A Million Suns (Across the Universe, #2)

by Beth Revis

Trapped on board the spaceship Godspeed, Amy trusts no-one.

The ship's ruler is dead and a rebellion threatens. Amy wants to help Elder as he tries to take charge, but she's torn between her feelings for him and the chaos that's pulling everything apart. As more harrowing discoveries are made about Godspeed, Amy is caught in a desperate race to unravel its secrets. Only one thing is certain.

They have to get off this ship.

The heart-stopping sequel to Across the Universe: a story of love, murder and madness - set in space

• ISBN10: 0141333685
• ISBN13: 9780141333687
• Publish Date: 5 April 2012 (first published 10 January 2012)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 19 May 2015
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[Katie King]

I really enjoyed Across the Universe so I sort of knew I would like A Million Suns. Of course, just because you like a series starter doesn't mean you'll like the sequel, but something in me just knew. And I did like A Million Suns! It had everything I really enjoyed about Across the Universe - scifi premise, spaceship, very light romance, an intelligent female MC, and lots and lots of secrets.

The aspect I like most about this series, in both books, is the mystery of Godspeed and its mission, and the little plots Amy/Elder uncover. I like how things are gradually discovered, not infodumped in a villain's monologue. Each piece of the puzzle is solved by them naturally, not through some unrealistic, convoluted back and forth guessing or figured out behind the scenes. This makes it all feel very real, like it could easily be happening on some spaceship in our solar system.

Real mysteries like this are solved in this way. Real mysteries have clues that will stump you for days, clues that are very easy, and clues that will go missing or be tampered with. There are some clues that won't be solved by the MC, but rather by someone she shares them with. There are people who want you to solve the mystery, and people who don't and will do anything to stop you.

In short, I loved this book. Some things that made me drop a star were Bartie and Elder, Doc, and Amy and Victria. Bartie and Elder are quite good friends, but he's born to lead the ship so they lose touch over the years. When things start going south, Bartie is Elder's most outspoken detractor. He incites riots, physically attacks Elder, and tries to mutiny the ship for THREE MONTHS. Yet in the last 5o pages they make up like they were old friends. Nobody really apologizes, they just sort of forget. It's quite funny because Elder actually thinks about this, something like "the last 30 minutes were enough to forget the last 3 months between us." No. That's really not how that works in real life.

If I think of any of my best friends that I've lost touch with over the last few years, and they were my biggest public critic for 3 months to the point where they deliberately dismantle my ability to govern the show and keep everyone safe, I would not just let everything go because of that 30 minutes. We WERE friends long ago, who knows what we're really like together these days, and after all they did to me, even after that 30 minutes they had together, I'm not going to let it go. Things will not be all sunshine and roses between us.

Another problem I had was Doc. Why did Doc kill the specific people that he did? Why did he kill Luthor or Lili? Because he didn't want anyone to threaten Orion's rule? Did someone else kill them? Who was it?

And Victria, she was in love with Orion, so she wanted him unfrozen. But then she gets killed helping Doc unfreeze him and Amy is super upset over her dying. I didn't think they were really that great of friends. I know I was supposed to believe that, but it came across as forced. It seemed like Victria hated Amy because of what she did to Orion and Amy sort of tried to be friends with her anyways. Just because some guy raped her and tried to rape Amy, they're super tight now? I'm sure Luthor had lots of other victims too. And she points a gun at Amy, threatening to kill her just to have her psycho unrequited lover unfrozen, and Amy is TORN UP when she gets shot on accident. She won't shoot (to kill) Doc because she just couldn't. She could barely dump Luthor's ALREADY DEAD body out the space chute. But she thinks Orion should drown in his cryo liquid. She's thinking about how he left her to die EXCEPT IT WASNT HIM, IT WAS ELDER. So shouldn't you be more upset about Elder leaving you to die? I didn't care for that.

[Artemis]

This took me so long to get into and in the end I wasn't that invested in the story anymore. I'll finish up the trilogy (unless I'm wrong and its more books then I'll probably end here).

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2014/05/professor-birdbrain-million-suns-by.html

[Vicki]

3.5 stars

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

Holy wow! a review coming soon.

[lex6819]

2nd book in the trilogy. Just as much of a page-turner as the first one. I'm now starting on the third book...

[Angie]

Review to come.The epicness that is Across the Universe left me wanting more, more, MORE! A Million Suns definitely brings more, even if I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the first. In the very first chapter we're given new information about the state of Godspeed. We left the first book thinking that the ship is centuries behind schedule because the engines can't make it go fast enough. Well, that isn't exactly true. The ship isn't moving at all! How the heck did that happen?! When did this happen?! That's what most of the rest of the book is dedicated to. Orion has left a series of clues for Amy to find and discover the truths surrounding Godspeed's mission.

I loved the mystery in A Million Suns! I desperately wanted to know why the ship was just floating in space and how it got that way. Orion's clues are quite clever and take Amy on a tour of hidden places within the Godspeed. She's always on the move trying to figure out one thing or another, so there was never a dull moment. Especially since someone has been tampering with the clues. However, the big secret was a little disappointing. I had two guesses in mind and one of them ended up being correct, unlike with the first book where I never figured anything out. The mystery person who was messing with the clues was also super obvious.

Of course, Amy isn't doing this all alone. She has Elder at her side. He's not totally into running around the ship chasing a crazy man's hidden clues at the beginning though, since he has much bigger problems to deal with. The first being figuring out the engine problem, which he leaves to the Shippers. The second is that the people are in an uproar! Without Phydus to keep them in line, a mutiny is close at hand. I really enjoyed watching Elder grow confidence in himself as a leader. He's struggling to keep order on the ship and in turn keeping the ship from falling apart, but he does everything in his power to keep things from totally blowing up.

Amid all of the chaos, there's a budding romance. At the beginning I was so happy that Amy still hadn't given in and claimed undying love for Elder. She acknowledges that they're the only teenagers on the ship, and that doesn't mean that they have to be together. There's also the fact that she's still mad at him and can barely stand to be around him. But then there's random moments where she does just want to be with him, but she doesn't, but she does. She was conflicted about her feelings, but sometimes it felt like the author forgot that Amy was mad and just wanted to develop the romance faster. Thankfully, the focus is definitely not on the romance.

What brought down my enjoyment of this one compared to the first was a few inconsistencies. I just mentioned Amy's feelings for Elder as one of them. Another one also involves Amy and her wacky feelings and justifications. There's a few scenes where someone's lives are in her hands. In two instances, where she shouldn't have hesitated at all, she does. Thinking she shouldn't do this to someone. Then there's a third instance, where she has no doubt in her mind that this person should die, even though they've been very helpful to her. I really did not get it. It just seemed like a way for Amy and Elder to have a disagreement. Then there's the whole stopped ship scenario. I can't really say more without giving away spoilers, but there's a contradiction of information somewhere, or else I must of have missed something.

Anyway, I did love A Million Suns, but it was missing that wow-factor of Across the Universe. It left me puzzled in places, and not because there's a lack of information, but because of contradictions. I am still very excited for the conclusion though. I'm not sure what else can go wrong on the Godspeed, but if there is still something, I'm sure it'll happen!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[lizarodz]

See the original review here: Reading with ABC

Wow! I think I like A Million Suns more than Across the Universe! It’s a book full of mystery and discovery and I loved it.

As you know, usually book two of a series is full of ‘fluff’, but not in this case. Orion is still causing trouble, and I have to agree, albeit reluctantly, that he is a genius for some things. The plot in this book is nothing short of amazing. It is well planned and complicated, full of twists and turns. As with Across the Universe, this installment is also told in alternating point s of view; I’m a big fan of this style because the reader can get a better insight of the characters and be in more than one place at a time. I think this is extremely important, as Elder and Amy’s points of view are so different.

Ms. Revis imagination knows no limits! I love all the secrets that Godspeed and its inhabitants have kept for so long (some altogether forgotten). What was done to all these people is quite infuriating to me, but after seeing how they reacted to the truth, I’m not sure that I would have made the same decisions. I mean, why revel when you are literally ‘stuck’ inside a ship?

Elder grew so much after he assumed a leadership role. I which that he had more experience and that Amy would have helped him more to understand the benefits of a democracy. I think that if some of the people had been included in the decisions, a lot of grief (and death) would have been avoided. Overall, Elder did the best he could. On the other hand, I don’t know what’s up with Amy. She is so reluctant to act upon her feelings, and instead of living in the ‘now’ she insists of living in the past (comparing everything to her life on Earth) or thinking on a future when her parents are once more functional. I think she could have been a great help to Elder, but no one gave her a chance, not even herself. However, Amy is probably as smart as Orion, since she could figure out his clues.

I didn’t see the end coming! Seriously, this book has many controversial and some hateful characters, but I didn’t expect the ending AND it was a big cliffhanger for me. I cannot wait to get my hands on Shades of Earth!

About the cover: So beautiful! I love the couple, the sense of being ‘trapped’ in a bubble looking out to the huge universe outside. The colors and both mysterious and soothing.

[Ashley]

As posted on booknook - Young Adult book reviews

This book is a great example of a sequel that is even BETTER than the first book! A Million Suns even starts off with a totally mind-blowing bang!

When I first read the Goodreads summary (which is like 1/3rd the length of the above summary and much more vague), I felt like I had no idea what this book was about. It just seemed like a bunch of boring political stuff.. the ship members are getting restless, people are frustrated and not working, food production is down, and Elder (now technically "Eldest") has to deal with it. I mean that's okay, but it didn't seem Z0MG OUT OF THIS WORLD EXCITING! But this first impression was totally off the mark.

The very first chapter starts off throwing you right into the action and the conspiracy. Elder goes to the Shippers to talk about the engine problem and gets the sense that what Eldest told him was a lie. And badda-bing:

"Eldest lied to you," Marae says calmly, "because we lied to him."

So I went from thinking this book would be not-that-amazing, to "HOLY CRAP I NEED TO KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE!!!"

A Million Suns deals a lot with mob mentality, which was both frustrating and fascinating. The people on the ship are totally restless and overflowing with emotions. They blame Elder for the lack of food, they blame Elder for people not working, and they blame Elder for the ship not landing. They have it in their heads that Elder's rule is oppressive, when honestly, it's not. That's the frustrating part. We see Elder's old friends turning on him, shouting "Lead yourselves!" and blaming Elder for every tiny thing that goes wrong — even if he wasn't at all responsible for it. It was frustrated to see Elder targeted like this and have the people buy into it. They were all being so stupid and let's face it, they wouldn't be able to lead themselves. But it was also kind of interesting to see mob mentality at work. People buy into epic rebellious speeches so easily and one person chanting "Lead yourselves!" quickly turned into a whole group of rebels.

Another part of the story is Amy putting together clues that Orion left her. Apparently Orion uncovered some crazy secret about the ship — the secret that Eldest tried to kill him for. But this secret isn't what we expect. He put together a series of clues for Amy to eventually figure out the secret and make the best decision for everyone. This was really interesting because I was dying to figure out what information Orion left behind for her to figure out. It's kind of drawn out so I was literally whipping through the pages, desperately trying to find those answers that would surely be epic!

I didn't read A Million Suns right after Across the Universe, but from what I remember, I actually think I enjoyed A Million Suns more.. and that's saying something because I loved Across the Universe! A Million Suns just had so much more intensity and I guess it was exciting being that much closer to the truth and the planet. Like obviously they weren't going to get to the planet in the first book, but when I started A Million Suns there was always that "maybe" in the back of my head. Maybe they would get to the planet.. or maybe we'll find out more about it. That hope and all the new information really had me completely glued to A Million Suns!

Review originally from Miss Book Reviews

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To be honest even though I was disappointed by the first book I couldn’t get this plot idea out of my head. After getting myself all excited about the space adventure I had thought the first book was going to be I desperately needed to read another science fiction book. Honestly. I couldn’t get into any other books. So I relented and ordered this from the library since I actually cannot find any other science fiction books about waking up too early on a spaceship after being cryogenically frozen for hundreds of years. I honestly still want to write this space adventure myself haha.

The closest I came to was a book called Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan which I have requested from the library. Then I stumbled across Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder which doesn’t call to me like Across the Universe did but it is in the science fiction and space category so I have requested that as well. But I digress.

I have to say that I enjoyed this book so much better than the first! It might have to do with the fact that it’s not slow to start off like the first book was. The excitement starts on the first page. I read it in one night because I was too excited to stop reading. It was another mystery plot but the space elements were also worked into it. I loved it.

Amy was more likeable in this season. I’m not sure in what way but I realised I did care what happened to her. Although her immature and selfish attitude towards the end of the book really grated on my nerves and made me forget what it was that I liked about her. I liked that Elder started acting like a leader, he acted more mature and appropriate of his role. Although he too did act a little immature at times. Then again, Amy and Elder are teenagers.

The people of Godspeed were the ones that annoyed me the most though. And that was because of the situation they were in and were making it out to be.

The ending! Whoa. I am so excited to read the final book! I’m guttered it’s just under a year away. How can I wait so long?!

Overall I really liked this book!

Miss J
xx