Unearthed by Amie Kaufman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I was very excited to read another collaboration of Kaufmann and Spooner’s, I just didn’t have the time to do so until now.
I read other reviews saying that the split first-person narration doesn’t work, and I have to agree, it really doesn’t work with this story. Not because the structure itself doesn’t work, but simply because it wasn’t utilized to its fullest potential.
The two protagonists each get their time to interchangeably share their side of the story, their inner feelings and thoughts to bring them closer to the reader. However, instead of taking that opportunity, the reader gets very long chapters during which the prospective character goes in endless descriptions, backflashes and the occasional “he/she is cute, but I have no time for my teenage hormones now”.
In their previous trilogy Starbound, the authors took great care to use the dual narration structure to allow the reader to get to know both main characters in greater detail; their weaknesses, their insecurities, their personalities, etc.
In this story all of the personal details and the closeness were missing. It felt like both characters were the same two-dimensional character, only with different titles for each chapter.
I remember not being able to read Starbound books fast enough, because they were incredibly engaging and exciting. This wasn’t the case with Unearthed. I felt obligated to read. It became a chore.
Overall, I have been in such a mood for young adult sci-fi stories lately and had hoped that this would satisfy that craving. Unfortunately, this was a miss.
