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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
The only thing I can really say about the book, without having to hide every other sentence under a spoiler tag, is that the description does not do it any justice at all. It makes it seems like another run-of-the-mill dystopian-style YA book.
IT ISN'T.
It deals with things much more fascinating and complex and reads like a thriller - though it isn't for most of the book.
IT ISN'T.
It deals with things much more fascinating and complex and reads like a thriller - though it isn't for most of the book.
I was excited for this book, it has been sitting on my shelfs for years and i finally got around to read it. A fun, murder mystery on a space ship with two teenagers. Sounds fun right?
WELL, this book went into an direction I really didn't like and it gave me an icky feeling. Maybe its because I don't really read Sci-fi, So maybe thats why it caught me off guard but the stuff the leadership does to their people is AFWULL, it made me feel sick and gross and I hated it. There are some really grafic scenese in this book, her waking up is just straight up scary and The almost rape scene was INTENSE WHO LET THIS BE A YA ?! I would have been traumatised as a 16 year old reading this. I kinda started speedreading after the halfway mark, because I just wanted to be done with this book.
Also it was kinda hard to picture the surroundings, mostly the ship but their technology too. I just couldn't get a good picture of it in my head. Idk if its the writing or just me but it bothered me.
So yeah, I will not continue with the series .....
Rating: 2,0 stars.
WELL, this book went into an direction I really didn't like and it gave me an icky feeling. Maybe its because I don't really read Sci-fi, So maybe thats why it caught me off guard but the stuff the leadership does to their people is AFWULL, it made me feel sick and gross and I hated it. There are some really grafic scenese in this book, her waking up is just straight up scary and The almost rape scene was INTENSE WHO LET THIS BE A YA ?! I would have been traumatised as a 16 year old reading this. I kinda started speedreading after the halfway mark, because I just wanted to be done with this book.
Also it was kinda hard to picture the surroundings, mostly the ship but their technology too. I just couldn't get a good picture of it in my head. Idk if its the writing or just me but it bothered me.
So yeah, I will not continue with the series .....
Rating: 2,0 stars.
I wanted to like this book; I really, really did. The concept was interesting, woo space and being cryogenically frozen, but the execution wasn't there for me, so it was just okay. I also understand that the publisher/author changed the cover for the third book so that it wouldn't seem like a romance-heavy book and would appeal to males as well as females. Even so, I did get the romance feel from this one. More thoughts below in spoiler tags because I just want to vent.
And the romance vibes are already there and bordering on some insta-love/infatuation on Elder's part. It just felt weird. If I had woken up on a ship, even if this person was trying to help me, I'd be skeptical for at least a couple weeks to a month, and it really didn't feel like Amy was that concerned. But maybe my survival instinct is just stronger. I dunno.
I also found Amy's voice/narration to be incredibly annoying. Specifically, the way she was acting in the opening chapter when she was about to be frozen - I legitimately thought she was 8 years old and had to go back/read the slip cover to confirm her actual age. I get it, it's scary and horrific-looking, but I dunno. Maybe the problem is that I grew up pretty quickly due to family circumstances, but I can't imagine acting like that. I'd at least be putting on a false front for those around me. I wish I could say she got better for me throughout the book, buuuuuut that'd be a lie.
Next up: Orion. It was pretty clear to me who was behind (mostly) everything from very early on. Orion is this skulky character who knows way more than other people at the beginning of the book, and then he just skulks through the shadows for the rest of the book. You just knew he was supposed to be the dead Elder. And the spiderweb scar on his neck? Pretty sure the current Elder had JUST gone over what and where that was, so that was also kind of a giveaway.
When Elder said that the older generations don't live past 60, I was pretty sure they were just taking them up to the fourth level to kill them. I mean, this is a ship built on "efficiency" and once you can't provide, they won't provide for you. Pretty cruel, but not unexpected. It was also pretty clear to me that something was going on with the timing. Elder was talking about the plague and the statue that was worn away, but I knew you couldn't have a plague, rebuild society that much, and then have only been traveling 250 years. Something was majorly fucked up. Didn't take a rocket scientist to get there.
Anyway, I'll probably continue the series because it was a fast read once I actually committed to getting through it. And because I have both the second and third books in my house already. I'll read them and pass them along to someone else.
As a side note, I do feel like this could be a good intro to sci-fi/dystopian/semi-space opera-ish for a young teen. I'll talk about that horrendous cover change when I get to the third one.
Spoiler
Okay, let's start with Amy and Elder. She's been thawed out and awake for a couple days?And the romance vibes are already there and bordering on some insta-love/infatuation on Elder's part. It just felt weird. If I had woken up on a ship, even if this person was trying to help me, I'd be skeptical for at least a couple weeks to a month, and it really didn't feel like Amy was that concerned. But maybe my survival instinct is just stronger. I dunno.
I also found Amy's voice/narration to be incredibly annoying. Specifically, the way she was acting in the opening chapter when she was about to be frozen - I legitimately thought she was 8 years old and had to go back/read the slip cover to confirm her actual age. I get it, it's scary and horrific-looking, but I dunno. Maybe the problem is that I grew up pretty quickly due to family circumstances, but I can't imagine acting like that. I'd at least be putting on a false front for those around me. I wish I could say she got better for me throughout the book, buuuuuut that'd be a lie.
Next up: Orion. It was pretty clear to me who was behind (mostly) everything from very early on. Orion is this skulky character who knows way more than other people at the beginning of the book, and then he just skulks through the shadows for the rest of the book. You just knew he was supposed to be the dead Elder. And the spiderweb scar on his neck? Pretty sure the current Elder had JUST gone over what and where that was, so that was also kind of a giveaway.
When Elder said that the older generations don't live past 60, I was pretty sure they were just taking them up to the fourth level to kill them. I mean, this is a ship built on "efficiency" and once you can't provide, they won't provide for you. Pretty cruel, but not unexpected. It was also pretty clear to me that something was going on with the timing. Elder was talking about the plague and the statue that was worn away, but I knew you couldn't have a plague, rebuild society that much, and then have only been traveling 250 years. Something was majorly fucked up.
Anyway, I'll probably continue the series because it was a fast read once I actually committed to getting through it. And because I have both the second and third books in my house already. I'll read them and pass them along to someone else.
As a side note, I do feel like this could be a good intro to sci-fi/dystopian/semi-space opera-ish for a young teen. I'll talk about that horrendous cover change when I get to the third one.
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Razorbill, 2011
398 pages
YA; Science-Fiction
Read for YA Debut Challenge
4/5 stars
Source: Library (Picked up only 5 days after it came out!)
Summary from goodreads: "A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder. 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."
What I Liked:
-The characters especially Amy, Elder, and Harley. Their personalities popped and I felt for each of them. Less prominent characters like Steela and Orion still caught my attention in the times that they appeared but the first three mentioned were among the most important. Amy is a fish out of water, Elder is struggling with the knowledge that he will be leader, and Harley is trying to survive. I loved all of them.
-The writing-very strong, especially for a debut.
-The rewritten history learned by students on the ship, as in Hitler was a great leader because he unified his people along monoethnic lines and Lincoln ended the Civil War by sending all of the black people to Africa. The first made me gasp a bit but as I realized what had been done, I enjoyed it and wished there were more tidbits of the new history.
-The optimistic ending. Nothing definite is set but the future could turn out well for the surviving people.
-The cover: very striking and appealing.
What I Didn't Like:
-The dystopian elements all felt really familiar. Dystopian isn't the main genre I read so I was surprised that none of those parts surprised me. As each piece was revealed, I thought "Of course; why didn't Amy or Elder figure this out sooner?"
-The descriptions, while good and necessary, sometimes ran too long. At times, I just wanted something to happen.
Heartbreaking:
-Amy's parents are the reason she is on the ship. They both wanted to be a part of creating a new world (mom's a geneticist; dad's a tactician) but they were willing to part with their daughter in order to do so. She had the choice to remain on earth and die before they ever reached their destination or to come with them. She obviously chose the latter but may never see them again.
Overall: A great debut, especially for those who love science-fiction and dystopian.
Cover: Gorgeous cover!
Razorbill, 2011
398 pages
YA; Science-Fiction
Read for YA Debut Challenge
4/5 stars
Source: Library (Picked up only 5 days after it came out!)
Summary from goodreads: "A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder. 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."
What I Liked:
-The characters especially Amy, Elder, and Harley. Their personalities popped and I felt for each of them. Less prominent characters like Steela and Orion still caught my attention in the times that they appeared but the first three mentioned were among the most important. Amy is a fish out of water, Elder is struggling with the knowledge that he will be leader, and Harley is trying to survive. I loved all of them.
-The writing-very strong, especially for a debut.
-The rewritten history learned by students on the ship, as in Hitler was a great leader because he unified his people along monoethnic lines and Lincoln ended the Civil War by sending all of the black people to Africa. The first made me gasp a bit but as I realized what had been done, I enjoyed it and wished there were more tidbits of the new history.
-The optimistic ending. Nothing definite is set but the future could turn out well for the surviving people.
-The cover: very striking and appealing.
What I Didn't Like:
-The dystopian elements all felt really familiar. Dystopian isn't the main genre I read so I was surprised that none of those parts surprised me. As each piece was revealed, I thought "Of course; why didn't Amy or Elder figure this out sooner?"
-The descriptions, while good and necessary, sometimes ran too long. At times, I just wanted something to happen.
Heartbreaking:
-Amy's parents are the reason she is on the ship. They both wanted to be a part of creating a new world (mom's a geneticist; dad's a tactician) but they were willing to part with their daughter in order to do so. She had the choice to remain on earth and die before they ever reached their destination or to come with them. She obviously chose the latter but may never see them again.
Overall: A great debut, especially for those who love science-fiction and dystopian.
Cover: Gorgeous cover!
Ovo je jedna od onih knjiga koje u početku imaju malo sporiju radnju, ali kad krene da se zahuktava ne prestaje do poslednje stranice. Čini mi se kao dobro ispitan teren sa naučne strane, od strane pisca. Zaista, dobro osmišljena i neobična priča. Drži u neizvesnosti do poslednje stranice. Na prvi pogled kraj deluje nedorečen i fali mi tu još materijala, ali kada sam guglao o autorki knjige shvatio sam da je Beskrajno putovanje prvi deo trilogije. Nažalost, druga dva nisu prevedena na hrvatski, niti srpski jezik.
Sama ocena knjige je malo niža iz razloga što me podsetila delom na knjigu Domaćin (The Host). Naravno, teško je izmisliti priču koja će u potpunosti da bude nova i neće se ni u kom deliću poklopiti sa nekom pričom. Meni je ta postavka jedna devojka se našla u okruženju koje je ne prihvata, ali postoji osoba ili dve kojima deluje okej bila poznata iz pomenute knjige previše vukla na pomenutu knjigu pa me je to malo nerviralo.
Ako se to izuzme sve ostalo mi se dopada. Ovo je odličan primer gde se govori o razlikama, diskriminaciji, prihvatanju, otuđenosti, anksioznosti, lošim osećanjima, čak ima i samoubistva. Svaka od tema se načinje dovoljno da čovek može da se zapita o njima i da malo razmisli. Definitivno širi vidike.
Čak i sama postavka knjige je zanimljiva - malo iz ugla devojčice Ejmi, malo iz ugla Malog starešine. Zanimljivo je to gledati celu situaciju iz dva ugla. Nekako, to nas uči da se svaka situacija može sagledati na više načina, što mi ne radimo uvek.
Sama ocena knjige je malo niža iz razloga što me podsetila delom na knjigu Domaćin (The Host). Naravno, teško je izmisliti priču koja će u potpunosti da bude nova i neće se ni u kom deliću poklopiti sa nekom pričom. Meni je ta postavka jedna devojka se našla u okruženju koje je ne prihvata, ali postoji osoba ili dve kojima deluje okej bila poznata iz pomenute knjige previše vukla na pomenutu knjigu pa me je to malo nerviralo.
Ako se to izuzme sve ostalo mi se dopada. Ovo je odličan primer gde se govori o razlikama, diskriminaciji, prihvatanju, otuđenosti, anksioznosti, lošim osećanjima, čak ima i samoubistva. Svaka od tema se načinje dovoljno da čovek može da se zapita o njima i da malo razmisli. Definitivno širi vidike.
Čak i sama postavka knjige je zanimljiva - malo iz ugla devojčice Ejmi, malo iz ugla Malog starešine. Zanimljivo je to gledati celu situaciju iz dva ugla. Nekako, to nas uči da se svaka situacija može sagledati na više načina, što mi ne radimo uvek.
I was so excited to get this book, and it lived up to most of the hype. I loved the first person being switched off between two characters, and Revis did it extremely well. The action was perfectly balanced between Elder and Amy. I found ancillary characters not to be well developed except for Harley. The ending was not a really big shock, but I am hoping for a sequel to tie up a few loose ends.
This review was originally posted on Fluttering Butterflies
Before I started reading Across the Universe by Beth Revis I was assaulted by such praise that I was almost afraid to read the book for fear of high expectations ruining the reading experience for me. I'm not sure that I waited long enough in order to read it either, because whilst I did enjoy it, this book didn't blow me away as much as I was led to believe that it would.
I think the biggest problem for me is the element of romance within the story. I didn't believe in the relationship between Amy and Eldest and I think that if I had, Across the Universe would have been so much more enjoyable.
Even so, it is a pretty interesting story. Amy and her parents have agreed to be frozen in order to be amongst the first expedition to begin life on another planet. But things don't exactly go to plan, as Amy is nearly killed having been woken up 50 years too soon. It's no mistake that she was so violently disturbed, someone is out to murder her. With the help of Elder, a young man being trained in order to maximise his leadership ability in order to run the ship, Godspeed, they must solve the mystery of who has tried to kill her, before Amy's parents are the next victims.
I think the inhabitants and life on the Godspeed are all a little fascinating. The dystopian world that Beth Revis created on this ship with it's different life cycles and the rules in which people follow without question was both eerie and creepy. I was suitably creeped out by some of the events that take place as well as the means of leadership employed. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the rest of the story plays out and coming back to the characters of Amy and Elder.
While not blown away by this book, I'm still quite intrigued and looking forward to reading more.
Before I started reading Across the Universe by Beth Revis I was assaulted by such praise that I was almost afraid to read the book for fear of high expectations ruining the reading experience for me. I'm not sure that I waited long enough in order to read it either, because whilst I did enjoy it, this book didn't blow me away as much as I was led to believe that it would.
I think the biggest problem for me is the element of romance within the story. I didn't believe in the relationship between Amy and Eldest and I think that if I had, Across the Universe would have been so much more enjoyable.
Even so, it is a pretty interesting story. Amy and her parents have agreed to be frozen in order to be amongst the first expedition to begin life on another planet. But things don't exactly go to plan, as Amy is nearly killed having been woken up 50 years too soon. It's no mistake that she was so violently disturbed, someone is out to murder her. With the help of Elder, a young man being trained in order to maximise his leadership ability in order to run the ship, Godspeed, they must solve the mystery of who has tried to kill her, before Amy's parents are the next victims.
I think the inhabitants and life on the Godspeed are all a little fascinating. The dystopian world that Beth Revis created on this ship with it's different life cycles and the rules in which people follow without question was both eerie and creepy. I was suitably creeped out by some of the events that take place as well as the means of leadership employed. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the rest of the story plays out and coming back to the characters of Amy and Elder.
While not blown away by this book, I'm still quite intrigued and looking forward to reading more.
I would give this book 3.5 stars. It was fast paced and engaging but some of it was a little predictable and I HATE it when characters call their father 'daddy'! A multi-dimensional novel which was a quick read:-)