Shades of Earth

An Across the Universe Novel

By: Beth Revis

Narrated by: Tara Carrozza

Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

The final book in the trilogy by New York Times best-selling author Beth Revis!

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 that Amy had been hoping for. Amy and Elder must race to uncover who - or what - else is out there if they are to have any hope of saving their struggling colony and building a future together. But as each new discovery brings more danger, Amy and Elder will have to look inward to the very fabric 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 meaningless.

©2013 Beth Revis (P)2013 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Comes to a fittingly explosive conclusion in this satisfying series ender.... A propulsive storyteller with a knack for jarring surprises and raising the stakes." (Booklist)

"Throughout the series, Revis has brought real and immediate emotions to sci-fi scenarios ... and here she invests that skill in making readers feel, along with her protagonists, the awe and wonder facing humanity as the characters step out onto an alien planet for the first time." (Horn Book Reviews)

"Brings it home on a planet far from home." (Kirkus Reviews)

Disappointing

I had enjoyed the first two books in the trilogy, but this book is where it all falls apart. Revis’ weakness is characterization, and it clearly is shown in this book. Villains are barely one-dimensional, and the two main characters Amy and Elder have little differentiation in personality even though the book is told in alternate points of view. The action portions are well done, but cannot overcome the weakness in the characters.

good book but

good book but the actors spoke too softly almost whispering at times making them hard to comprehend.

Absolutely loved this entire series!!

The narrations were great! I enjoyed the entire series. I listened to all three audio books. I normally can not listen to a book twice. However I will make an exception for this one.

all in all is a good series

where they left off i wasn't a big fan on defiantly needs another book or two to sum it up. and i feel it lacks some detail harder to paint a picture but for what it lacks in detail it makes up in the story line.

ok book

interesting but not great. I feel the series got better each book and I saw it through so that counts for something. Not amazing but it is entertaining.

Shades of Earth

Any additional comments?

The last few chapters of Elder's side of the story is missing from this download

Waited a year for this book, it did NOT disappoint

Would you consider the audio edition of Shades of Earth to be better than the print version?

Yes. I read the first to books of the Across the Universe series and I loved them. I had an extra credit on Audible so I chose to download Shades of Earth. I was so glad I did! What a fantastic job Tara and the boy who read for Elder did! (BTW, why are they not crediting him with the Narration??) They bring the characters to life! Their voices could not have been more perfect! The landing of the shuttle was absolutely breathtaking!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Elder! I ached for him in ways and cheered him on in others. For someone this young to have so many decisions to make and to have such an open mind considering his life. He was just a great character.

What does Tara Carrozza bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Sympathy, strength, heartache, hope, love... I guess all the things are they when you read it, but to have the voice of someone else read it... When they do as great a job as she has, is like validating the character.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no!! I wanted to drag it out as long as I could. I didn't want it to end. lol

Any additional comments?

I hope they make a movie out of these books! I think it is a great concept!

A logical conclusion

There's nothing surprising about this book, especially if you're familiar with past colonial expeditions on earth, specifically the British colonization of the New World. This book is clearly the weakest of the three. It's not bad, but it's not particularly good either. Predictable and in places a little annoying, this book might have been improved with different narrators. I found both performances way too flat.

A Great Conclusion

Please Note: This review refers to events in the first two books, Across the Universe and A Million Suns, but no spoilers to the conclusion of this series.

In the final book in this series, Elder and Amy have left Godspeed with those that want to start a new life on Centuri-Earth and of course, all the military and scientists still frozen in the cryo chambers. Those that have elected to stay on Godspeed remain behind, and Elder and Amy look to the future. They know they will face monsters on Centuri-Earth, creatures they’ve never met before, but they know it is a risk they have to take. However, what they don’t expect is to face a war with the “frozens”, those that were selected for this mission with military and science backgrounds, who are determined to take over control and make all the decisions. With Amy’s father, taking the role as leader, Commander Martin and Elder come up against each other as they fight for their lives not just amongst each other but the monsters (and possibly aliens) on Centuri-Earth.

I really enjoyed the first two books in this series. I don’t read that much YA science fiction, despite being a huge fan of adult science fiction. I love the concept of this book – a ship being sent hundreds of years to colonize another planet. Amy was awoken before her time from her cryo chamber and a power war raged on the ship Godspeed. Now that is all behind her, as she and Elder land on Centuri-Earth.

Starting with the landing on Centuri-Earth to the fight with the monsters, aliens and internal fighting with Commander Martin, every second of Shades of Earth was action packed. I literally couldn’t stop listening to the audiobooks as my heart sped up with all the adventure, betrayals and emotions in this final book in the series. The plot twists were aplenty, and there were some that I predicted and some that I didn’t even see coming. However, I enjoyed every second of it and loved the conclusion.

Amy as a character has grown on me, and it really wasn’t until Shades of Earth that I started to like Elder. In the previous two books he seemed a little immature and whiny, but really came into his own on Centuri-Earth making those tough decisions that only a leader can make.

Shades of Earth was a great conclusion to this trilogy. I don’t want to go in too much about the monsters and aliens as I don’t want to spoil this for readers, but I did like all the twists and turns and how it turned back to events that happened on Godspeed, with the Phydus.

I read the first two books in this series and opted to listened to the audiobook for the final book and wow! I loved the narrators. I’m glad they chose to have a female narrator for Amy and a male narrator for Elder, and I thought they both did a exceptional job with this fast-paced story.

All in all a very enjoyable listen and I can’t wait to see what Beth Revis delivers next.

Very good!

The whole trilogy was very entertaining!! Shades of earth is a fantastic conclusion to the story. It has twist and turns and clues and space with science hybrids and wow just so much cool stuff you will want to finish it up to see what happens!