Title: Across the Universe
Author: Beth Revis
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: 3rd March 2011
Source: Bought
Rating: 4 out of 5
Description:
AMY has left the life she loves for a world 300
years away. Trapped in space and frozen in time, Amy is bound for
a new planet. But fifty years before she's due to arrive, she is violently
woken, the victim of an attempted murder. Now Amy's lost on board and nothing
makes sense - she's never felt so alone. Yet someone is waiting for her. He wants to protect her - and more if
she'll let him
Across the
Universe by Beth Revis is some of the finest Science Fiction I have come across
in young adult literature. Simply put this book is brilly, as Elder would say.
This is one voyage on a spaceship that is not to be missed. The story was fast
paced, intense, emotional and action packed with plenty of shocking twits and
turns. The pages just flew by.
Told from
dual points of view, Across the Universe is a murder mystery set in the
wilderness of space. Across the
Universe is about the spaceship Godspeed, which is enroute to a new planet 300
years away from earth. Godspeeds mission is to inhabit and colonise this new
plant. Amy and her parents have been frozen aboard the ship, only to be woken when
the ship lands, in order to carry out their mission. However unfortunate
circumstances lead to Amy being woken up 50 years early as a victim of an
attempted murder. Amy is now alone
on a ship that is drastically different from anything else she has known. To survive Amy tries to find the murderer
along with Elders help. The attempt to find the murderer results in the
unraveling of hidden secrets, which forever change the future of Godspeed. In this book up is down and down is up.
This story
pulled me in from the first paragraph. When you first learn about Elder’s life
aboard the ship, you can feel the unnaturalness of it all. There's a feeling of
wrongness. You can just see how creepy the situation is. The plot focus on a lot of heavy hitting
topics such as race, politics, and dictatorship. There’s plenty of discussion
about morality, discord and differences between people. This book definitely
makes a political impact and is graphical. If that is something that you don’t
like to read than I would give this book a miss. Despite the darker themes of
the book, there’s a message of change/revolution interwoven throughout the
story. There were so many secrets
hidden on the spaceship. As the mysteries and injustices of this ship come to
light the more you learn the about the extreme nature of the situation. I was shocked
by the lies on this ship and the chaos they caused. The one issue minor issue I had was that it was very easy to
figure out who the murderer was.
Across the
Universe has great world building or in this case ship building. The ship was
completely self-sustaining. The
history of the ship and evolution of the people including people’s features and
language were all well thought out. I loved Revis’s writing, along with all the
imagination and detail that went into this story. The book also had fantastic
sci-if elements with next gen technology, medical advancements, wireless
communications, biometric scanners and cryo chambers. It would be so much fun
to ride in a gravity tube.
Elder is a
little bit naive. There's a sort of innocence at the beginning that he has to
break through to understand what's happening around him and realise his inner
strength and potential. Amy is a resilient young woman despite everything that
happens. She determined and does not stand for injustice. My heart breaks for
her. She's alone on this ship without any reference guide and has to endure so
much. Elder was alone as well but in a different way. His responsibilities and
duties kept him separate from everyone else. There is an undercurrent of
romance but the book does not focus on it.
Across the
Universe is a murder mystery with plenty of emotion and secrets. An amazing
science fiction adventure. I can’t wait to read the sequel A Million Suns.
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