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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
Very interesting, I could not stop reading. The ending is surprising, but it makes sense. Can't wait for the next one!
It's not hard for me to fall in love with a book. So when I saw everyone raving about Across the Universe I fully expected to be immediately taken in by it too. I wasn't, but that's ok, this was still a worthwhile read for me, one that possessed qualities I liked and ones that I didn't like as much. I didn't fall in love but I still really liked it. With world building like this, how can you not?
The beginning of the novel starts off wonderfully. The scenes from Amy's perspective while she was still frozen were truly haunting. It was chilling to read about Amy going in and out of dreams with no sense of time; no real idea as to whether she was truly living or dead.
Another thing that was fantastic in this novel was the world building and plot. A space ship off on a mission to a newly discovered habitable planet, with cryogenically frozen people from Earth on board, and generations of people breeding and running the ship! That is one of the most original plots I've come across in the YA genre in a long time [Fake Spoiler Alert: There wasn't one vampire on board! *That I knew of.*]. I loved every aspect of life aboard the ship and even found the season to be interesting, even if it was a little revolting. Also I liked that the "mental" people are the ones with deeper feelings... I think we see that a lot on Earth already! I felt like I could imagine the ship clearly, normally I find it hard to imagine something so foreign to my brain, so props to Beth Revis for that! I didn't see the end coming and I thought the plot flowed nicely and reached a satisfying climax.
The things I didn't like about the novel involved Elder and Amy. I didn't buy their romance. It was a little bit too much like "instant love" to me which is something I easily grow tired of in a novel. Besides, I could only hear about Amy's "sunset hair" so many times before wanting to throw up. That's enough, I get it Elder, I think red heads are awesome too. I understand that he'd never seen anything like her before but I think because of this his feelings didn't feel real to me. I felt like Elder didn't receive a lot of characterization otherwise. Honestly, I found myself rooting for Harley and Amy to get together. Harley was actually my favorite character on board the ship. Another thing that irritated me was Amy's penchant for calling her father "daddy" and absolutely nothing else. In the beginning of the novel I thought I had been wrong about her age because I felt like I was reading the narrative of a five year old. Later I counted her using the word "daddy" thirteen times in the span of two pages [pages 234 & 235 if you're curious]. These were actually my only real dislikes in the entire book but it was enough to distance me from Amy and Elder both; especially since I didn't really care for them as a romantic unit.
All of that being said I will definitely be reading the second novel in the series when it releases. I am eager to see where the story goes next (I've got several theories!) and my only hope for the next novel is that Amy's use of the word "daddy" decreases and the relationship between her and Elder is fleshed out a bit more.
Edit: 12/13/11 Coming back to bump this one up a star. The issues I had with this book when I read it were just little things that annoyed me at the time, but looking at the overall book and the great world building, I've discovered it's one of those books that sticks with you, and I am overly excited about the release of the sequel. This happens to me with books sometimes.
The beginning of the novel starts off wonderfully. The scenes from Amy's perspective while she was still frozen were truly haunting. It was chilling to read about Amy going in and out of dreams with no sense of time; no real idea as to whether she was truly living or dead.
Another thing that was fantastic in this novel was the world building and plot. A space ship off on a mission to a newly discovered habitable planet, with cryogenically frozen people from Earth on board, and generations of people breeding and running the ship! That is one of the most original plots I've come across in the YA genre in a long time [Fake Spoiler Alert: There wasn't one vampire on board! *That I knew of.*]. I loved every aspect of life aboard the ship and even found the season to be interesting, even if it was a little revolting. Also I liked that the "mental" people are the ones with deeper feelings... I think we see that a lot on Earth already! I felt like I could imagine the ship clearly, normally I find it hard to imagine something so foreign to my brain, so props to Beth Revis for that! I didn't see the end coming and I thought the plot flowed nicely and reached a satisfying climax.
The things I didn't like about the novel involved Elder and Amy. I didn't buy their romance. It was a little bit too much like "instant love" to me which is something I easily grow tired of in a novel. Besides, I could only hear about Amy's "sunset hair" so many times before wanting to throw up. That's enough, I get it Elder, I think red heads are awesome too. I understand that he'd never seen anything like her before but I think because of this his feelings didn't feel real to me. I felt like Elder didn't receive a lot of characterization otherwise. Honestly, I found myself rooting for Harley and Amy to get together. Harley was actually my favorite character on board the ship. Another thing that irritated me was Amy's penchant for calling her father "daddy" and absolutely nothing else. In the beginning of the novel I thought I had been wrong about her age because I felt like I was reading the narrative of a five year old. Later I counted her using the word "daddy" thirteen times in the span of two pages [pages 234 & 235 if you're curious]. These were actually my only real dislikes in the entire book but it was enough to distance me from Amy and Elder both; especially since I didn't really care for them as a romantic unit.
All of that being said I will definitely be reading the second novel in the series when it releases. I am eager to see where the story goes next (I've got several theories!) and my only hope for the next novel is that Amy's use of the word "daddy" decreases and the relationship between her and Elder is fleshed out a bit more.
Edit: 12/13/11 Coming back to bump this one up a star. The issues I had with this book when I read it were just little things that annoyed me at the time, but looking at the overall book and the great world building, I've discovered it's one of those books that sticks with you, and I am overly excited about the release of the sequel. This happens to me with books sometimes.
I really enjoyed this book. My only criticism, besides making me really claustrophobic is that there wasn't quite enough of a connection with the 2 main characters - I could feel it on his end, but got nothing from her. I plan on reading the second book now because I really want to find out what happens next, and I want to see if that true, bonding relationship happens between Amy and Elder.
Oh my frexing Godspeed, how I loved this book! I have the next two books ready for some action in my book bag! I am looking forward to racing to the finale like the ship racing towards Centauri-Earth! Jaw dropping revelations, an emotional roller coaster and on your toes cliffhanging thriller and I can't get enough!
Wondering how I never heard of this one! It was so very good, though I had hoped the ending would be a little more wrapped up than it was. Looks like I'm in for book 2. I guess that's the benefit to discovering a series late!
Age: Middle School-High School
An intriguing "who-done-it" plot line as Amy tries to unravel the secrets of a big ass ship. These mysteries definitely kept me glued to the plot line. The novel also tends to move fast because it is told from two different narrators: Amy and Elder. I really admired what Revis did with two juxtaposing leadership roles.
The romance between Amy and Elder was a little blah. At first I thought Elder fell in love with Amy based solely on looks (ugh) but it turns out
"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" (Goodreads feature review).
An intriguing "who-done-it" plot line as Amy tries to unravel the secrets of a big ass ship. These mysteries definitely kept me glued to the plot line. The novel also tends to move fast because it is told from two different narrators: Amy and Elder. I really admired what Revis did with two juxtaposing leadership roles.
Spoiler
Eldest leads the ship based on control, subservience, and effectiveness that is easily accomplished by drugging the ship's population. He did this based on a mutiny that resulted from the ship's people knowing the truth about the ship's decreasing speed. Although it is effective and no one is physically harmed, Elder finally determines that an absolute control-based leadership hinders thought and ingenuity in fixing the problem. His role as leader should not be to stagnate progress with lies, but reassure the population that through hard work and unity they can fix the problem of the ship's engines.The romance between Amy and Elder was a little blah. At first I thought Elder fell in love with Amy based solely on looks (ugh) but it turns out
Spoiler
that he wanted to unfreeze Amy in order to find out what it was like to live on Soul Earth. He didn't want to unfreeze her based solely on her beauty but on her past. An interesting twist but I felt like Elder was more interested in the mysteries of the ship, rather than the mysteries of Soul Earth."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" (Goodreads feature review).
Across the Universe is an exciting, fast-paced, Young Adult science fiction novel with a dash of romance thrown in. My sister pointed out that even though it is 398 pages, it feels a lot quicker. And I definitely agree. It is a testament to the pace of the book that keeps the pages turning. I also really liked Beth Revis's use of the dual perspectives. Switching between the two main characters every other chapter really gave me insight into the lives of the two and added a lot to the story.
One major downfall for me with this book though was I felt for most of the book that I was one step ahead of the characters instead of right along with them, and not in a way that the author intended. This was a bit frustrating for me since I like to discover things with my characters, not wait for them to figure out what I already have.
Despite this, the cliffhanger ending definitely left me wanting more, and I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy. Beth Revis has created a well-developed, engaging science fiction tale with interesting characters and an exciting plot. I recommend that you check it out!
One major downfall for me with this book though was I felt for most of the book that I was one step ahead of the characters instead of right along with them, and not in a way that the author intended. This was a bit frustrating for me since I like to discover things with my characters, not wait for them to figure out what I already have.
Despite this, the cliffhanger ending definitely left me wanting more, and I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy. Beth Revis has created a well-developed, engaging science fiction tale with interesting characters and an exciting plot. I recommend that you check it out!
i didn't review this book after reading, which is a disservice to me because i dont remember it much. i don't think i'll be getting to the sequel because i just don't care. i frequent a lot of race relations blogs, etc because of my lingering interest since high school (fun fact: i won a provincial award for my volunteer efforts in anti-racism) and this book has been mentioned a couple times for the sort of white worship that goes on with the only white chick. i guess in this future the rest are described as 'olive skinned' while she is the only porcelain white person on the ship. she's also a ginger so i don't know, maybe the worship is warranted. regardless i didn't notice this as i was reading, so i don't have any real insight to add to argument, i just found the book boring. onto the next one.
I normally enjoy dystopian novels, but I didn't connect with this one. I realized much of the plot early on and so it felt like I was just plodding through, waiting for the reveal, which ultimately felt flat and unsatisfying. The relationship between Amy and Elder seemed as forced as their circumstances; I saw much more potential for Amy and Harley. It was just all right. No real hope to be had in the end. Triggers for suicide and rape.
Holy mother... 4.5/5 stars. I must read the second one...