Across the Universe (Across The Universe #1)

I had some mixed feelings on this book. I'll warn, I'm a hardcore sci-fi geek. I make no apologies for that. I think I went into this with my hopes perhaps a bit too high...not only over seeing a YA sci-fi amid the sea of paranormal, but to see a sci-fi by a female author. And on the whole, for a first book it wasn't bad. I just didn't find it to be particularly enjoyable or memorable, either.

The writing was stylized, but not in a way that I minded. And I appreciated the ongoing thread of 'Alice In Wonderland' references. I also liked the underlying concept of removing human will via scientific manipulation and historical revision. It was interesting to see the idea of 'progress' painted in such an ominous and morally thought-provoking light. In that way, more than anything I found it somewhat reminiscent of 'The Giver'. On the down side, the foreshadowing was more heavy-handed than tantalizing. And while there is, fortunately, a minor twist at the end, the murderer is obvious from very early on.

Ultimately, I found that I kept reading because I wanted to know what was happening and why, not because I particularly cared about the characters.

My primary problem was the lead female character, Amy. The girl starts out as irritatingly childish; her thought process and immaturity giving me more the sense of a 13 or 14-year-old rather than a 17-year-old with well-educated and influential parents. She progresses to becoming something of a whiny Nancy Drew figure, minus a good deal of basic common sense and self-preservation. I couldn't sympathize with her. As 'Alice', she takes entirely too long to accept that she's in Wonderland, and that her new reality has very different culture and rules.

On the up side, Elder was believable as a 16-year-old boy--from any time period. And Harley was a welcome side-character who's quirkiness was expressed well while avoiding the prevalent PC stereotype. The 'villain', however, wasn't as multidimensional as I would have liked.

As many have already mentioned, the cover of this book is misleading. It is not a romance. There are few romantic elements, actually...and while there is definitely sex that is portrayed in an animalistic (although oddly tedious) orgy-like fashion (including a fairly graphic sexual assault scene that I would have liked to have been warned about), it is all bluntly sexual rather than sensual. Not exactly what I was expecting from a YA novel, and not really my taste. But that's just my opinion.

I tend to agree with those who would prefer to think of this book as more Dystopian Fantasy than Sci-fi. There were just too many logistical problems that were driving me crazy. Are kids 250 years in the future really still abusing the word 'totally' as an adjective? And after a few centuries, why would there only have been four new slang/cuss words conceived? (Chutz, Brilly, Loons, and Frax being the sum of this vocabulary. I may be picking nits here, but it just felt like too much attention was drawn to their use.) But beyond the language, which I can overlook if I try hard enough, were things that forced me to suspend disbelief.

*Despite repeated mention of incest being a ship-wide problem, the artificial 'season' for mating is wild and unregulated. Genetic issues seem to be modified or resolved by a 'goo', which comes off as more magical than scientific.

*Why jettison bodies into space when everything else on the ship is so carefully and deliberately recycled?

*The big mystery on the ship seemed to revolve around attempts to fingerprint the murderer, which highlights an apparent lack of research over the manner in which fingerprints are formed (in the biological sense). Were it not such a pivotal plot point, it wouldn't have bothered me so much. But it's harder for me to pretend that anything speculative is feasible when points based on existing and determinable science are inaccurate.

Across the Universe opens with a very detailed and vivid scene where one of the book’s two point-of-view characters, Amy, watches her parents go into cryo-sleep and then undergoes the painful procedure herself. I’ve always been equally disgusted and fascinated by medical stuff, so I don’t think there could have been a more attention-grabbing hook than this one, personally.

From there, the story continues on in fast-paced chapters that alternate between Amy and Elder’s point of view. I was pretty hooked, I must say. Because there were two POV characters, Revis was able to end on a cliffhanger with one chapter and then go to a completely different part of the story in the next, so it was like a double cliffhanger (or something). I always wanted to keep reading and see what happened next. With this book, there’s really no good stopping place.

Bottom line for Across the Universe’s plot? It’s at once compelling and predictable. I knew from chapter 4 who the “mystery antagonist” was—Revis wasn’t subtle with her foreshadowing or hints. Might as well have been a big sign. But I wanted to keep reading; the twists in the plot kept things really interesting. I don’t mind predictibility if it’s well-handled, it seems.
I also really liked the dystopian spaceship that Revis created in this novel. It was all very cohesively done, sickening at times, true, but well done. It was obvious that a lot of thought went into this book, and I appreciated the believable wordlbuilding and engaging setting.

Amy and Elder were both very interesting characters. I liked them a lot, and I wanted to see how they turned out. However, characterization is not Revis’s strongpoint, and while she created two interesting, likeable characters, they seemed to lack depth. I understood what they were doing and why they were reacting and what their motivations were, but the bottom layer—the part that would have made them human—was missing.

Considering that this book takes place in the space of less than a week, I was a bit skeptical of the promised “love” between Elder and Amy. And in the end, I was satisfied for the most part—there were no declarations of undying love or mushy kissing scenes. Amy was realistically aloof, and Elder was realistically experiencing an extreme case of insta-lust. I was fine with that on both sides.

Verdict: While the characterization was a little flat and the plot was hopelessly predictable, I liked Across the Universe. It was fast-paced and engaging, Revis writes well, and the aftertaste of the story itself is good. I will most certainly be reading the sequel.

I knew I wasn’t going to love this book ever since I first heard about it and I avoided getting it for the longest time, but I eventually gave in because I had to see for myself what it was all about. I believe it’s safe to say that although I liked the book enough, it definitely didn’t do anything for me.

Across the Universe was basically a detailed explanation of the setting for the rest of the series. A quarter of the book was Beth describing the ship in vast detail and of Amy’s inner monologue while she was frozen. Even after Amy wakes up, there’s very little action, just her exploring her new world and Elder falling head over heels in love with her at first sight. And love wasn’t even a big issue in this book at all. What little interaction Elder and Amy had did nothing to spur their romance and I honestly couldn’t connect to either, or any, character.

The only thing I’ll give Beth credit for is creating such a intriguing and quite plausible future world, but very little happens at all, when I was expecting action and adventure aboard a space ship with a crazy, tyrannical villan/leader. You got a tiny bit of action in the end, but that flew by within a couple pages, and you’re left on a big ship with nothing to do now. I’m very interested in seeing where exactly Beth is going with this and pray there will be more action and romance in the next book since, I’m hoping, she’s done with all the scenery and ship-talk.

Don’t get me wrong, I did like the book and finished it pretty quick, despite it’s slow pace, but if I hadn’t already bought it, I’d say wait until the whole series is out and then either borrow it from the library or buy the paperback/ebook versions since they’ll probably be cheaper.

The beginning of this book was amazing – the way Beth Revis described how Amy felt while frozen was terrifying. It really made me think about what it would be like if you were in a constant dream-like state and the implications of possibly going crazy because of it.

When the focus shifted back to Elder, I was still intrigued. The ship is described beautifully down to the tiniest detail and I had no trouble imagining what it was supposed to look like as I followed Elder around. It actually reminded me of The Truman Show in that the community essentially lives in a bubble (the ship) and the main characters are in the dark but have no idea about the truths that lay beyond the surface.

In the end, I was hoping/expecting a more epic romance or a stronger connection between Amy and Elder as I thought the cover suggested. The romance seemed a little one sided, however it was nice to have both of their perspectives on the relationship even though I wasn’t completely satisfied with the resolution.

I loved the mystery that Beth created; it felt like a treasure hunt and I couldn’t wait to find out the secrets of the ship along with Elder and Amy. However, the ending felt rushed and it felt anti-climatic. I felt like the pages were dwindling as I wondered if I would be let in on biggest secret at the end. I was, though I don’t think it had as big an effect on me as it was supposed to so I was a little let down with the final twists.

Thankfully, the first three quarters of the book really made up for it and although I didn’t get everything I wanted, Across the Universe was very thought-provoking on many levels and I would suggest it to readers who are interested in a unique mystery with a little dash of science fiction.

Reader reviewed by Lia

Amy is cyrogenically frozen along with her parents on the spaceship Godspeed. She is supposed to be asleep for 300 years until they reach the new planet, where her family can set up their lives on the new planet. But when Amy is reanimated 50 years earlier, she tries to find out who tried to kill her with the help of Elder, the next leader and Harley, Elder's best friend.

This book was seriously creepy at times. Especially the part where Amy and her parents are being frozen. That process sounded very painful in all its description. And The Season was just gross. Ok other than that the plot of the book was very interesting as it had both elements of sci-fi and mystery weaved into the story. Harley was my favorite character, and his obsession with the stars was very endearing. Overall the book was good, though it did get slow at times.