A Million Worlds With You

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Title: A Million Worlds With You

Author: Claudia Grey

Series: Firebird, #3

Publisher: Harper Teen

Release Date: November 1st 2016

Rating:

A million universes. A million dangers. One destiny.

The fate of the multiverse rests in Marguerite Caine’s hands. Marguerite has been at the centre of a cross-dimensional feud since she first travelled to another universe using her parents’ invention, the Firebird. Only now has she learned the true plans of the evil Triad Corporation—and that those plans could spell doom for dozens or hundreds of universes, each facing total annihilation.

Paul Markov has always been at Marguerite’s side, but Triad’s last attack has left him a changed man—angry and shadowed by tragedy. He struggles to overcome the damage done to him, but despite Marguerite’s efforts to help, Paul may never be the same again.

So it’s up to Marguerite alone to stop the destruction of the multiverse. Billions of lives are at stake. The risks have never been higher. And Triad has unleashed its ultimate weapon: another dimension’s Marguerite—wicked, psychologically twisted, and always one step ahead.

In the conclusion to Claudia Gray’s Firebird trilogy, fate and family will be questioned, loves will be won and lost, and the multiverse will be forever changed. It’s a battle of the Marguerites…and only one can win.

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

This review may contain spoilers for previous book(s) in the series.

My Thoughts On…

…The Plot

“Please,” I thought. “Don’t be fooled. Look inside my eyes and see the difference. It’s our only chance.”
“Please, Paul. Know me.”
And he did. He did.

The ending of Ten Thousand Skies Above You was a major cliffhanger, and it made the wait for A Million Worlds With You even more unbearable wondering what would happen next to Marguerite, Paul and Theo. The plot of these stories has always been fast paced, but it was so much more so in this last book of the trilogy. Marguerite is back in her own universe but she isn’t alone. Instead the Marguerite from the Home Office has followed and hijacked her body, leaving the real Marguerite powerless to warn the people she loves that she is no longer herself.

It isn’t long before the Home Office start infiltrating the other multiverses to kick start their grand plan. There are thousands of worlds at risk, possibly more than Marguerite and Paul can save but they’re going to try their best. At every world Marguerite travels to she finds herself in grave danger but it isn’t just her own life at risk, instead it’s the lives of every person in each and every multiverse.

“We have a multiverse to save.”

As her parents work on ways to communicate across the multiverses Marguerite and Paul chase after Wicked, but it seems like they are always one step behind and instead of working out how to stop her and the Home Office for good they are simply trying to limit the damage she causes.

At the end of Ten Thousand Skies Above You Marguerite’s body was taken over by Wicked, the Marguerite from the Home Office, and I was interested to see where that would take the story but it seemed to be over very quickly. Granted it moved the plot forwards in a different way but I would have liked to see more made of it at the same time.

In both of the previous books the risks Marguerite faces are somewhat limited. They’re very real threats but at the same time they only affect Marguerite and her family in their own universe. In A Million Worlds With You the risks multiply by a million. It isn’t just Marguerite’s family and her world but everyone’s families and worlds that are at risk, and it’s a very real risk. The Home Office are willing to do whatever it takes and we see how serious they are very early on in this book.

…The Characters

“This role doesn’t need an adventurer as much as it needs someone who can…look at each world with fresh eyes. Who can perceive things deeply. Not an adventurer—an artist. You were the one we needed all along.”

Marguerite takes on a lot more responsibility than ever before in this book. In her world she’s the perfect traveller, and that makes her the only person who can chase Wicked and undo the damage her counterpart from the Home Office is doing. But she isn’t infallible.

Sometimes it’s hard to remember Marguerite is still only a teenager. She’s been through a lot over the past three books but in this one it seemed to become more than she could handle alone. She makes mistakes, serious ones, and she loses as much as she wins but she keeps going because she knows the Home Office cannot be allowed to continue with their grand plan.

“We have to dive down to the very depths of our sorrow, relive every terrible moment, and endure the torture of asking what could have been—and what will now be. We have to bleed out before our hearts can start beating again.”

Paul has been damaged by what happened to him in the previous book. When Conley splintered his soul it created cracks where Marguerite put it back together again, and his anger is leaking through those cracks. He pushes Marguerite away, too scared of hurting her to let her help him heal, but Paul is still by her side every step of the way.

“Fate doesn’t guarantee us a happy ending. We’re not promised to be together no matter what. But in dimension after dimension, world after world, fate gives us a chance. Our destiny isn’t some kind of mystical prophecy. Our destiny is what we do with that chance.”

Despite the issues they face Marguerite knows that together she and Paul can do anything they set their mind too. In all of the terror and fear he is the one she leans on. Paul on the other hand no longer believes fate has been pushing him and Marguerite together in every multiverse, and no longer believes in their relationship as a result. Even though Marguerite didn’t agree with Paul she still gave him his space. She knew better than to push him too far and that in order to help him maybe she did  need to take a step back.

The other thing I liked about this story, that wasn’t in the others as much, was the development of Marguerite’s relationship with the other universes Marguerite’s she has visited in the past. All of them have different stories to tell, and although we only get a small glimpse of them it was certainly interesting to see how Marguerite visiting them affected their lives; both in good and bad ways.

…The Setting

“The chance to see other worlds is a gift—priceless and irreplaceable. Even now, I have to hold on to my sense of wonder at the knowledge that I’m standing in a whole new world.
I walk into the crowd for a bit, mostly just to take in the sights and smells.”

A Million Worlds With You takes us back through so many multiverses we’ve already visited, and introduces us to some more as well. We see Rome Verse again, the first multiverse Marguerite visited in the second book where Paul is a priest, and London Verse as well, the first multiverse Marguerite travelled to in the first book where her whole family died years before, but we are also introduced to many more new universes in this book. From Egypt Verse where Marguerite and her parents are archaeologists to Space Verse where Marguerite lives on a space station orbiting the Earth. All of the multiverses were wonderful to explore again as Marguerite travelled through them on her way to save the world. The different multiverses were the reason I picked up this series in the first place, and no matter what the settings have always been my favourite part of this trilogy.

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In terms of possible endings to this trilogy A Million Worlds With You is probably the best of the best. The stakes were so much higher, there was a lot more at risk, but it created a thrilling story which I couldn’t put down until the very end.

What did you think of A Million Worlds With You? Was it a favourite of yours or could you just not get into the story? Let me know.