Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Published January 11th 2011 by Razorbill
From the Publisher:
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.
Review:
Across the Universe is told from the perspective of Amy and Elder. Amy has been frozen along with her parents in order to be revived in 500 years. Her parents are important people on Earth and they have volunteered to explore new life on a planet. Elder is in training to be Eldest, the leader of Godspeed, the ship Amy and her parents are aboard. Elder is a teenage boy and has his entire life controlled. In fact, everything on Godspeed is controlled; food, medicine, information, and even life cycles. Elder and Amy meet when Amy’s frozen crypt is unplugged and she struggles for her life. The description of Amy being frozen and then thawed is horrifying to read. I knew Amy would live - obviously - but her struggle for survival was gripping. Amy and Elder form a friendship, a real friendship. They really don’t have a choice; they are the only people on Godspeed who are the same age. All of the other inhabitants on Godspeed are one or two generations older. Interesting huh?! As Amy begins to adjust to life on a space ship, other frozen people from Earth are being unplugged and die. Together, Amy and Elder try to solve the mystery of who unplugged Amy’s frozen tomb and why someone would want to kill the people from Earth. And of course...kinda fall in love.I really enjoyed reading this story from both perspectives. It would be so easy to have only Amy’s voice. She has the jaw-dropping intro, suffers the temporary (?) loss of her parents, and the one suddenly forced to live on a small spaceship full of strangers. Thankfully, Revis gave Elder a chance to shine. Poor guy hasn’t had the peachiest of times either. Elder is under Eldest thumb and is constantly watched and medicated by the ship doctor. The only thing he looks forward to is landing on the new planet, but at times, that seems out of reach. Every character is well developed and distinct. There are mysteries at every corner. Not only are Elder and Amy trying to figure out who would want to see frozen people dead, but why is Eldest keeping secrets if Elder is going to rule the ship one day? Why does everyone on the ship act so strangely and in accordance? Slowly but surely answers are uncovered. This book is a page turner and when you get to the last few chapters - hold on to your suspenders! I. Was. Speechless. After a few minutes, it sunk in and I screamed, "What!?" Literally! I had to go back and reread the ending again to make sure I heard/read everything correctly. The ending alone makes you want to read the book over and over again.
Bottom line: Imaginative, gripping, and without a doubt - a must read! I can’t wait for you all to be amazed!
5 stars!
Interview and giveaway with Beth Revis coming up next....
You can still read the first chapter of AtU HERE
Happy Reading!
