Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Title: Across the Universe
Author: Beth Revis
Publisher: Penguin Group
Publish Date: January 11, 2011
Genre: YA, sci-fi
Pages: ebook
Series: Across the Universe
1. Across the Universe
2. A Million Suns (January 10, 2012)
3. Untitled (expected pub 2013)

Synopsis:
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.

From Goodreads

The number one thing I loved about this book was the way it was written from two different points of view: Amy’s and Elder’s. They each had their own distinct voice and I rarely caught myself having to flip back to figure out whose head I was in. As characters, Amy and Elder were both awesome. I found myself quickly feeling sympathy for them and their situations. Especially poor Amy. I just wish she would have looked on the bright side of things some of the time.

The story was interesting, exciting, and kept me reading. I wanted to uncover more secrets about Godspeed. Actually, I really just wanted to learn more about Godspeed period, be it the secrets or how it has been operating as a community for a few centuries. I loved how the promise of new land was just beyond the horizon. But then there were the murders. Amy wanted so much to find the killer that she was almost too serious for me. However, the mystery and suspense of the novel made it pretty appropriate.

The secondary characters were also really well written. Harley was my favourite, and I’m sure he’s loved by many other ACROSS THE UNIVERSE readers. I wish we’d had more of him. Doc and Eldest were both very interesting characters. Doc always seemed very conflicted, especially about following orders. Eldest was… well Eldest was a handful! He was menacing and confusing, but was really only looking for what was best for his people. I didn’t like him overall, but I kind if understand where he was coming from.

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is a magical science fiction novel that explores not only the promise of new life on a new planet, but also the intricacies of running a small city within a metal box. It looks mostly at the politics of life and what leaders have a right to do for, and to, their people. Mix that with mystery, suspense, and some romance, and you get a great novel that is hard to put down.