YA Sci-Fi: Shades of Earth by Beth Revis

Series: Across the Universe #3
Publisher: Razorbill
Date: January 15 2013
Format: ARC
Source: GoodReads First Look
Read: for review (disclaimer: I received my copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)
Pages: 370
Reading time: two days

From GoodReads: Amy and Elder have finally left the oppressive walls of the spaceship Godspeed behind. They're ready to start life afresh--to build a home--on Centauri-Earth, the planet that Amy has traveled 25 trillion miles across the universe to experience. But this new Earth isn't the paradise Amy had been hoping for. There are giant pterodactyl-like birds, purple flowers with mind-numbing toxins, and mysterious, unexplained ruins that hold more secrets than their stone walls first let on. The biggest secret of all? Godspeed's former passengers aren't alone on this planet. And if they're going to stay, they'll have to fight. Amy and Elder must race to discover who--or what--else is out there if they are to have any hope of saving their struggling colony and building a future together. They will have to look inward to the very core of what makes them human on this, their most harrowing journey yet. Because if the colony collapses? Then everything they have sacrificed--friends, family, life on Earth--will have been for nothing.

My review: *Sob,* the series is over! I was a bit skeptical about Beth Revis being able to pull off three consecutive amazing installments, but she has certainly succeeded in not only making each book epic and intriguing, but also unique from the storylines and character of the others. Thus it's not a series of which one tires, thank God, because there's already enough of those out there.

Shades of Earth continues with the complexity that characterizes the series. The setting and situation are quite different - Amy, Elder, et al. have finally made it onto the new planet, are dealing with new characters, and have largely left behind the issues of Godspeed for the challenges and intrigues of the new world - yet there's still a good deal of mystery. The way all the elements of the unknown eventually come together is amazing. One might be able to foresee a bit of what the colonists discover, but it's impossible to truly see how all the details and events will resolve. Previous issues come back in completely new and unexpected ways to impact the colony's survival, and the conclusion is both realistic and astounding. It's an exciting, breathtaking, heart-pounding finale for the series.