Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

I don't usually read science fiction. It's not a genre I'm usually interested in, a few exceptions being Obsidian by Jennifer L Armentrout (though I'm not even sure if that sounds as sci-fi) and the Host by Stephanie Meyer (which is literally described as science fiction for people who don't like science fiction). However, Across the Universe is another one of those books, the sci-fi books I love. 

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

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.

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When I'd heard about this book, I'd already read GLOW by Amy Kathleen Ryan, and I wondered if this book was going to be the same basic thing (You know, since both books are about ships heading to a New Earth when some major conflict erupts). But I was totally glad to be wrong on that count, because, while I didn't especially LOVE GLOW, Across the Universe was pretty awesome.

I was immediately very interested in the choice Amy had to make at the beginning of the book. Think for a second: You're a teenage girl. You've never not had your parents around. They're shipping off into space, to the unknown, never to return to Earth. Do you go with them? Or do you stay with your friends and your boyfriend and the familiar?

That had to be a hard choice to make. And I don't think this is a spoiler--I mean, it's kind of the premise of the book--but obviously Amy chose her parents. I would, too.

Then there's Elder. I really liked Elder. I liked how he didn't know everything. It's interesting to be along for the ride as he discovers things about his ship, his HOME, that he never dreamed of. And I don't mean good things.


More things I loved: Harley. His paintings. The talking about the Old Earth's history. The stars. Amy's claustrophobia on the ship. I can totally get that. 


Trying to figure out who was unfreezing the cargo was really awesome. I thought I had it figured out from the beginning, only to change my answer three or four times. I finally figured it out a couple chapters before "the big reveal", so I was proud of myself. Then there's another twist, one I NEVER saw coming. I mean, DANG.


If you like science fiction, you should definitely check out this book. If you DON'T really like science fiction, you should still give it a shot. Because it's good.


My final rating: <*><*><*><*>


(:D)
~Mag

*Edited to add* Also, is it sad that it wasn't until I was halfway/three quarters-ish into this book that I realized the cover was Elder and Amy's faces? Fail. Which is my middle name.