Book Review: Across The Universe by Beth Revis

Across The Universe by Beth Revis

• Pub. Date: January 2011
• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
• Format:Hardcover, 416pp

http://www.bethrevis.com/

"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."

There was such a big buzz about this book that even though I am not a sci-fi fan I picked this book up, and I am so glad I did. Across The Universe is so much more than just sci-fi,there is murder,mystery,suspense,and romance.

The two main characters are Amy and Elder. Amy who has been cryogenically frozen and is on a spaceship waiting to be awoken 300 years later on another planet. Than their is Elder born on the ship and next in line to become Eldest and lead the people on the ship.

The Godspeed is the ship where the whole entire plot takes place in. The Godspeed is built on lies and deceit. The people on board have been brainwashed,their are now mating seasons,everyone is mono-ethnic, and the elderly are killed off. So of course when they see Amy with her vibrant red hair she is the "freak" and thanks to Eldest the current leader on board everyone now thinks she was an experiment gone wrong and every word out of her mouth is a lie.

Amy's character was very real for how someone in her situation may react. She was confused,angry,scared,alone,and ostracized. Yet knowing there was a murderer on board who was determined to kill off all those that are defenseless and frozen in the lower levels of the ship she did whatever it took to make sure they were safe. Not to mention she was also determined to change all the wrongs on the ship that was just not normal.

Elder was an interesting character as well. I loved how his character grew throughout the story and how he finally grew a backbone and was able to stand up to Eldest.

Even though I was sucked into the book from the beginning there were parts where I thought it dragged.Mainly the dream scenes when Amy was still frozen, it felt like it was just fillers. But once Amy woke up the plot moved very fast and I was left in suspense the whole time while learning more about the Godspeed and the people on board.

There are some sexual scenes in the book including and almost gang rape so I don't recommend this for the younger teens.

I love how Across The Universe was wrapped up, I was satisfied with the ending and yet Beth Revis left enough of a cliffhanger where I can't wait to read the second book in the series.