Review of Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Release Date: Jan. 11, 2011
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 398 pages
Genre: Dystopia, Science Fiction
Rating: 4.5 stars
Source: Library

Goodreads Summary: 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:  Wow. What an incredible book and by a debut author! The story is the perfect mix of sci-fi, dystopia, thriller and romance. The plot is awesome and flows seamlessly. I was worried that I would get confused by the sci-fi element, but Revis works the description of the ship, the science and the people effortlessly.  

The book is told from the perspective of both Amy and Elder so you get to experience Amy’s fear and her incredible sadness when she realizes she has lost everything that she has known. We also get to know Elder and see how he matures through the course of the book. Other characters like Harley were also great, I just wish we had gotten to see more of him.

The villain is awful, but while I think his choices are reprehensible, I can see how desperation for survival could create this society.

The book wraps up nicely without a cliffhanger, but it leaves you wanting more which is perfect because this is the first in a trilogy. The fast pace of this book, the mysteries and the sci-fi element would draw in reluctant and non-readers. As such, I will be getting the audio book for my husband, I think he will enjoy it.

Content: Warning: I would not recommend this book to younger teens. It has sexual situations that are shocking and inappropriate for the younger set. Additionally, a character is assaulted and almost gang raped. Language.

I thought I would something new today and do some casting for Across the Universe. I really see Molly C. Quinn (from the TV show Castle) as Amy and Daniel Henney (a more tanned version) for Elder.