Wonderful twists and turns, I absolutely loved it. Spooner and Kaufman are a wonderful pair and this new series demonstrates the effectiveness of their partnership. Mia and Jules are two young kids in on a new world looking for something that can help humanity. Their story has all my favorites, science, action and two interesting characters. The book stays away from the insta-love default of YA and gives levels to the protagonists. An overall fun read!

After the Illuminae series I knew that I had to read this one co-wrote by Amie Kaufman and it did not disappoint. I couldn't put this down and hope for a sequel very soon!

When I finished reading this book, my only thought was "I NEED MORE!!!" From the first page to the last, "Unearthed" kept me guessing. It was impossible to put this book down. This books has it all: mystery, adventure, suspense, a kick-ass female protagonist, and a young, slightly blundering, intellectual trying his hardest to be Indiana Jones on an alien world. 5/5 stars.

3 out of 5 stars.

I received an ARC of this work.

Boy does this one have me pretty torn.

Earth has received our first alien signal and, as a species that tends to want to poke every bear and press every large red destruction button we can find, there is some conflict over what we should do, but most of it involves going to check out the source before properly understanding what the signal is saying. The government is blockading the planet the signal is coming from, trying to be cautious, but there are plenty of scavengers and explorers leaking through.

Mia is one of those, a scavenger who is hoping to make enough off of this trip to save her sister. Jules is on the side of the UN. He is part of a cautious segment that wants to move slowly and carefully around a new planet strewn with alien tech and buildings. Jules and Mia are thrown together when both their separate missions go bad. Jules has a set of new coordinates that should lead them to a bigger treasure than anyone has ever found. Mia has the necessary skills to get them there. But other scavengers want a piece of the pie and we still aren’t sure the aliens want us poking around in their stuff.

This book is a very strange mashup of Indiana Jones temple robbing and science fiction. The first half has Jules and Mia puzzling their way through an abandoned temple, looking for invisible bridges, avoiding spike traps and reading glyphs off of walls. The second half is pure science fiction, with ships, teleporting and your brain filling in the sound of gun shots as the distinct “pew pew” from Star Wars. Some books really smoothly stitch together various genres (James S.A. Corey somehow perfectly melds science fiction, horror, and film noir detectives together). Others just slap something together and call it a novel. This book was somewhere in between. It is not a huge jolt going from one genre into another, but it is definitely not completely smooth.

The relationship of the two major characters takes the easiest and most obvious track towards romance. I thought too much of the book was about their relationship and not enough attention paid to the reaction and fallout of humanity discovering another alien species. Are teens really that obsessed with themselves and their crushes that they cannot put off falling in love when their lives are being threatened or humanity is having to complete rework itself and its place in the universe? Can we have less giggling and fluttering eyelashes and maybe more attention paid to something that is going to redefine every one of us? This is one of the things that really separates the standard teen novel from the incredible ones. Having realistic reactions to world-shattering events.

This slightly amused me but did not wow me.

Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner blew me away with their Starbound Trilogy. I was amazed by their ability to write such a high-stakes series with such incredible characters. I wasn't entirely worried that their next series wouldn't live up to the expectations I placed on them but I was a bit unsure of how this book would compare.

In short, it was brilliant. Just as full of high-stakes drama, characters that were compelling from the first moment we met them, and page-turning twists that left me breathless.

Meagan and Amie work wonderfully as a team, seamlessly even, and I would read anything and everything that they write together. I cannot wait for the future of their works and i look forward to following these new characters on their next adventures.

4.5 stars. Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner are a great writing team. I enjoyed this book as much as their Starbound series. This book is full of adventure and mysteries, but my favorite part is the character development. The story is told in chapters alternating between the main character's viewpoints, which allows the reader to really get to know them. The cliffhanger ending left me eager for the next book in the series.

Unearthed by Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner is a thrilling introduction to a future where Earth is teetering on the edge of destruction. Mia, a scavenger hiding an illegal secret, and Jules, a genius scholar whose true identity is concealed, may be the only ones who can unlock the secrets of an alien race and protect Earth. This is a fast-paced adventure that you will not want to put down. The action is intense and drives the characterizations of complex characters who are clever and likable. This will be one of the hit books of 2018.

So happy to say that I loved this book like crazy. Just as I had hoped for. Yesss. I love everything about space. I also adore Amie and Meagan so much. Their books together have been so good. And oh, their writing is perfection. I loved that about this book so very much. Five stars to this one. For so many reasons.

First there was that perfect writing, which I enjoyed so much. And then there was the characters. Oh, how I loved them. This book is told from the point of view of Amelia aka Mia and Julian. One chapter each. Which I enjoyed a lot, because reading from both of them was so interesting and amazing. Loved them both.

This book begins so well. It starts with action right away, and I liked that very much. And it begins with both characters already on this new world that they have sneaked off to to explore for something. Which I must say that I loved so much, because it left out all the boring stuff before they left for this new world, lol. And what a beginning. Mia is almost taken captive by raiders. Jules show up, thinking they are his team. Which they weren't. And ah, this was such an awesome first meeting between these two characters. They defeat the two bad people, and run away. Then they get to know each other better. Jules came to this planet to study it, to help his father. Mia came to it to steal from it. Which makes them enemies. And oh, it was so much fun.

The plot in this stunning novel was all kinds of exciting. It takes place on a different planet, a planet with two suns and no life. Earth isn't all normal either, things have been bad for a long time. Jules came to this new planet to search for a hidden danger. Then he meets Mia, and they end up searching together. And oh, the temple they arrive at was all kinds of creepy. This is a book full of puzzles and surprises. And full of dangers. I couldn't help but love every moment of it. So much happens all the time. It was awesome.

There is so much I wish to share about this book. But I can't share too much about it. Some things should be a surprise. But gosh, I don't even know where to begin with what I will share. This book was so good. And I loved every moment of it. Okay, fine, there was one part that broke my heart a bit too much, and I didn't enjoy that all that much. Hmm. It's when Mia is lying to keep Jules and her safe, but he does not know that, and oh, it broke my heart way too much. But I'm healing from it. It was so well written, though.

I adored these two characters beyond words. Mia was so much fun to read about. I loved her thoughts and I loved how she was fierce and brave and just awesome. And reading about her forbidden sister was pretty sad. Loved their relationship. Mia and Jules came from two different worlds, almost. Mia has grown up in a bad place, and she's pretty poor. While Jules grew up almost rich, with everything he could want. But even though they are so different, they get to know each other and start to care for each other. Eee.

And oh, how I adored Jules. He was such an amazing character as well. And reading about him and getting to know him was the very best. And reading about Jules and Mia together was simply incredible. They argue and they are so fun to read about. They disagree about things, but they begin care too. And the slowly beginning of a romance between them was the very best. I ship them so much. Yesss. I am unable to fully describe how much I adored them. There are just no words for how awesome they were.

I'm not going to say much about everything that happens in this book. As I have already written a bunch about how I felt about this book. But yeah, I just loved it so much. It was such a thrilling story to read. So much happened. A bunch of bad people too. Mostly this is the story of Jules and Mia, and I loved that so much. I loved reading about them exploring and finding hints and almost dying all the time. Was so much fun. This whole book was awesome. And very beautiful too. Enjoyed reading about all the different traps.

This book has one of the rudest endings. I'm not sure what will happen next. But I know that I am dying to read it. And I am so, so curious. That ending was evil. Total cliffhanger. Yet not with the main characters, so yesss. I'm thrilled about that. But that ending was still rude. But so good and surprising and exciting. I loved it. Another part of this book that I loved was that there was no love triangle at all. Not even a hint of one. And I'm very sure that one will not show up either, so I'm very happy. The romance was so so good.

Unearthed was everything I wanted it to be and so much more. Such a thrilling science fiction and space adventure. This new world it took place on was so interesting and different. I loved reading about it. The characters were all fantastic, and I loved the beginning of the romance so much. This book was also a bit heartbreaking, which I couldn't help but love. Some parts were a bit too hurtful, though. Ack. But still so good. I am so thrilled that I ended up loving this book so much. I'm now dying for book two. Need it now.

Huge thank you to Cassie at Disney Hyperion for letting me reading this book early via NetGalley. Means the most to me. Eee. So glad that I got to read this precious. I cannot wait to own all the finished copies when it comes out in January. Will also be hunting for that special looking ARC version of this as well. I need it badly. If you are unsure about this book, don't be. Because it was beyond amazing. And you are all going to love it. So go order it. Right now. And if you already have it, read it. Don't wait. It's so good.

There's a little of everything here: adventure, romance, conspiracy, and aliens! As Jules and Mia navigate the temple of the Undying, it's like something out of Indiana Jones. Their evolving relationship is believable, though after a while their internal thoughts about each other did g t a bit tiring. I am really looking forward to reading the sequel!

This review will be published on my blog, Foxes ans Fairy Tales on November 26 2017.
https://foxesfairytale.wordpress.com/2017/11/26/review-unearthed

Unearthed is pitched as Indiana Jones meets Tomb Raider, in space -- and it does exactly what it says on the tin.

The story is fast-paced, starting off once our heroes have already reached Gaia, with all the necessary character and plot backstory peppered throughout the book. Jules and Mia make their way through various challenges, in and outside of the temple, and there's never a lull in the action. The writing style reflects this: it's simple and to the point, carrying the reader through the story without weighing itself down in flowery prose.

Street-smart Mia and scholarly Jules are both really likeable, interesting characters individually and together they have a nice bit of opposites-attract, banter and chemistry. I enjoyed that the POV alternated so that we got to know both of them. I also really liked that they each had complicated motivations for coming to Gaia, neither was completely selfish or completely noble. Even though they've initially got that cute "it's like they come from different worlds, how will they ever work together" thing going on, once you dig a little deeper they're a little more complicated and, at heart, have a lot of common ground as well. I was less keen on how quickly their feelings for one another developed, but I guess in such extreme situations I'm more willing to overlook a little intsalove, and it didn't really bother me. It fact, with a little more time to develop (and this is the first in a series) they're a couple I could definitely root for -- there's a bit of an inverted Annabeth/Percy vibe, I think?

While I don't have much to say about this one, overall it was a really fun YA adventure: action packed with likeable characters, some clever plot twists and a killer cliffhanger.

I completely loved this book. Nicely played Kaufman and Spooner! Science Fiction and archaeology combined in an action packed thriller set on a far away planet where aliens have left clues for the human race. Earth has huge problems with it’s environment and is gradually becoming destroyed to the point where people will have to find either a way of fixing it fast or will have to move to another planet. The race is on to be the person who will find the technology on another planet to bring back to Earth to save us all.

Deciphering the clues in massive temples though, provides vast challenges, they are puzzles with death as the outcome if you get them wrong. Amelia is a scavenger, raiding ancient sites on far off planets to sell for cash which she is using to pay her sister’s captors back on earth. She runs into Jules, who is the son of a disgraced historian, someone who said too much and who is now in jail. Jules has travelled to this planet to try and solve the biggest mystery ever and to prove that his father was right, but also for the personal satisfaction of being the guy who solved a massive mystery. Jules has studied the messages sent back to earth by the inhabitants deciphered the codes and is on a mission to find out what the clues in the messages mean for humanity.

This is going to be hugely popular, I hope it has an awesome cover with an androgynous cover on it. the fraught relationship between the two protagonists is great. The way that total mistrust leads to complete trust is so nicely done. I love the protagonists alternating chapters.

Secondary school libraries are going to want to buy lots of copies of this. And it is just the beginning of a series, one I will be following avidly.

This has everything you would expect from a Meagan Spooner/Amie Kaufman team up: intense action, excellent characters and character development packed into a small timeline, great romance, and an epic plot to back it all up. I'm not normally an "edge of your seat" reader, but with this book, I was very much on the edge of my seat, constantly wondering what could happen next. I really loved the two main characters, Jules and Amelia, and how different yet compatible they could be. I highly recommend this for past fans of Spooner and Kaufman, but also if you like The Mummy (I haven't watched Tomb Raider or Indiana Jones, so I can't compare to the comp titles, but it's got the romance and the banter of The Mummy, so).

You know, before I read arcs I used to watch as other people read them months in advance and think about how much it would suck to have to wait that much longer for the sequel to be released and now here I am and it really sucks. I WANT THE SEQUEL NOW, OMG.

Unearthed is what you get if you paired Lara Croft with Indiana Jones and got them to explore another planet. It's what drew me into this book, although I'm a little torn because I wanted to love this as much as These Broken Stars, but I found Unearthed to be quite slow which is not a bad thing because I had to keep reading to find out what was going on. There's a lot of information to absorb but it's not thrown in your face and you get to learn everything at an easy pace so you don't feel overwhelmed by info dumping.

Mia and Jules are such interesting and likeable characters. Mia is smart, athletic, and tough with a world of street-smarts that come in handy with her line of work. She survives by being a scavver; scavenging the abandoned cities of a future Earth that is slowly being over taken by the elements. Jules is highly intelligent having grown up the son of world renowned mathematician and linguist. He's sweet, soft spoken and thoughtful, but can be quite insecure. Both have strong bases for their motivation and I really enjoyed the dual POV because we get to see how they both think and overcome each obstacle; playing off each other's strengths and weaknesses. It is mostly just the two of them for probably 70% of the book and I loved learning as they did. Jules and Mia go through a fair bit of character development overcoming betrayal, percieved betrayals and a few misconceptions they have about each other. They may have been born on the same planet but they come from different worlds in their minds.

Unearthed has an ingenious storyline filled with plenty of mystery and booby-trapped temples that test our characters skills and resourcsfulness. It's not as action-packed a plot as I would have liked but there's an alien planet, bad guys and enough twists and turns with quite a cliffhanger that has me already wanting the sequel.

Giving up on this one after 20%. It just wasn't my thing. I found that, with Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner's previous series, my enjoyment level really depended on whether or not I connected with the characters, and unfortunately, I'm not connecting here. Also, a narrative that takes place over a short amount of time is frequently a tough sell for me, and this one just didn't feel right, in terms of pacing and character development.

And this is a personal thing, but I'm a little tired of the tough-girl-brainy-boy trope that's pretty popular in YA. While I like both tough girls and brainy boys, I tend to prefer both characters to either be brainy or tough; otherwise, one of them starts to feel superfluous in this survival narrative and that the author has only included both for a romance, which is my personal pet peeve. That being said, the budding romance here just didn't work for me, because I felt like the girl was hyper-competent and the boy was just along for the ride. I don't care for this, no matter how the genders are portrayed, whether it's a tough guy and brainy girl or vice versa. All that to say, this is just personal taste.

Overall, I think this will be popular with fans of plot-driven, fast-paced *light* sci-fi, especially those who enjoyed Kaufman and Spooner's previous series.

Where do I start?

This was a wild ride of a book. Comparisons to “Lara Croft and Indiana Jones in space” (though I would also add a bit of Doctor Who and Arrival) are spot on, the two main characters are pretty much teenage versions of Lara and Indy, and I fell absolutely in love with both of them. Their chemistry was off the charts, their depths endless. I’m curious how Spooner and Kaufman wrote this one. Did they each pick a character and write their own chapters? Or did they alternate? Because they really did a great job varying the two characters, creating fully-realized teenagers on an adventure in space.

Each chapter twists and turns, leading you on the adventure so that you feel like you’re actually riding deeper and deeper into Gaia (the mysterious planet Jules and Mia are exploring), creating the effect of a narrow tunnel, the walls closing tighter and tighter around you as you barrel towards the light at the end. The world-building is astounding, so meticulously crafted, the history woven together in a way that is both realistic and deliciously sci-fi.

Overall, I recommend this to anyone who claims to love sci-fi, and fans of the Da Vinci Code, need to pick up this book! It won’t disappoint!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a digital ARC of “Unearthed” by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. I absolutely loved this story. It is exactly what it is being promoted and it is such a joy ride. Even though the story is written by two authors, it is hard to tell where one author stops and the other begin. They flow so well and it is obvious from this story that they know each other well. This is going to be loved by the author’s fans and all those others who enjoy a good romp through space.

I really am enjoying the Illuminae Files by Ms. Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. I was not familiar with either of these authors before reading the Illuminae files books one and two. When I saw her name on this book cover I jumped at the chance to read this book. So glad I did so and was approved to read Unearthed months before the release date. While the formatting of this book is totally different than Illuminae and Gemina, I enjoyed this book as much as those two. Ms. Kaufman where do you think of these story lines? The character building and story background are detailed and well thought out. I feel I know Jules and Mia. I want them to succeed and be safe! They are both looking for something to help someone they love and I feel their passion. Okay, what the heck happened at the end? I checked Goodreads and noticed this is book #1, so yes there are more in the series coming, but what the?!?! There are numerous twists in this book and the ending will leave you wanting more. I am not sure when book two will be coming, but I am on the look out for it!! Hopefully, it will be offered here, on Netgalley, and I will be able to get my mitts on it ASAP. I am recommending this to all my sci-fi fan friends! Now that I have been made aware of Ms. Spooner I am going to be looking into her books also! These ladies have a new fan!!!