Review: Shades of Earth by Beth Revis

Couple of updates:
1) I've shut down accepting books for review until 2/18/13. Sorry for the inconvenience!

2) I have some great interviews/giveaways up right now so everyone should enter. Look at the right hand side of my blog to see what's still going on.

3) The Young Adult blog hop giveaway is coming up in a few days and one of my great indie authors, Nickie Anderson, is giving away copies of her book and the entire Across the Universe trilogy by Beth Revis so stay tuned!

4) Shout out to Antony John and Fiona Paul-- thanks for a terrific night of great eats, drinks and book talk!

Warning: This post has some mild spoilers (actually most are in the book description itself, which can be guessed by the name of the third book) to those who have not read the first two books.

Goodreads Book Description: The final book in the  New York Times bestselling trilogy, perfect for fans of Battlestar Galactica and Prometheus!

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.

FUELED BY LIES.
RULED BY CHAOS.
ALMOST HOME.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars 

My Review:
I have been so excited about this final installment in the Across the Universe trilogy by Beth Revis. I've been following along ever since the first book came out, and with the cliffhanger in A Million Suns, I pre-ordered this book (which I rarely do) to make sure I didn't forget to read it.

Shades of Earth by Beth Revis takes our two protagonists Elder and Amy finally to Centauri Earth where we have been headed the whole time. The Godspeed, the ship that has taken them here, has been the location of intrigue and hidden secrets by the prior leaders of the ship. Amy and Elder never found Orion's final secret, but it doesn't seem to matter since they have finally found the planet. Half of the population stay behind on the ship, and the rest travel to this unknown but beautiful planet. Amy eagerly and finally unfreezes her parents and the rest of the frozen travelers, but this joyful reunion is interrupted by political scheming and military takeover. There is more to this planet than meets the eye, and explosive secret after secret is revealed until the book's necessary outcome.

I liked the other two books, but for lack of a better phrase, this book really brought the series home. Revis as usual, has a lot of tricks hidden up her sleeve, and although I could guess many of them, they were exactly the right moves. Amy and Elder have grown as characters and really grown up in this dangerous world. There's nothing Amy's parents can do about that when they come into the picture. I love the way the book resolves, and all I can say is, get your hands on this book as soon as possible!

Overall, a thrilling and extremely satisfying conclusion to the Across the Universe series, and by far, my favorite of the three. Congrats to Revis for completing such a terrific trilogy. I can't wait to see what she has up next!

I am excited that we have a giveaway coming up for all three of the books in the Across the Universe trilogy, hosted by Nickie Anderson, one of the indie authors, who wrote Bright Star, also a great book! I am also hosting an interview with Beth Revis. So stay posted!