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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
this book has been on my shelf for like 8 years and I finally decided to pick it up because I thought it was the book that got adapted into a movie with the same title. it is not.
anyways, there's an interesting premise with just... average writing and a romance subplot that makes no sense. i like sci-fi, I like parts of this that could have been better social commentary if the author assumed the reader could handle it. like if you're gonna heavy hand the assault scene, you might as well go all in with the other dark stuff.
also, i accurately predicted the plot twist 74 pages in. that's obscure YA for you, I guess. i will not be completing the trilogy and I will be taking this book off my shelf and leaving it in a little free library for someone else to endure.
anyways, there's an interesting premise with just... average writing and a romance subplot that makes no sense. i like sci-fi, I like parts of this that could have been better social commentary if the author assumed the reader could handle it. like if you're gonna heavy hand the assault scene, you might as well go all in with the other dark stuff.
also, i accurately predicted the plot twist 74 pages in. that's obscure YA for you, I guess. i will not be completing the trilogy and I will be taking this book off my shelf and leaving it in a little free library for someone else to endure.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest, Sexual assault, Suicide, Dementia, Pregnancy
eugenics
Actual Rating: 3.5
I have been putting off reading this book for so long, probably because the cover implies a purely romance book and it looked cheap to me. I know, I know, you aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover. But I do. A lot. * glances shamefully at the ground* However, It usually works out for me. Well not this time. This book looks like (and the summary implies it too) a romance book with a little sci-fi on the side, but really it is sci-fi/ dystopian/ mystery with a little romance on the side. I have very conflicted feelings about that. I don't like being lied too, but I really wouldn't have liked it if a book with a lot of potential was turned into a romantic, lovey-dovey, cheesy book.
Despite it being a better book than I expected, I had a few hang ups that brought my rating down to a 3.5.
1. THE ROMANCE BARELY EXISTED and when it did show up, it was not love, rather lust. I think Elder only liked Amy because she was different and pretty, he never said anything about her personality or emotions. And barely knew anything about her before he kissed her. Its not that I require romance, its just that, that's what the book is supposed to be about.
2. Awkward, uh, mating scenes. Kind of necessary just not in that much abundance.
3. Shallow characters. The characterization for every single character was shallow and horrible. I felt like I knew Harley better than any one.
4. The writing was not the best all the time, though I liked some descriptions a lot.
5. Much more that I cant think of right now :)
I know that's all bad stuff, but I did like the plot and setting. The whole idea of the spaceship to another earth, and frozen people and all the little twists and revelations that we find out fascinated me. I really liked how each thing was portrayed and described and I really enjoyed the sci-fi/dystopian stuff. It was more of a fun book to me than a novel I really had to think about. It gave me a lot of pleasure while reading it, it just wasn't life changing.
I will read the next books to find out what happens and hopefully see the new earth and see new techy things. I would recommend this book to YA, sci-fi and dystopian readers for pure enjoyment. Just a warning that there are a few awkward mature scenes in it like I mentioned above.
I have been putting off reading this book for so long, probably because the cover implies a purely romance book and it looked cheap to me. I know, I know, you aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover. But I do. A lot. * glances shamefully at the ground* However, It usually works out for me. Well not this time. This book looks like (and the summary implies it too) a romance book with a little sci-fi on the side, but really it is sci-fi/ dystopian/ mystery with a little romance on the side. I have very conflicted feelings about that. I don't like being lied too, but I really wouldn't have liked it if a book with a lot of potential was turned into a romantic, lovey-dovey, cheesy book.
Despite it being a better book than I expected, I had a few hang ups that brought my rating down to a 3.5.
1. THE ROMANCE BARELY EXISTED and when it did show up, it was not love, rather lust. I think Elder only liked Amy because she was different and pretty, he never said anything about her personality or emotions. And barely knew anything about her before he kissed her.
Spoiler
And then at the end all the sudden they were in love? Where did that come from?2. Awkward, uh, mating scenes. Kind of necessary just not in that much abundance.
3. Shallow characters. The characterization for every single character was shallow and horrible. I felt like I knew Harley better than any one.
4. The writing was not the best all the time, though I liked some descriptions a lot.
5. Much more that I cant think of right now :)
I know that's all bad stuff, but I did like the plot and setting. The whole idea of the spaceship to another earth, and frozen people and all the little twists and revelations that we find out fascinated me. I really liked how each thing was portrayed and described and I really enjoyed the sci-fi/dystopian stuff. It was more of a fun book to me than a novel I really had to think about. It gave me a lot of pleasure while reading it, it just wasn't life changing.
I will read the next books to find out what happens and hopefully see the new earth and see new techy things. I would recommend this book to YA, sci-fi and dystopian readers for pure enjoyment. Just a warning that there are a few awkward mature scenes in it like I mentioned above.
I'm not often shocked by YA books, but this one seemed to dwell a lot on shock factor descriptions and an obsession with sex to the point where it made me deeply uncomfortable. Add in a male protagonist who has that alpha male romance tropeishness to him (you know, he sees the girl and instantly would kill anyone else who has ever looked at her ever) and it left me with a bad taste. I'm not overly prudish, but it seemed too much creep-out stuff for a YA..
Now the concept is cool: people from Earth pile aboard a ship into deep space, some technically brilliant ones put into stasis so that when they reach their destination planet the best minds will be available to help. The rest intermingle, becoming "mono-ethnic" and creating their own society while travelling through the stars, facing a lot of difficulties that shape them as a people. Amy is a rare non-brilliant mind allowed a cryro experience - her parents are significant - but she's woken early by someone who seems set on killing her fellow frozens. Elder is a teenage boy who's supposed to be learning about being the next leader of the good ship Godspeed, but his education is lacking. The two are thrown together at a turbulent time where Amy is an outsider and Elder is the only one who can protect her from his people. But who can protect them both from the dark truths lurking inside the great spaceship and the strange new world it's spawned?
I guess my problem was I just couldn't like the protagonists. Amy seemed whiny and entitled (and weird, a seventeen year old crying out for "Daddy" while describing her mom in really unflattering terms, taking one bite of food and tossing it in the bin just because reasons), mostly acting like a hormonal rageball. She says some really unsettling things. Elder seemed mildly frightening in his intensity and lack of judgement. I couldn't stand how he'd just come out with creepy things, like about wanting to kill Amy's ex-boyfriend or getting all possessive when his best friend is alone with Amy. Their romance seemed to be proximity = love rather than the two having a connection; I didn't see how it was logical
The plot foreshadowing is pretty heavy-handed. You know who the bad guy is pretty quickly, but it takes a long time for everyone else to catch up. Most of that time is taken up being sinister sociology and "science" involving needles, tubes and the ubiquitous "goo" that's mentioned a lot. Then there's the horror that is "the Season". Couples couple up in public and... Yeah. There are a lot of descriptions of couples getting busy. And then Amy getting caught up in unsolicited things... Really disquieting stuff. Sadly I felt the murder-mystery aspect kept getting pushed to the back of the queue, and then lots of secrets unravel all at once right at the end.
I listened to the audiobook version, and wasn't a great fan of the delivery of the narration. It felt a little cold. If I never hear the word "goo" again it will be too soon (also, I thought buoy was pronounced "boy" rather than "boo-ee"?)
Sorry to say this one just didn't sit right with me and has left me feeling very uncomfortable.
Now the concept is cool: people from Earth pile aboard a ship into deep space, some technically brilliant ones put into stasis so that when they reach their destination planet the best minds will be available to help. The rest intermingle, becoming "mono-ethnic" and creating their own society while travelling through the stars, facing a lot of difficulties that shape them as a people. Amy is a rare non-brilliant mind allowed a cryro experience - her parents are significant - but she's woken early by someone who seems set on killing her fellow frozens. Elder is a teenage boy who's supposed to be learning about being the next leader of the good ship Godspeed, but his education is lacking. The two are thrown together at a turbulent time where Amy is an outsider and Elder is the only one who can protect her from his people. But who can protect them both from the dark truths lurking inside the great spaceship and the strange new world it's spawned?
I guess my problem was I just couldn't like the protagonists. Amy seemed whiny and entitled (and weird, a seventeen year old crying out for "Daddy" while describing her mom in really unflattering terms, taking one bite of food and tossing it in the bin just because reasons), mostly acting like a hormonal rageball. She says some really unsettling things
Spoiler
such as thinking how she'd have liked being bitten if it were her old boyfriend doing it... while being bitten by a random man attacking her and ripping her clothes off?! Yikes. Then she goes from wistful swooning over Mr Ex, only to then reveal he was probably bad... But then goes back to swooning. Very confusingSpoiler
(nor how Amy "forgave" him at the end after he confessed what he did.)The plot foreshadowing is pretty heavy-handed. You know who the bad guy is pretty quickly, but it takes a long time for everyone else to catch up. Most of that time is taken up being sinister sociology and "science" involving needles, tubes and the ubiquitous "goo" that's mentioned a lot. Then there's the horror that is "the Season". Couples couple up in public and... Yeah. There are a lot of descriptions of couples getting busy. And then Amy getting caught up in unsolicited things... Really disquieting stuff. Sadly I felt the murder-mystery aspect kept getting pushed to the back of the queue, and then lots of secrets unravel all at once right at the end.
I listened to the audiobook version, and wasn't a great fan of the delivery of the narration. It felt a little cold. If I never hear the word "goo" again it will be too soon (also, I thought buoy was pronounced "boy" rather than "boo-ee"?)
Sorry to say this one just didn't sit right with me and has left me feeling very uncomfortable.
If you think Atlas Shrugged is a masterpiece of political philosophy AND you like reading dystopian YA literature, this is the book for you.
took a little bit to get into but then I couldn't put it down!
Told from two viewpoints: Amy, a girl going on an adventure to another planet, frozen for hundreds of years, and Elder, the future leader of the spaceship that Amy lies in, Across The Universe explores a foreign world fraught with murder, mystery and futuristic science and exploration.
I actually really liked the plot of this book. It all made sense without being wrapped up in a neat bow, and it was an interesting, new concept. The writing fell a little flat, and the characters were also one dimensional (mainly Amy). A lot happened, and it just wasn’t explained as well as it could have been.
I actually really liked the plot of this book. It all made sense without being wrapped up in a neat bow, and it was an interesting, new concept. The writing fell a little flat, and the characters were also one dimensional (mainly Amy). A lot happened, and it just wasn’t explained as well as it could have been.
Across The Universe was definitely one of those books I was putting off because I was scared that I would be that weirdo who didn't like it. Thankfully, that hasn't happened! I didn't love it, but I did enjoy it a lot, and I'm sort of kicking myself for taking so long to read it.
It did take a while to get into. Part of it was the dual narration and the two very different stories. But the dual narration actually wasn't horrendous, and it did work surprisingly well. For me, it took a little bit of time for the two stories to come together, but once they did, I found myself really enjoying Across The Universe.
The lies that have built over the years and everything that was done to keep a ship that is way behind schedule...while horrible, I also understand why all of the elders did the things they did.
We do learn about why a lot of scientists (and other important people) were frozen and sent to another Earth-like planet. And while it's enough to give an idea of what's going on, I was hoping for a bit more. I don't mind the details we got, and I have the feeling we'll be learning more as the series goes along.
I do like Elder and Amy together. I don't love them together, but I think I'll warm up to them...while I love romance, it wasn't a major element of the book.
What I did find interesting was that Amy's parents expected her to stay on Earth, and not go with them across the universe. Like, at all. So I can imagine that learning that piece of information would be hard to handle. And that because she was unfrozen 50 years earlier than necessary, she'll be older than her parents when they are finally unfrozen. Oh, and someone running around unfreezing certain people and making sure they die so that they can't be forced into slave labor or fighting on the new planet...there's definitely a mystery, which does get solved by the end of the book.
I was actually very much reminded of Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder. I think it's the structured community on a spaceship floating towards something that they have in common. They are two very different stories, of course, but there is a very similar feel to both books.
Final Thoughts: I really liked Across The Universe! There's definitely an interesting cast of characters, and a very interesting world on Godspeed. If you like Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder, you'll like Across The Universe. Across The Universe gets 4 stars.
It did take a while to get into. Part of it was the dual narration and the two very different stories. But the dual narration actually wasn't horrendous, and it did work surprisingly well. For me, it took a little bit of time for the two stories to come together, but once they did, I found myself really enjoying Across The Universe.
The lies that have built over the years and everything that was done to keep a ship that is way behind schedule...while horrible, I also understand why all of the elders did the things they did.
We do learn about why a lot of scientists (and other important people) were frozen and sent to another Earth-like planet. And while it's enough to give an idea of what's going on, I was hoping for a bit more. I don't mind the details we got, and I have the feeling we'll be learning more as the series goes along.
I do like Elder and Amy together. I don't love them together, but I think I'll warm up to them...while I love romance, it wasn't a major element of the book.
What I did find interesting was that Amy's parents expected her to stay on Earth, and not go with them across the universe. Like, at all. So I can imagine that learning that piece of information would be hard to handle. And that because she was unfrozen 50 years earlier than necessary, she'll be older than her parents when they are finally unfrozen. Oh, and someone running around unfreezing certain people and making sure they die so that they can't be forced into slave labor or fighting on the new planet...there's definitely a mystery, which does get solved by the end of the book.
I was actually very much reminded of Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder. I think it's the structured community on a spaceship floating towards something that they have in common. They are two very different stories, of course, but there is a very similar feel to both books.
Final Thoughts: I really liked Across The Universe! There's definitely an interesting cast of characters, and a very interesting world on Godspeed. If you like Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder, you'll like Across The Universe. Across The Universe gets 4 stars.
