cover image A Thousand Pieces of You

A Thousand Pieces of You

Claudia Gray. HarperTeen, $17.99 (368p) ISBN 978-0-06-227896-8

Marguerite Cain is the daughter of two famous scientists behind a device called the Firebird, which allows people to travel to other dimensions where they occupy the bodies of their alternate selves. When a graduate student named Paul murders Marguerite’s father and escapes into another dimension, Marguerite and another graduate student, the handsome Theo, risk their lives by trying to catch him. As they move among multiple dimensions, Marguerite contends with a roller coaster of dangers, stress, and unexpected romance, while questioning the ethics of taking over the other Marguerites’ lives. Her feelings about Theo and Paul are also thrown into flux as she meets alternate versions of these young men. Gray (the Evernight series) gets her Firebird series off to an action-packed start; while certain plot points resolve too easily and predictably, the fascinating worlds and eras Marguerite visits make these drawbacks easily forgiven. Marguerite’s foray into czarist Russia as a member of the House of Romanov is a particular highlight as Gray effortlessly moves between the SF, historical, and contemporary aspects of her story. Ages 14–up. Agent: Diana Fox, Fox Literary. (Nov.)