Across The Universe Review

Author: Beth Revis
Release Date: January 11, 2011
Pages: 398 (ARC)
Publisher: Razorbill
Most Appropriate For Ages: 14+
Where I Got It: For review from publisher
Challenges: Debut author challenge

A Story of Love, Murder, and Madness Aboard an Enormous Spaceship Bound for the Future

Amy is a cryogenically frozen passenger aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed. She expects to wake up on a new planet, 300 years in the future. But fifty years before Godspeed's scheduled landing, Amy's cryo chamber is unplugged, and she is nearly killed.

Now, Amy is caught inside an enclosed world where nothing makes sense. Godspeed's passengers have forfeited all control to Eldest, a tyrannical and frightening leader, and Elder, his rebellious and brilliant teenage heir.

Amy desperately wants to trust Elder. But should she? All she knows is that she must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets before whoever woke her tries to kill again.

Across the Universe is Titanic meets Brave New World.

I think my expectations for Across The Universe were too high or something, cause I just didn't love this book like everyone else has. Not that I hated it, but, well...

It started with a bang, but then somewhere along the line it just slowed down. The mystery was there but no progress was ever made, and nobody seemed to demand answers to any of the super-creepy stuff that went down on the ship. I found it too easy to put down, and I'll be honest and say that I almost took a break from it.  

However. The last 100 pages? Yeah, they were awesome. So awesome that they redeemed the book and made me want to read the sequel.

I'll be honest again and say that I might have enjoyed this book more had I read it a different time. I was suffering from a major Good Book Hangover, so it might've just been me.

I give props to Beth Revis, cause this is a promising start to a trilogy, as well as a good debut. But I expected to be blown away by this one but--while I thought it was good--I didn't think it was amazing.

Reviewers who were blown away:
Sophistikatied Reviews
The Hiding Spot

Book Report:

Plot: Well thought out, but doesn't really get going until the end.

Characters: Likable, but they never really came to life for me, you know?

Writing: Good. Very easy to read and descriptive, and the world-building was really well done.

Ending: BAM... That's the sound of the explosive ending.

Kid friendly? There's some pretty graphic (and really creepy) sex scenes.

Should I read it? If you're a fan of sci-fi, dystopia, or mystery, then yeah.

Overall:

I'll be interviewing Beth Revis tomorrow, so look out for that.