Review: Across The Universe by Beth Revis - Juhina

Title: Across The Universe

Author: Beth Revis
Publication date: January 11th, 2011
Publisher: RazorBill

Genre(s): Young Adult (Sci-Fi / Dystopian)
Challenges: 2012 Dystopian, A-Z Title, TBR, BB Recommendation

Source: Own
Format: Paperback

Pages: 398

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.

I had such high expectations for Across The Universe, but I'm sad to say that I was disappointed. The synopsis was what pulled me in. A whole spaceship leaving earth and traveling for 300 years to a new planet? scientists, engineering, and military generals, and then we have our young female protagonist, Amy, being frozen and put in that ship for the duration of the trip. Fast forward to 50 years before arrival, someone unplugs Amy and she wakes up; in a SPACESHIP, where people have been living for the past 250 years. I just couldn't wrap this idea in my head, and it just fascinated me.

When Amy wakes up, she feels suffocated, alone, and just plain out disgusted at how the people have been living and passing out as "normal behavior". Sometimes I needed a break from the book because I felt suffocated. How can you live all your life in one enclosed space? no sun, clouds, stars, the beach, the AIR. I shudder thinking about what I would do if I was in her situation. Which is why I pretty much loved Amy. She wasn't whiny, she didn't complain, break down, or any of this. She accepted her situation and just went straight to making her "living arrangement" better. She looked at the bright side but without being blinded by it. She is a great protagonist! 

I can't say the same thing about Elder. First of all, I hate that name. phew, I finally said it. I've been complaining about his name to my sister ever since I started the book. Secondly, I just didn't like how he NEVER questioned the leader "Eldest". It was like all the spaceship population, including him just eat up everything he says without questioning. While he does get better, but towards the end, he shocks me with something that I don't think I'll be able to forgive him for. 

As for the secrets, lies, and murders. I did not enjoy the mystery of the murders at all. After all the characters were introduced I knew instantly who was the murderer. It wasn't fun at all, on the contrary, it pretty much dragged for me. As for the secrets, wow, some of those secrets left me shocked and wide eyed, and some made me smack my head for not seeing them sooner! 

All in all, Across The Universe was a slow read for me, while I didn't enjoy the first 3/4 of the book, the last quarter was full of excitement and I was flipping the pages and reading like crazy. I went in thinking this was a dystopian, while it might be, I felt that it was more Sci-Fi than dystopian. I would recommend it to any Sci-Fi / Dystopian fans out there.

An OK read, hoping the next installment is better