Firebird by Claudia Gray is one of my most favourite young adult series. The books are innovative, exciting, constantly take me by surprise and the world-building is on another level – it's absolutely stunning. A Thousand Pieces of You was its highly imaginative opener that got me hooked, Ten Thousand Skies Above You was the sequel that blew me away, meticulously plotted and possibly even better than the first book, and A Million World With You provided an explosive conclusion, even bigger and more epic than its precedents.
There is no way around it, you have to read the first two Firebird books before reading this one, as it jumps straight back into the action and leaves little time for the reader to learn about the different universes that form the basis of protagonist Marguerite's multiverse.
This time the entire multiverse is at risk because an evil Marguerite is travelling from one world to the next, collapsing universes along the way in an attempt to reunite the splintered pieces of her sister Josie that are scattered across the multiverse. It's up to the Berkeleyverse Marguerite we've known since day one to be one step ahead of her evil counterpart and save all of the variations of Paul, Theo, her parents and Josie she's met in the different universes – not to mention countless others she doesn't even know yet.
The task seems impossible, but when all the versions of our main characters start working together by communicating across their universes, victory might just be a possibility. However, how many universes will have to collapse into non-existence before they finally manage to defeat evil Marguerite and they're all safe, once and for all?
A Million World With You is bigger and bolder than its precedents. If you think your mind was blown by the concept of the multiverse in the first book or the further exploration in the second, think again. The final instalment in the trilogy moves the intricate world-building to a whole new level of awesomeness. There are so many more layers to the multiverse, Triad and the Homeverse, and they're finally peeled back to uncover a very clever conclusion to this highly original series.
That isn't to say that this epic conclusion was entirely without its flaws. Bringing all the Marguerites we've come to know throughout the series together in one inventive setting, each with their own feelings for Paul and Theo, made the plot a little hard to follow at times. And yet, I can see why this was the direction the story took. I didn't love it, but it does make sense within the universe of the books.
Outside of that one element I wasn't a fan of, this was another winner to me. Constantly action-packed and exciting, even in those final moments we got to explore some amazing new worlds. The series' strength has always been in the incredible world-building and the immense detail of each new universe explored by Marguerite, and having the chance to discover some more places in this incredible conclusion made for a very satisfying reading experience.
A Million World With You completely does the Firebird trilogy justice. It's innovative, intricate and imaginative, shaping a stunning finish to what will always be one of my most favourite young adult series.
Many thanks to the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.
A Million World With You is published by HarperCollins and you can get your copy from Foyles or your own preferred retailer.
Connect with the author:
Twitter: @claudiagray
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