Review Detail

Beth has created a truly frightening world aboard a spaceship, where nothing is what it seems. The book starts with a feeling of unease, with a family being frozen to take a 300-year trip across the universe, and then shifts to the future where Amy is awakened 50 years early. With Amy, we begin to see the society that has evolved -- or been manufactured -- aboard the Godspeed, and how every assumption should be questioned.

There is also a murderer on the ship.

But what I loved best was Beth's prose. In spite of being 400 pages, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE reads quickly, effortlessly. It's in first person present tense, but I'm totally behind this choice. The narrative is never distracting. The descriptions are complete and seamlessly integrated into the action.

I'm definitely recommending this for readers who want to like science fiction but aren't sure where to start, or don't want much science in their science fiction. It's a character-driven story. (The other thing I will mention is that it says it's for readers 12 and up, but do be aware there's quite a bit of sexytime in this book, most of it not very nice.)