Ten Thousand Skies Above You (Firebird #2) by Claudia Gray

Synopsis:

3.5-4 out of 5 stars

*My thoughts as expressed by Jack Sparrow

I wasn't as awed by the second book as I was the first. It was good, but not as good. Everything I applauded the previous book for not having, was evident in this one. For one, the main character, Marguerite wasn't as headstrong and independent as she was in A Thousand Pieces of You. I found myself getting frustrated with her actions and line of thinking many times. All the things I admired her for not doing in the last book, she did here. For example, she wasn't as... "strong-willed" as I said she was in the previous book. She was more confused and did a lot of complaining. I was particularly annoyed with her when she thought she could escape her problems by traveling back to the Imperial Russia-verse. Although, little did she know, she was just immersing herself in even more problems.

At some point in the beginning of the book, Marguerite was having was having a conversation with her sister Josie. They were discussing the Firebird and the concept of fate. Marguerite was telling Josie that she belonged with Paul and vice versa. She said that she loved all of the different Pauls that exist in all of the dimensions. She was so convinced of her own argument, and I knew that would come back and bite her in the butt. I even bookmarked the page. It turns out that she doesn't care for all Pauls, everywhere. Shocker! In one of the dimensions, she and Theo (her parents' other research assistant, who she so woefully turned down in the last book) were together, in another dimension, Paul followed his father's (who is a master of organized crime) footsteps and became a criminal himself. And as much I like Marguerite as a character, I felt these irrational surges of happiness whenever she was proved wrong about her idea of fate and destiny.

Marguerite finally realizes that she was selfish to do what she did with the Paul in the Russia-verse when she didn't even consider the consequences of her actions. Considering the problems that would eventually arise when she left the Russia-verse Marguerite's body, she really needed to reevaluate herself. But she didn't. And know Duchess Marguerite is pregnant. There was a hint that this would happen when Paul voiced his fears about this immediately after the fact, but Marguerite dismissed it and never really thought about it again.

In the dimension where Paul was a criminal in cahoots with his father, Marguerite contacted him through social media telling him that she wanted to meet up because they had mutual friends that suggested they get to know each other. Mind you, this before Marguerite knew what his father was involved in, let alone what Paul could have been involved in. It would have made sense if she took precautions in every dimension just in case her life was drastically different in the dimension she had traveled to then her own dimension. So she and Theo were walking back to her house or something when they were ambushed by some thugs. The thugs turned out to be Paul and his father's henchmen, which wasn't that surprising, if you ask me, considering Paul never discussed his parents' occupations or anything about them for that matter.

Paul and his colleagues kidnapped Marguerite (surprise, surprise) and questioned her about their so-called "mutual friend " they had, such was, of course, bullcrap. When they realized she wasn't an envoy from their rival gangs, they threw her into a cell and all I could think about at that point was Jack Sparrow telling his crew to send Will to the brig.

I enjoyed this one. It wasn't as good as the first, but I still liked it. I can't wait for the third and final book, A Million Worlds With You, which hit shelves November 1.