Review: Across the Universe

Across the Universe

Beth Revis

Publisher: Razorbill

Release Date: January 11, 2011

Pages: 400

Source: Borrowed from Gail

Ratings: 4 Stars

Summary (from Goodreads):

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone—one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship—tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn’t do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed’s hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there’s only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Across the Universe was a refreshing read, combining sci-fi, romantic, mystery and suspense. Beth Revis has written a stunning debut novel.

I want to start out this review discussing the first chapter of this book. I have never been more in love with a first chapter as much as am with this book’s first chapter. Beth Revis has writing a fascinating beginning to a great story that captivates you literally from page one. The first chapter starts out from Amy’s point view, showing the cryogenic freezing of her parents and herself for their mission on the ship the Godspeed. I was creeped out yet fascinated by the description of the process and the emotion’s Amy was feeling and what she was thinking while the freezing was occurring. This first chapter definitely captured my attention and had me very intrigued to see where the rest of the book would go.

Beth Revis did not disappoint after the first chapter. This book is told in dual point of view between Amy and Elder. While I usually really dislike two or more points of views, I felt that it worked create in the case of Across the Universe. I really have no clue how the story would unfold without the two different perspectives. Amy is a foreigner on the Godspeed, completely isolated from the inhabitants of the ship after her early awakening. Elder is the future leader of the ship, board and bred on the ship. Their differing points of views provide different insight on life on the ship, and the secrets that are kept on the ship.

While I found the plot sometimes slow, overall, I extremely enjoyed the story. I loved the whole idea of having no where to escape, no where to go,  a lot of the feelings that Amy felt. The story was well-written and the emotions felt completely real. However, I found the some of the plot twists a bit predictable, but enjoyed the unveiling of them even if I figured them out in advance.

After reading this book, I wanted to learn more about Elder and Amy. I wanted to know what happens on the Godspeed next. Beth Revis has written a great debut. I truly loved how she was able to capture the feeling of isolation and loneliness. Across the Universe is a very good book that was something a bit different from a lot of other YA books out there, and for that I was glad. I cannot wait to read more from Beth Revis in the future since I highly enjoyed her first book.