Review: ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis
I’ve been thinking for awhile now that there’s been a lack of sci-fi novels in young adult, and hoping a fantastic novel would fill the void. After reading the first chapter of Across the Universe, I was convinced this novel would be it, and so I ordered my hardcover and tried not to slaver in anticipation.
So, Across the Universe arrives in the mail, and I plunge into bed with the novel in hand. It’s a gorgeous hardcover, with lots of little design details, like a reversible dust jacket with a blueprint of the ship Godspeed on the inside. Starting this book is like starting an adventure, with tantalizing clues and a map to guide the reader’s way.
We meet Amy, an Earth-born girl who signed up to be frozen in cryo for centuries, and Elder, who’s learning what he must to lead the generation ship Godspeed. Told from their alternating viewpoints, we piece together the story behind the story as they do. Well, I’ll admit that I saw a lot of the plot twists coming miles before the characters did-my fictional diet as a kid was fortified by a healthy dose of sci-fi tropes. And there were moments where I groaned at the irony or ignorance of a situation. But much of the tension in this story derives from how little the characters-and the reader-actually know, and what they must unearth along the way. It is, essentially, a murder mystery, though you don’t know it at first.
Why would I give this only 4 out of 5 stars? The ending. It came all too quickly and made it clear that this is a trilogy. I still had a million questions left unanswered. But hey, I’ll probably pick up the second book, to find out the continuing adventures of the Godspeed.
Originally published at KarenKincy.com