Book Review: Shades of Earth (Across the Universe #3) by Beth Revis

Synopsis (from Goodreads):  

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.

My Thoughts:

It has been awhile since I read the first two books in this series so I was a little worried that I wasn't going to remember how they left off or all the characters.  As soon as I started reading, though, everything came back to me and I was instantly caught up in the story.

Shades of Earth begins with Amy and Elder and about 1500 of the people from Godspeed in the shuttle getting ready to land on Centauri-Earth.  Everyone is worried about what they will find on this new planet and if they will even be able to live there at all.  But first, Amy and Elder have to actually land the shuttle safely, which turns out to be more difficult than they thought.

After landing, all chaos ensues.  People are hurt and some are even dead, the Frozen are waking up and there are monsters outside the shuttle on a planet that no one has ever been on.  As Elder tries to maintain some control, Amy is excited to finally be able to see her parents again.  

As soon as Amy's dad and the rest of the military wake up, there is a fight for control.  The shipborns do not trust the military at all and the earthborns think the shipborns are strange and different and they don't really trust them either.  Amy's dad starts leading the people off the ship but the people soon find out that they are fighting against the unknowns of a new planet as well as monsters that they aren't able to see.  

I liked Elder a lot but sometimes he got really annoying and showed that he was really more of a child than a leader.  He demanded to be in control of his people but then he never really took any control.  Amy couldn't decide if she was going to stand behind Elder or stick with her parents.  She would think Elder was right in something but her father would disagree and instead of standing up for herself or Elder, Amy would just meekly follow her father.  I would get so frustrated with Amy and that disappointed me.

I am so glad that the people finally got off Godspeed and were on a planet with real air, sky and trees but there wasn't a lot of exploration of the planet.  The colony went from the ship, through the forest to the ruins where they stayed.  There was a lake and the compound and that was all.  I would have really liked to have seen more of the planet explored but with the ptero monsters out there,  I guess it wouldn't make sense for the people to go off exploring.  

I knew who the traitor was right away.  There are subtle clues throughout the book that I was able to pick up on.  I wasn't sure what the whole twist in the story was though, so it didn't detract in any way.  Once the twist was revealed, I actually felt sorry for the traitor.  I could totally understand what happened.  

I seriously could not put this book down!  It helped that we had our first snow of the year (which means everything shuts down here even though we get snow every year) so I was able to spend the days reading while my kids played.  This book was action packed and so full of questions that you couldn't stop reading until you got the answers.