Across the Universe [Hardcover]

This is the first book from author Beth Revis in her new Sci-fi series Across the Universe.

The story follows two main characters. First, we meet Amy who joins her parents on a spaceship to be frozen for the next 300 years, so when they awake, they will help build a new world on a new planet. Then there's Elder, who was born aboard the spaceship and is being trained to become the next leader. Amy's & Elders lives become intertwined when someone on the ship releases Amy early from her frozen bed, and now they must work together to find out who was trying to kill her and the other frozen people aboard.

I'll be quiet honest when I say I don't usually read these type of books, but a number of things attracted my attention with this one. The book cover is so eye catching and beautiful, the blurb really grabbed my attention and then there is everyone else's reviews. In the end I picked this book up straight away and even though I did like the story, it wasn't as good as I thought it would be.

I felt the first 20% of the book let the story down because, Amy is just frozen and dreaming in her frozen bed and Elder's parts, I found quiet boring. It wasn't until Amy was woken up that the story started to get slightly interesting. After that, I did find myself enjoying the story and I was eager to find out what happens.

A highlight of the book for me was, how much I enjoyed all the characters once we got past that first 20%. I especially liked Harley and its such as shame how things ended with him. I enjoyed how Amy's & Elder's relationship slowly built up but, I do wish there had been a little more romance in the book than there was. I also found myself trying to work out who the murderer was and was delighted to find that I had guessed right in the end.

The end of the story does give us readers a little hope to Amy's and Elders relationship and I can't wait to see how that plays out.

Overall, I did enjoy this story and I will continue to read the rest of the series once they have been released.

It sounded good when I read the blurb: a sci-fi set in the future and space, with perhaps a romantic twist and a murder mystery to boot. It had all the ingredients to make a good YA story. Unfortunately the author didn't quite cook them right and the outcome wasn't as tasty as I thought it would be. To be honest, it wasn't one of my favourite sci-fi novels and it took me quite a while to read it. There were some good bits and bad bits and so it was completely average. I didn't think there was anything to make it stand out as the "next big thing".

What I liked about the book:

The romantic element was good because it didn't actually become a whirlwind romance nor was it a "love at first sight" kind of thing. There was definitely a spark between the two characters and their relationship grew, but there was no declarations of love which would have made the whole thing completely unrealistic. Elder the main character is definitely not perfect and a revelation about him at the end was one that I definitely did not see coming. It's nice to see a YA novel in which the main male character isn't 100% perfect. He has his flaws. He's still learning and growing up and so he's prone to make mistakes. This makes him seem much more realistic and in my opinion, because he's not a cliched "broody, mysterious, I'm a bad boy - oh no I'm actually not, I'm perfect" character, he is much more likable and it's easier to see yourself in his shoes.

I also liked how each chapter would switch points of view, first Amy and then Elder. I preferred Elder's parts as the story developed but to begin with they were a little bit slow and boring. Amy's parts to start with were interesting and then slowed down a bit while she was frozen.

HARLEY! He was the only character I really really liked and cared about. I'm not going to tell you what his involvement was because it's hard to without giving anything away, but his character was cool and quite loveable.

Things I didn't like about it:

THE PLOT TWIST! It's a good storyline but the author wasn't very subtle about her presentation of it. I solved the murder mystery when the first one happened! It was so obvious and the author was practically screaming the clues out at us. I saw the link between the victims straight away but then I had to wait for practically the whole book before the characters realised the link - only about 60 chapters too late! The murder mystery plot was too predictable and this seriously let the book down for me because there was no challenge in it what so ever.

It had a SLOW start. I would say the first 20% of the book was the worst. Also, the book had so many chapters and some of them were a little boring - they were almost like "fillers" that weren't really vital to the plot. Because of this it I didn't find it to be a complete page - turner and had to read it in stops and starts.

Overall, I would say this book is ok but not brilliant. The sequel A Million Suns comes out in a year but I'm not waiting in eager anticipation. I haven't decided if I will read it yet, I'm not really bothered what happens to them next time. Read it, enjoyed bits of it and probably wouldn't read it again. I recommend it to those of you who liked Stephanie Meyer's The Host or something along those lines.

Seventeen year old Amy was happy on earth but still decided to accompany her parents on a mission to a planet far away. Frozen and lying in cryo chambers they were supposed to travel to their new home. When someone wakes Amy up early out of her frozen sleep she has to adapt to life on the spaceship Godspeed. She is confronted with a society which is very different from what she is used to. A society that hates differences and that is sceptic about Amy.
One of the few friendly persons is a boy named Elder who will someday rule over Godspeed. Elder tries to make Amy's life easier and he wants her to be happy on the spaceship. However they soon stumble over dark secrets and have to deal with a person who tries to kill people by opening their cryo chambers.
Can Amy accept her new life on Godspeed? And will they manage to reveal what's behind all the secrets?

After reading an awesome review of "Across the Universe" on Jennifer's blog An Abundance of Books I decided to get a copy of the book. I normally don't read dystopia but thought that Beth Revis's book could still work for me. And I'm happy to say that it worked perfectly for me.
"Across the Universe" was not a book I read in one sitting but one that I read in smaller pieces and was always excited to go back to. The dystopian world and the SciFi elements were fascinating to read about and made me excited for more. I don't think that you have to be a big fan of Science Fiction to enjoy the book because it's not overloaded with scientific details. I enjoyed that the book gives the reader the chance to slowly get used to the society on Godspeed. I didn't felt like developments were rushed and I could get a good sense about why people acted the way they did.

I normally prefer reading books that are centred around a love story but I'm happy that the romance between the main characters Amy and Elder is just a possibility to explore in the next book of the series. The book plays only over a few days and a whirlwind romance wouldn't have fit to the story or characters. Both Amy and Elder are fascinating characters and I enjoyed that I got the chance to read the story from both their perspectives. That way it was easy to understand why they experienced life on Godspeed in different ways. Both have strong voices, are likable characters and I'm excited to learn more about them.
I don't want to give away too much of the story however want to say that the world on Godspeed is not black and white. I could understand why people like Eldest (the ship's leader) acted the way he did. It was very interesting to read about a society where one person has the power to influence and control everyone else and it makes me appreciate the freedom I have in my life.
The books ends with a big suprise (at least for me) and I liked that both the start and the end of the book left quiet an impression on me. The murder mystery and the investigation of it is interesting but it's not the main plot. It was not so hard to solve the mystery but that didn't bother me.
"Across the universe" made me interested in the people on Godspeed and especially Amy & Elder. I'm excited to read how their story will continue in "A million suns" (coming spring 2012). And of course I hope for a bit more of romance but it's not a must.

cover
I like the cover and think that it fits to the book.

final appraisal
A fascinating story that entertained me a lot and got me thinking about some serious themes. I enjoyed reading about life on Godspeed a lot and liked the changing perspectives between Elder and Amy.
I'm excited to see how the story will go on and would recommend "Across the Universe" to all readers interested in dystopian worlds and to those who want to give them a first try (like I did).