Title: Across the Universe
Author: Beth Revis
Series: Across The Universe Trilogy
Book #: 1
Pages: 416
Reading Level: Young Adult
Published Date: Jan 11, 2011.
Publisher: Razorbill
Book Rating: .4
Cover Rating:
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.
Taschima's POV:
Across the Universe wasn't what I thought it would be. I was a bit surprised by the time I finished the story, it was weird. I thought it was going to be so much more but at the end of the tale I felt a little disappointed to tell you the truth. It was a good read, and it had it's 'Wow!' and great moments, but I was expecting a little more than great; I was expecting unforgettable and got good. It still is a good read, I guess I just set my sights too high.
The book is all set in this spaceship named Godspeed. But the book begins centuries before on Earth. Amy, one of our main characters, is making the decision of either getting frozen or not while watching her parents get frozen themselves. Then we jump to centuries later and we meet Elder, a young leader to be. Through Elder we get to find out about Godspeed's social structure and different rules. For a ship who is self sustaining and everybody is the "same" there seems to be a heck of a lot of underlying issues. Later on due to outside forces Amy gets unfrozen ahead of time and all hell breaks loose. Soon enough people start dying and secrets that have been kept quiet for centuries start boiling into the surface and what once seem to be a quiet peaceful ship turns into a thing of nightmares.
This book is complicated. It raises many questions that you just don't know how to answer. I loved how it made me think! As far as the characters I like Amy, she is a bit of a rebel in this story. Elder on the other hand was a much more passive character. He was a bit brainwashed and we get to see how little by little he gets out from under the claws of the ruler. The characters balanced each other but at times I was so frustrated with Elder. I mean his inside chatter was a lot more interesting than what he actually did on the story. What I really loved about this story is how it makes you feel. I could feel the despair of Amy as if it was my own, the sadness and fury. The emotions were solid and seem to radiate from the pages. I wanted to eat up every single second of it.
As to the story line, well, I wasn't surprised as much as I wish I had been. I caught most twists pretty quickly, it wasn't very exciting because of this. The end though I didn't expect. I would have expected the author to prolongate the story line, instead she surprised me. Bravo! This makes me want to read the second book of this story so much more!
So yes it was a good read, but not out of this world (get it?). It shined on certain parts and it lacked in others. It's worth the buy. I mean you want to have this cover on your collection! Is beautiful! It's a different story, totally original in its content!
What did you think about Across the Universe? You can leave a link to your own review if you'd like in a comment =]
PS; I recently became an Amazon Associate so if you click that little box on top and buy the book I would get a percentage out of the buy. I just wanted to let you know so you would know =] Besides, so much cheaper when you get it through amazon.
I got this from the library this week and can't wait to read it, even though I've heard mixed opinions about it. Thanks for sharing yours.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean by wanting this book added to your collection if only just for the cover! It's gorgeous! I can stare at it for days! I also liked this one as well. It wasn't a favorite or anything, but it really deserved the 5 star rating because it was very original and fresh.
ReplyDeleteLove the cover. Sounds awesome. great post.
ReplyDeleteI woke up Sunday a.m. to find my blog, my 500 plus followers, my 100plus author interviews, and my 200 plus reviews gone. Blogger gave no explanation, but I think the account was hacked. Change your password often!
I have reloaded the interviews and reviews, plus redesigned the blog. But if you could, please hit the "follow" button so I can reclaim the fellow bloggers I miss. I'm still following you, as my account remained--thank goodness!
http://kellymoranauthor.blogspot.com
Thank you!
Kelly Moran
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Great review! I've heard that this is good but not great - that it just doesn't quite go all the way. Sounds like you feel the same way. I do love books that make me think. It's nice that there are strong emotions too. Sounds like it's worth reading.
ReplyDelete