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OK, so Amie Kaufman has now co-authored a number of YA books that are set in space (Illuminae Files!, Aurora Cycle!), that have peril and mystery and include romance. And every one I’ve read has been super-entertaining. So I keep reading.
Unearthed puts together teens Amelia (or Mia) and Jules, who come from very different backgrounds but who end up meeting on a distant planet called Gaia. Of course, they’re attracted to each other, and, of course, there are some big obstacles not only to their love but to their lives just continuing more than a few days. Mia has been a scavenger in Chicago, on an Earth in a not-too-distant future that has experienced devastation by serious climate change. Jules is a brilliant, well-educated young man of privilege who hails from Oxford. And they both have been recruited to investigate sites left by an ancient civilization on Gaia, where only a few people have set foot.
Earth’s leaders are hoping the technologically advanced items found on Gaia, which was accessed through a portal only thanks to instructions left behind by the aliens who inhabited it millennia ago, can save the planet. But the first forays into the “temples” there killed Earth’s astronauts, and a famous linguist/archaeologist who first translated the messages has most recently warned that Gaia is dangerous.
Mia’s desperate to snag some tech she can sell to help her younger sister, and Jules is trying to help civilization. But they end up trying to navigate one temple together — can they do so without being killed? Can they both get what they came for? And which of conflicting messages left behind by the aliens is true? Either Earth can be saved, or it’s being opened up to catastrophe.
Kaufman and Spooner effectively write a story that has the reader constantly wondering how it will develop, what the answers to the many questions are. I got into it and just sat and read and read and enjoyed the mystery and tension. Now to wait for the sequel (Undying) and more answers. Sigh.
Rated: Mild. There are only five to 10 uses of mild and moderate language. It’s a bit of a joke that Jules only utters mild/fake curses in foreign languages (mostly Latin). There are a couple of kissing scenes with no more than kissing. There is a mention that the female protagonist gets her rear end groped by a bad guy patting her down for weapons. There are a few scenes of violence and several references of blood. It could be a bit more moderate for young readers but is pretty much mild for its target audience (I’d say 14 and up).
