Across The Universe by Beth Revis
pages: 398
released: January 2011
publisher: Razorbill
cover love: ♥♥♥♥♥
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. (from Goodreads)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 10/12/2011 ON BOOKSLIKESTARS.NET
Review:
Across the Universe has a beautiful cover and a fairly appealing summary but unfortunately that’s where all the positive things I could say about this book ends. I was very disappointed because I thought this would be something I’d love but it was completely opposite.
Amy is a frozen cargo passenger on board Godspeed, a massive spaceship on its way to a new Earth-like planet, 250 years into the future. When Amy is unfrozen, 50 years ahead of schedule, her awakening causes distress for the ship’s leader Eldest and romantic curiosity for his young protégé, Elder. She has to figure out who and why someone “unplugged” her and attempting to do so to other frozen passengers. The blurb above persuades you to believe that this is a sci-fi romance, however, there was virtually none present. Elder and Amy are basically strangers throughout the novel with a hand holding scene and one tiny kiss. Other than that, there’s nothing. The author left out the chemistry build-up, the tension, the fireworks. So you’re left with the notion that Elder is only attracted to Amy because–unlike the rest of the population on the ship that have dark hair, olive skin and incestuously similar looks–she looks different. As for life on Godspeed, it’s pretty lifeless. Everybody’s monotonous and unhappy. But it’s worse because they don’t even realize what unhappiness is. They’ve been conformed by their leader to accept their uneventful and dull lifestyles and teaches them that being different or standing out has serious consequences. You can’t read thought-provoking books, you can’t be creative without getting thrown in a hospital and put on meds, you can’t even bang-bang when you want to. Hell, you can’t even pray.
I couldn’t connect with the story or the characters, every thing felt dull and uninteresting. There is a small section that involves an orgy but the way it’s described, it’s not even amusing, just weird and awkward. There were also many instances where convenience played a huge role in how information was discovered, for example, a door you know is always locked is suddenly open today, for no reason. As for the writing, it was elementary and I felt like the author could’ve done much better than leaving all the twists and pulls for the last 100 pages. Remember, this is just my opinion. I have read countless stellar reviews about this book, so it’s all a matter of preference. So, I won’t say not to read it but the safest bet is to grab a copy from the library.
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