By Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner

Overview: Overall, it was a really fun read! There was a lot of action and suspense, and it was a really creative idea. It even got philosophical, and there are a bunch of deep thoughts from these characters that will probably hit you right in the feels. I give it five stars! There were a couple parts that got a little slow, however. Those were hard to trudge through, but the plot sped up again quickly! I’d recommend it to kids ages 14 and up. Content level and reading level are both pretty high.

Plot: “When Earth intercepts a message from a long-extinct alien race, it seems like the solution the planet has been waiting for. The Undying’s advanced technology has the potential to undo environmental damage and turn lives around, and Gaia, their former home planet, is a treasure trove waiting to be uncovered. For Jules Addison and his fellow scholars, the discovery of an alien culture offers unprecedented opportunity for study… as long as scavengers like Amelia Radcliffe don’t loot everything first. Mia and Jules’ different reasons for smuggling themselves onto Gaia put them immediately at odds, but after escaping a dangerous confrontation with other scavvers, they form a fragile alliance. In order to penetrate the Undying temple and reach the tech and information hidden within, the two must decode the ancient race’s secrets and survive their traps. But the more they learn about the Undying, the more their presence in the temple seems to be part of a grand design that could spell the end of the human race…” -Publisher summary

My thoughts: I’m not much of a super fan for space-themed books, but this one was really interesting! The idea of this mysterious alien race kept me glued to the book, and it was really interesting to try to solve such an unsolvable mystery before the main characters do. All of the puzzles and gadgets they find are so eerily similar to human life, and it’s fascinating to read about, such a creative story. The characters are very well developed, they all have their own motivations and agendas, which makes all of it even more interesting. The plot is well written, and the mystery is well thought out. You can feel all these character’s emotions and thoughts, not to mention the allure of the Undying’s knowledge and all of that delicious suspense.