Across the Universe (Across the Universe, #1)

by Beth Revis

Book 1 in the New York Times bestselling trilogy, perfect for fans of Battlestar Gallactica and Prometheus!

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO SURVIVE ABOARD A SPACESHIP FUELED BY LIES?

Amy is a cryogenically frozen passenger aboard the spaceship Godspeed. She has left her boyfriend, friends--and planet--behind to join her parents as a member of Project Ark Ship. Amy and her parents believe they will wake on a new planet, Centauri-Earth, three hundred years in the future. But fifty years before Godspeed's scheduled landing, cryo chamber 42 is mysteriously unplugged, and Amy is violently woken from her frozen slumber.

Someone tried to murder her.

Now, Amy is caught inside an enclosed world where nothing makes sense. Godspeed's 2,312 passengers have forfeited all control to Eldest, a tyrannical and frightening leader. And Elder, Eldest's rebellious teenage heir, is both fascinated with Amy and eager to discover whether he has what it takes to lead. Amy desperately wants to trust Elder. But should she put her faith in a boy who has never seen life outside the ship's cold metal walls? All Amy knows is that she and Elder must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets before whoever woke her tries to kill again.

• ISBN10: 1595144676
• ISBN13: 9781595144676
• Publish Date: 29 November 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Razorbill
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 448
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781595144676

Reviews

[Amber]

After all the hype surrounding this debut YA novel, I was a little nervous about starting it. I was worried that it wouldn’t live up to my extremely high expectations, and I’d be disappointed, after spending so much money on it.
I was wrong to worry though.
Across the Universe was an amazing read. The plot started off slowly - for me - but it was still enough to pull me in. The first few chapters were spent introducing the reader to the new world inside the spaceship Godspeed. The technology and life there was E WORD and my favourite part of the novel - apart from the murder mystery! - was probably reading about how the people of Godspeeds’ life is now.
The plot picks up very quickly after the main female protagonist, Amy is awoken from her centuries long sleep by someone who is running around the ship and trying to kill the frozen people.
The two main characters, Amy and Elder, are very interesting. Amy is from Earth, and has no idea about life on Godspeed. Elder was born and raised on the ship, yet he hasn’t really discovered the whole truth about what goes on in it.
The chapters alternated between Amy and Elder’s points of view, and although this was only my second time reading a YA book set out this way, I loved it. I loved knowing what each character was thinking, and what they were both doing - something we wouldn’t know if it was from one person’s POV. And yet, even though we were inside their heads, there was still so much to discover!
All in all, the story gripped me from the word go, and I was unable to put this book down. For a story of almost 400 pages, it went surprisingly fast! The ending was outstanding, and it was so much fun trying to figure out who the killer was until the very end. Outstanding.

[rakesandrogues]

Reviewed at Muggle-Born.net

This was supposed to be my most anticipated book of 2011. I could not wait to read this one so I actually contacted the publisher for a review copy. It was the first time I had ever done that and my effort paid off. I got a chance to review this book in advance.

I’d like to say that I’ve read a handful of reviews praising ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. It sounded exactly my kind of book so I could not wait to get my hands on it. However, when I started reading, I just found that the book did not live up to my expectations and fell very far from it. Unfortunately, as much as I would love to, I just cannot write a fantastic review raving about ACROSS THE UNIVERSE.

To sum up what ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is really like, it is 400 pages of pure development. Nothing really happens. There is a lot of talk about “secrets” aboard Godspeed, but you don’t really get to that until page 300. Which made me think: did the book really have to be that long? Was everything positively necessary to the plot?

I do have to give the author Beth Revis some credit. There were some secrets that were positively shocking. I never would have seen them coming. One of the most eye-opening scenes was the beginning of the Season. It was actually immensely disturbing that I had to stop reading and tell my friend about it.

However, the most essential secret to the plot was quite painfully obvious – which killed me. I love suspense. I love it when an author keeps me guessing to the end, which is why I was almost livid when I found out that I figured out the big shocker one hundred (or less) pages into the book. I would love to point out that that is not supposed to happen.

And now for the romance… One of the selling points of the book was the romance. Science fiction and romance? It was too good to be true! I honestly did not feel any chemistry between Elder and Amy. It was so disappointing. Elder failed to attract me one bit because there was no air of mystery around him. I was presented with everything about him and there was no guessing about his feelings.

I couldn’t get myself to like Amy either. I couldn’t relate. I guess it’s the fact that when I moved out of my house for college, I transitioned quickly. Amy came across as extremely dependent and needy. I felt like every time she pulled herself together, she would just collapse once more from the fact that she was without her parents. I love a solid, independent female lead and Amy is nothing close to that mold.

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE has a fantastic premise. I absolutely loved reading about how views of Earth history has been altered and the similarities between Eldest and Hitler. It made me think. However, the premise does not make up for the actual execution of the book. I figured out the ending when the book just got started, and the ending was too drawn out to the point of being corny.

Would I still recommend others to read this book? Yes, but don’t set your expectations too high.

A huge thank you to Razorbill and Penguin for letting me review this book!