Book Review: Across the Universe

Title: Across the Universe.
Author: Beth Revis.
Series: Yes, #1.
Pages: 398.
Source: Purchased.
Publisher: Razorbill.
Published Date: 1/11/11.
Links:
Goodreads.
Barnes and Noble.

Summary:

"A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

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."

My Thoughts:

Across the Universe, by Beth Revis...I'm not even sure where to start with this review. And I can't describe how different this book was from anything else I've read or just HOW much I enjoyed it.

Beth Revis had me questioning, guessing, thinking, begging, and even PLEADING for more throughout Across the Universe. There was never a dull moment, and I felt like I was within the pages, trying to figure out what was going on, on this ship, right along side Amy and Elder. I felt like I was there, and I don't feel that very often with books.

Amy is the seventeen year old daughter of two parents who are both asked to aboard Godspeed, due to their skills and specialties. The Godspeed is a spaceship launching to find a new planet that has the capabilities of human survival, but the only thing is, is that the ship won't be landing for another 300 years. Leaving behind everything she has ever known, including the boy she's fallen in love with, Amy becomes a piece of cargo, just like her parents, when she's laid into a box, filled with liquid and frozen.

Not sure of how much time has passed, Amy seems to feel awake, and she seems to be able to hear the quiet.

When Amy is woken up and unfrozen, she gasping, choking, and can barely speak a word. She soon comes to know that she's been unfrozen 50 years before scheduled, and that there's no way the people on Godspeed can refreeze her, due to the high chances of her never waking up again. Amy doesn't know what to do or think, the only thing she knows is that there's only a slim chance of seeing her parents again, and that's when she'll be many years older than them.

Attempting his best, Elder is trying to comfort this exotic looking girl, hoping that she'll calm down and take a breather. Elder is the soon to be leader of Godspeed, taking after Eldest; his teacher. Elder doesn't know who his parents are, because being Elder/Eldest means that he isn't allowed to have any biased when it comes to his people. The people of Godspeed all look similar, with dark skin, hair, and eyes; Elder has never seen someone so pale or with such bright read hair. He couldn't stop staring at Amy..

Accepting the fact that she can't be refrozen and that she'll probably be spending the rest of her life of Godspeed, Amy is trying to make the best of things. She's staying in the hospital section of the ship, and comes to realize that people aren't the same here as they are on Earth. They seem different, almost like that have glazed over, and don't really think for themselves.

Amy knows something isn't right about this ship, the way this people are acting everyday. The way this ship has "mating season", and the REALLY weird way people are acting during this season. Something just doesn't sit right on Godspeed.

But the behavior of the residents on this ship isn't the biggest of Amy's problems, no, its the person who is attempting to unfreeze the frozens, and letting them drown in their boxes. Four people have been unfrozen/in the process or dead, and Amy is the only one who can figure out why this person is doing this and what these four people have incommon.

Who is doing this? And why? Things on Godspeed aren't as great as Eldest seems to making them out to be...

In the end Revis was jerking around my emotions; breaking my heart and then slowly and sweetly putting it back together. She had me suspecting and questioning every character and their motives, to see if they were the ones behind it all. It was beautifully written, and there always seemed to be something hiding around the corner, I couldn't get enough! Across the Universe was something I've never read before. We've all read books where the world is ending, zombies are taking over, or something else is killing us (humans, are you one?) off, but I haven't read a book where people are traveling to space to find a new home.

If I didn't already read the second book, this is the part in my review where I would be telling you guys just how excited I was to do so. But I still have the third book to read, so yes I'm excited to pick that one up and get started on it!

I'm excited to see how this trilogy is going to end, but also I'm a little sad that I won't get more from both Amy and Elder...bitter sweet. Thanks for stopping by! I hope you give Across the Universe a shot!