've easily been a single book, but the most interesting part (after hundreds of pages of stale, will-they-won't-they-trust-each-other plot) comes at the very end of the book. When you don't have enough story to sustain two books, it shows on the page. This suffered badly from filler. I would've been more interested in it if the storytelling had been tighter.

This is a fun bit of fluff about two teenagers who know more than anyone else in the entire world. Just like real life. Jules and Mia are great protagonists, scrappy and resourceful beyond any reasonable expectation. They are kind of like energizer bunnies, they just keep going and going. There is never any time to reflect on the plot. Never any time to look ahead. The whole thing races along and the ending is another jump into certain death and destruction. It really is a blast to read!

I've been looking for the CS Lewis quote about science fiction, the one where he mentions that really good SF posits a really different world, and that writers should do something different with that world rather than setting, say, Romeo and Juliet out in space. As I read <i>Unearthed</i> that quote kept tickling in the back of my brain because this book? The world isn't new. Neither is the plot.

Set on an earth-like planet, one we're interested in because something (it appears to be global warming, but isn't explicit) has greatly disrupted life on Earth and we could use technology and/or a new place to settle, we meet our two narrators, Mia and Jules. One is the scrappy scavenger doing an illegal heist, the other is the genius teen looking to explore a new civilization. They meet, they join forces, they argue, etc.. There are glyphs to deciper, puzzles to solve, etc. And that's one of the biggest problems - so much of this is visual, and yet we're dealing with print. Imagine the Indiana Jones movies as books and you've pretty much got it. And if readers don't get the Huge Cliffhanger Plot Twist before it's explicit, they haven't done a lot of reading before. I'm not talking about subtle signs, I'm talking it's pretty much spelled out towards the end (before the ending, that is).

The other problem is that this has chapters alternating between Mia and Jules' POVs, and as a result there are far too many instances of information being repeated. Once was fine, twice was too much. If only there'd been an editor or pre-reader who had asked why we needed to have relatively minor things reiterated... but there wasn't.

So points for some of the plot, loss of points for repetition, the cliffhanger and the need for visuals.

E-ARC provided by publisher.

This was the best that this author pairing have written so far and I’m a fan of their previous series. UNEARTHED provided immediate connection with a story that left me clueless, breathless, full of adrenaline and utterly drawn in.

Neither Jules nor Mia should find themselves on the planet of the Undying at the age they are, but both are there illegally on missions of their own importance, passion-filled and wanting to change the direction of their own lives and earth’s. What ensues is a twisty, unexpected tale of a civilisation long-gone that seemed to have intentions for earth to save it from something. This is a story with bandits, criminals, firsts, genius and survival. I felt absolutely on the edge of my seat from start to finish, which is kind of uncomfortable but completely worth it.

Mia was the making of Jules and Jules became the making of Mia, where integrity grew and selfishness diminished. Their friendship and bond might have been over a short period of time together but they experienced so much, I believed their tether. Often side characters are important to me in books, but with UNEARTHED I felt the opposite, Mia and Jules were the focus and all surrounding were supplementary; it worked.

I’m pretty impatient at where I’ve been left, but like the best of books, I can hang on for the kind of quality of writing that isn’t everyday, or every read. Spooner and Kaufman wrote seamlessly together and I am bitten by these worlds they have created. I still don’t know who the goodies and baddies really are!

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through netgalley in return for a honest review.

Reviewed for Jo&IsaLoveBooks Blog.

hen I heard that Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner had teamed up for another sci-fi series after their much loved Starbound series, I was IN! And these amazing ladies did not disappoint with Unearthed!

In Unearthed we have our home planet, Earth, no longer being sustainable, which forces exploration to find new habitable worlds. Instead the non-livable world of Gaia is found, along with ancient archeological finds and some amazing high tech which can help the Earth's environmental problems.

Enter Mia and Jules who are on Gaia for completely different reasons and are complete opposites. They are thrown together into crazy Indiana Jones-like adventures and the action and new discoveries never stop.

I love sci-fi and new worlds, and likeable protaganists, and really great bad guys. And I really love big twists. Unearthed had it all! And, ohmy, that ending!! I was one of those that didn't see it coming so was stunned!

Loved this book and the cover art, so will need a hardcover copy for my personal library collection. I can't wait to see what Amie and Meagan throw at us in book 2!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion for the advanced copy!!*

4.5/5

This was a fast-paced, action-packed read that ended up surprising me at the end. This follows two characters, Mia and Jules, as they team up to explore some runes on a distant planet. The temple is rigged with traps and puzzles that must be completed successfully to either move on or die trying. Think "National Treasure" and "Indiana Jones" but in space. Jules is a genius who is worried that there is something more sinister to the message that was left for them by the extinct previous occupants of the planet and Mia is just trying to scavenge enough alien technology to help her sister back on earth. Jules and Mia are pretty much immediately drawn to each other, which I felt was a little over the top in the beginning, but their relationship develops some authenticity as they face death together and becomes something much more readable.

The first half of the book seemed to be pretty typical and there were some cringy romantic lines ("You get me hot and bothered, Mia"), but the second half and ending mostly made up for that as the characters' relationship developed and the plot became more complex. I do have to say that I had a bit of trouble understanding the details of some of the puzzles that were completed. It was a bit confusing and hard to follow the details of those and I wished they'd been explained more clearly. In the end, I really liked this and found it to be unit from other books I've read. I would definitely recommend it. I does end on a cliffhanger and left me wanting the next book.

DNF at 25%

I feel as though I am a black sheep here, as there are so many glowing reviews for this book. The pacing is super slow and the descriptions are just a little bit overwhelming in my opinion. Not one for me, unfortunately.

I don’t know how to describe my feelings about this book. It was one of my highly anticipated reads of 2018. I had super high expectations on it because it was Amie Kaufman’s book so writing this review was pretty hard for me cause it didn’t meet my expectations and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I’m not saying it was a terrible read because it really has a great concept that many readers would enjoy reading but sadly some of the aspects in the plot didn’t work out for me. Honestly, I tried really hard to love this book but In the end I just couldn’t because from the start I struggled with this book and the plot didn’t excite me much. The main characters Mia and Jules were okay-ish but they’re nothing incredible like Lilac and Tarver from the These Broken Stars.

The story takes place in the future where earth’s environment has become damaged and there is limited power supply. People struggle hard to live while adhering to the rules of the government. When earth receives a strange message from an extinct alien race who calls themselves The Undying race, all the people on earth has a new hope for their future. With their advanced technology, they could re-build everything and undo the environmental damage they had caused with the wars. After the message from the undying race becomes public, researchers wants to study more about the planet Gaia and the mysterious ancient species, but scavengers just want to loot on Gaia for their advanced technology and they wouldn’t care about destroying temples or killing humans that comes in their way. Sixteen Year Old Mia is a scavenger who is desperately in need of money, Gaia is her last hope and she needs to find something worthy enough that she could trade off. Jules is a scholar who comes to Gaia to study the undying race and also to find the answers that he was searching for a long time. After arriving at Gaia, he finds that his team has left without him and soon he gets into trouble with some dangerous scavengers but luckily he gets saved thanks to Mia’s help. Both Mia and Jules belongs to opposite worlds and they don’t trust each other but in planet Gaia they need each other to survive so they form an alliance. Together they hunt down alien temples, decode alien language, and survive the deadly traps but what they find in the end will shock them to the core.

Mia is a pretty likable character. She’s tough, stubborn, and smart. She’s not my favorite female protagonist but I did enjoyed her character in this book. She’s totally badass when it comes to surviving and I liked how she uses her multi tool. Her love for her sister is admirable and I hope we get to meet her in the second book. Jules is a super nerdy and very dork-ish character. At the beginning, I liked his naive and cute personality but as the story progressed, I found him very annoying. His insta – attraction to Mia has really annoyed me especially when he started to speak about hormones whenever she was near him. He was totally infatuated with her! He wanted to hate her but he couldn’t. The insta love between them is one of the aspects that hindered my enjoyment because they’re one of my major book turn-off’s. The secondary characters were nothing interesting and some of them weren’t fleshed out well enough. I wish the authors gave a bit more focus on the secondary characters too.

The plot was interesting but it didn’t thrill me as much as I thought it would. The info dumps and the long inner monologues made the story seem slow and less exciting for me. After halfway through the book, I find myself a little bored. The ending was intense and suspenseful though. It’s the only part that I enjoyed reading in the whole book. I already predicted the plot twist at the end and I can’t believe that our genius main characters has taken that long to figure it out. The writing style was good but It would’ve been great if they had written the plot with short inner dialogues and less detailed description. The story was told from Mia and Jules first person POV. The world building was great but to be honest, I was expecting more than a desert land and alien temples. I hope we get to explore more of this world in the next book.

Overall, it was an okay-ish read for me! Before getting into this book, I was actually expecting a five star read so It was a bit disappointing. Nonetheless, I still want to give this series another chance and I also want to know what’s gonna happen next. I really hope the next book is much better than the first one.

Recommend it?
Yes!

Despite my issues, I think it was a good YA sci-fi adventure and I want everyone to give this a shot because you might enjoy it more than I did.

I am a huge fan of Amie Kaufman's other titles, so I had no doubt I would enjoy UNEARTHED. Kaufman and Megan Spooner are an incredible writing team. UNEARTHED kept me hooked right from page one. The action is intense, the intimate moments are touching, the characters are real and fleshed out, and the ending OMG THAT ENDING. I can't wait for book 2 and the first installment hasn't even been released yet! Another excellent first book in a series that I'm sure will be popular among my library's teen patrons.

I love Amie Kaufman! Her Illuminae files series is amazing! Unearthed was everything I hoped it would be! It was full of heart pounding action scenes and finding trust with new characters! This was a wild read and I can’t wait until the sequel comes out!!

I've heard Unearthed pitched along the lines of Indiana Jones in space and it definitely hit the mark. I loved The Starbound series so I've been looking forward to this book for awhile and I wasn't disappointed!

The book started off strong with Mia and Jules meeting up in a tense situation and I enjoyed their character growth throughout the novel. Their adventures on the planet gave that Indiana Jones/Lara Croft feel and I almost would have loved to have even more of their puzzle solving, close call situations. The novel really picked up in the last bit and I can't wait to pick up the next one to see what happens next.

The only thing that seemed to bother me while I was reading was there seemed to be a lot of repetitiveness in the beginning/middle of different information. I mean, the important things were made overly clear and there were some plot points that I really didn't need to hear 4 or 5 times. I think that more time could have been spent on showing the adventure/action parts and build up of the relationship between Mia and Jules instead of telling us the same specific fact again.

Overall, I devoured this book and I can't wait for the next one to come out so I can reread this to be ready! 4 stars! This review is based off an ebook ARC provided by Netgalley.

This is my first recent Amie Kaufman book. I hadn't read her since Alienated, which I enjoyed at the time but never got around to finishing. Illuminae sounds interesting but I haven't had the time to put my hands on the book.
Meagan Spooner's Hunted was one of my must reads of 2017, and I enjoyed it so much I've gifted it to a few different friends for the Holidays.
When I heard they were writing together, I was a little weary. A lot of the times when I read books written by multiple authors, they don't turn out right. But this wasn't the case for me. The book was beautifully written, with a plot that kept me interested! I've never been a huge Sci-fi fan, but this was enjoyable to the max for me. It's another one of those books I'll recommend to anyone who will listen!