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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
What really amazed me about this book: that there are two faces on the front cover. That really blew me away. For the first couple of days that I had this book, I really just thought that there was this weird picture of some kind of galaxy or something. I mean, my mind was blown when I turned the book over and saw what I can assume are the faces of Elder and Amy.
Anyhoo...
It's gonna be kind of hard to explain the synopsis of this book, but I'll try.
SO, there's this girl named Amy. You can assume that she lives some time in the future on Earth. She and her parents have agreed to be frozen. Her parents are pretty important and the plan is that they will be in a frozen state for 300 years, during which time they will be on this space ship traveling to "Centuri-Earth", across the universe(note, the title). Once there, they expect to be awaken, the same age as they were. Reluctantly, Amy is frozen. LLALALALALA....450 years later...
She is woken up 50 years too early. Someone has supposedly tried to kill her. And now, because she cannot be refrozen and her parents aren't suppose to be awaken for another 50 years, she is stuck on this ship where she's an outcast in every sense of the word.
But there is Elder.
Basically, Elder is this dude that is training to be leader of the mono-ethnic ship one day. He is taught by Eldest, his father-figure who seems to be keeping secrets from his apprentice. When Elder sees Amy, he is immediately entranced by her (he's the youngest one on the ship so he's kinda lonely). And you know....well look at the cover!
The two of them search for the truth which the ship seems to be lacking. And I'll just stop myself right there because I might give something away.
I really liked this book. I didn't love it but it was very good. Pretty depressing though. I liked Elder and Harley and Amy was acceptable. Awaiting the sequel....
Anyhoo...
It's gonna be kind of hard to explain the synopsis of this book, but I'll try.
SO, there's this girl named Amy. You can assume that she lives some time in the future on Earth. She and her parents have agreed to be frozen. Her parents are pretty important and the plan is that they will be in a frozen state for 300 years, during which time they will be on this space ship traveling to "Centuri-Earth", across the universe(note, the title). Once there, they expect to be awaken, the same age as they were. Reluctantly, Amy is frozen. LLALALALALA....450 years later...
She is woken up 50 years too early. Someone has supposedly tried to kill her. And now, because she cannot be refrozen and her parents aren't suppose to be awaken for another 50 years, she is stuck on this ship where she's an outcast in every sense of the word.
But there is Elder.
Basically, Elder is this dude that is training to be leader of the mono-ethnic ship one day. He is taught by Eldest, his father-figure who seems to be keeping secrets from his apprentice. When Elder sees Amy, he is immediately entranced by her (he's the youngest one on the ship so he's kinda lonely). And you know....well look at the cover!
The two of them search for the truth which the ship seems to be lacking. And I'll just stop myself right there because I might give something away.
I really liked this book. I didn't love it but it was very good. Pretty depressing though. I liked Elder and Harley and Amy was acceptable. Awaiting the sequel....
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-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:
Yes
Oh, this book was so good!
Really very creative (reminds me a tad of Passengers), and also intriguing as a mystery, I liked a lot.
Amy is cryogenically frozen abroad a ship called Godspeed. 300 yearish travel to a new planet. Yay. Unfortunately, someone wakes her up a good fifty years too early. Oh, no, now what? Well, that isn't the only bad news. Her awakening might have gone very badly on its own, but someone else is "waking up" other people, and those people don't end as well as others. But Amy finds herself abroad Godspeed, on the ship, but alone as she watches and misses her parents. Seeing the current situation on the ship, ruled tyranically by the "Eldest", who rules with a iron (and occasionally drunk) fist. His successor and heir, Elder, a rebellious sixteen year old, is trying to be more than what his job is holding for him. On a mission to discover the truth, Amy and Elder go on a wild chase and mystery hunting adventure to figure out what the frex is going on.
The characters are introduced well, and I felt, while some need development, they were overall good. There is a moral dilemma raised in this book, with the people alive on the ship, um, being and acting very different, along with ethical questions about rule and law in society which I enjoyed. Another small but intriguing idea was the rewriting. In this book, Elder is taught much about the Earth they have long since left behind. Amy figures out that the history of the world as it is written, contrasting to what actually happened is fascinating to read as it is.
Overall, it is a fun sci-fi ride abroad a dystopian ship that is exciting and thrilling.
Really very creative (reminds me a tad of Passengers), and also intriguing as a mystery, I liked a lot.
Amy is cryogenically frozen abroad a ship called Godspeed. 300 yearish travel to a new planet. Yay. Unfortunately, someone wakes her up a good fifty years too early. Oh, no, now what? Well, that isn't the only bad news. Her awakening might have gone very badly on its own, but someone else is "waking up" other people, and those people don't end as well as others. But Amy finds herself abroad Godspeed, on the ship, but alone as she watches and misses her parents. Seeing the current situation on the ship, ruled tyranically by the "Eldest", who rules with a iron (and occasionally drunk) fist. His successor and heir, Elder, a rebellious sixteen year old, is trying to be more than what his job is holding for him. On a mission to discover the truth, Amy and Elder go on a wild chase and mystery hunting adventure to figure out what the frex is going on.
The characters are introduced well, and I felt, while some need development, they were overall good. There is a moral dilemma raised in this book, with the people alive on the ship, um, being and acting very different, along with ethical questions about rule and law in society which I enjoyed. Another small but intriguing idea was the rewriting. In this book, Elder is taught much about the Earth they have long since left behind. Amy figures out that the history of the world as it is written, contrasting to what actually happened is fascinating to read as it is.
Overall, it is a fun sci-fi ride abroad a dystopian ship that is exciting and thrilling.
O.M.G!!! I have to wait a year to know more about Godspeed, Amy, Elder and everything and my head's boiling with theories. I need to calm down, I'm going to drink some water :P
I enjoyed the book much more than I thought. Even if there are explanations which I found too pseudo-scientific for my taste and not convincing at all, and most of the action didn’t really kick until way past half of the book, I’m looking forward to reading the second book. I just hope this year 2011 will be enough full of good books, so that I would get distracted from the waiting. I’m not a patient person :P
And now, a couple of things that catch my attention while reading and are sometimes big spoilers:
— Amy: she’s strong and decided and no damsel-in-distress despite the despair of her situation. At the beginning I wasn’t too convinced about her because the chapters before her wake-up are loose and quite boring; they seem to me like page-filler. But then she wakes up and although everything should be quite depressing for her and any normal person would get depressed and/or crazy very quickly in the ship’s world, she overcome the craziness and her will to save her parents is stronger than everything else. I admire this part of her.
— Elder: he is a weird character with a bit of bipolar behavior. Despite being 16, sometimes he acts like he’s a child and sometimes behaves more like an adult than the adult who is supposed to teach him to become a leader. I also found his growing attraction and love feelings for Amy very touching and kind of cute. I have always felt attracted to red-haired people, so being in a monoethnic world I can very well understand why he’s so obsessed with her and her sunrise hair ;) I cannot wait to know more about their relationship aboard Godspeed.
— The background of this story is a mix of different sci-fi books, series and movies. I don’t know if that’s positive or negative. It was kind of funny (funny ha-ha, not funny weird xD) to find similarities to series and movies I like a lot, like Serenity/Firefly or Pandorum . I was impressed by the whole Eldest/Elder society Revis created for Godspeed.
— The mysteries are not mysteries at all and that was a bit disappointing.. That statement towards the end caught me by surprise, though xDD And
—
I enjoyed the book much more than I thought. Even if there are explanations which I found too pseudo-scientific for my taste and not convincing at all, and most of the action didn’t really kick until way past half of the book, I’m looking forward to reading the second book. I just hope this year 2011 will be enough full of good books, so that I would get distracted from the waiting. I’m not a patient person :P
And now, a couple of things that catch my attention while reading and are sometimes big spoilers:
— Amy: she’s strong and decided and no damsel-in-distress despite the despair of her situation. At the beginning I wasn’t too convinced about her because the chapters before her wake-up are loose and quite boring; they seem to me like page-filler. But then she wakes up and although everything should be quite depressing for her and any normal person would get depressed and/or crazy very quickly in the ship’s world, she overcome the craziness and her will to save her parents is stronger than everything else. I admire this part of her.
— Elder: he is a weird character with a bit of bipolar behavior. Despite being 16, sometimes he acts like he’s a child and sometimes behaves more like an adult than the adult who is supposed to teach him to become a leader. I also found his growing attraction and love feelings for Amy very touching and kind of cute. I have always felt attracted to red-haired people, so being in a monoethnic world I can very well understand why he’s so obsessed with her and her sunrise hair ;) I cannot wait to know more about their relationship aboard Godspeed.
— The background of this story is a mix of different sci-fi books, series and movies. I don’t know if that’s positive or negative. It was kind of funny (funny ha-ha, not funny weird xD) to find similarities to series and movies I like a lot, like Serenity/Firefly
Spoiler
(Phydus vs. The Pax)Spoiler
(123-year-journey with "cryonized" people to colonize a new Earth-like planet vs. 300-year-journey with "cryonized" colonizers in course to Centauri-Earth that it’s taken longer than expected)— The mysteries are not mysteries at all and that was a bit disappointing.
Spoiler
I knew the first time the doctor said he didn’t know Orion that he was the previous Elder. I knew that probably more than 300 years have already passed before Amy counts the generations before the Plague. I knew the connection between the victims was the militarySpoiler
“there was never ever a Plague”Spoiler
the fact that it was Elder who woke up Amy too, although I cannot believe he never flinched or felt guilty knowing what he had done to her (or we didn’t read it until the end). I thought the Plague had been a revolution, sort of a coup or mutiny leading to a small war, not a disease or anything similar. That’s why I still don’t believe what Eldest told Elder, it’s too simple. Exactly the same happens with the engine problems, or at least, I hope, because I would like to see Elder (should I call him Eldest now?) and Amy landing in Centauri-Earth. In other case, I would probably be disappointed, unless the story takes a turn to something different, surprising, more catchy :)—
Spoiler
I am not a scientist, my knowledge about medicine and genetics are very, very limited, but I know one thing. It is not possible to administrate a drug or any medicament to more than 2000 people during generations and not have anybody with adverse, very bad reactions against it or somebody who develops resistance to it; even if all of them are very similar genetically speaking. That annoyed me, but not too much xDDD
This story is one of my favorites! I loved reading from both Amy and Elder's perspectives - their different takes on the events that occurred were incredibly helpful in revealing the plot and character developments. I can't wait for the sequel!
It's actually 3 and a half because most of the book was really slow but the last 100 or so pages were really good.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I hadn't read YA fiction in while,but when I heard about this book, I was intrigued. I love science fiction, so I decided to give it a try.
It was pretty good, I recommend it to any science fiction fan. You're not going to find anything deep and poetic or anything, but it's a fun read all the same.
It was pretty good, I recommend it to any science fiction fan. You're not going to find anything deep and poetic or anything, but it's a fun read all the same.
With a fluent pace and fresh sci-fi/mystery elements, Across the Universe offers a light read mixed with some glimpses of serious topics. The entire dynamic of the spaceship and how it is controlled was very well developed, and while it does takes some time to start the actual plot, the first pages are very interesting and well written. Beth Revis has some of the best sci-fi ideas I have read about, and even when I’d want her to do an adult book, her young adult light development is always refreshing and smart without being over plotted or over explained.
My YA-2015-SEASON continues...this is #4
Me encanta Beth Revis. Siempre se me hace súper relajado y divertido leerla. Hay algo en sus libros e historias cortas que simplemente me fascina. Trae ideas muy frescas y las desarrolla bien a mi parecer.
Esta trilogía en particular arranca con mucha fuerza. A pesar de que nuestros protagonistas Elder y Amy son jóvenes, la trama no esta cargada de romance, hay una o dos escenas por ahí pero nada all-over-your-face. Y esto hace que el misterio y lo sci-fi de la historia tome un protagónico que se disfruta mucho.
Lo mejor de Revis es que no explica lo inexplicable. Sabe que hay cosas que no puede explicar con ciencia así que las deja como solo ideas sueltas sci-fi que ayudan a su trama. Mientras que otras si tienen explicación y las expone de forma rápida y concisa.
Si lo estuviera leyendo por primera vez ahora en pleno 2015, habría visto venir ciertos giros, pero la mayoría están bien escondidos en la trama. Aunque, como es en realidad relectura de mi parte, pude apreciar ciertas pistas que iba dejando la autora que obviamente no vi la primera vez que lo leí. Y aunque sabia lo que iba a pasar, disfrute mucho la lectura.
Aclarando que todo esta a un nivel YA, por lo tanto aunque se toquen temas como la tiranía, el control biológico o incluso algo sobre sexualidad bastante fuerte, no se siente demasiado oscuro o denso. Mucho de eso gracias a la escritura de Revis, bastante ligera. Y eso es un gran acierto, el saber tocar temas delicados de forma juvenil. No cualquiera lo puede hacer.
Los personajes, sobretodo los 2 principales, me encantan. Tienen ese ímpetu rebelde típico de un adolescente pero con los atisbos de pensamientos maduros que de repente tiene uno a esa edad. Me encanta. Sus diferencias y las conversaciones que encabezan me encantan.
Al final, Across the Universe queda como una lectura fácil, pero en la cual puedes encontrar intensidad y madurez dentro de ciertas subtramas si te das tiempo a leer detenidamente. Recomendado si te gusta la ciencia ficción dentro del genero juvenil y estas en busca de algo amigable pero interesante.
My YA-2015-SEASON continues...this is #4
“I never thought about how important the sky was until I didn't have one.”
Me encanta Beth Revis. Siempre se me hace súper relajado y divertido leerla. Hay algo en sus libros e historias cortas que simplemente me fascina. Trae ideas muy frescas y las desarrolla bien a mi parecer.
Esta trilogía en particular arranca con mucha fuerza. A pesar de que nuestros protagonistas Elder y Amy son jóvenes, la trama no esta cargada de romance, hay una o dos escenas por ahí pero nada all-over-your-face. Y esto hace que el misterio y lo sci-fi de la historia tome un protagónico que se disfruta mucho.
Lo mejor de Revis es que no explica lo inexplicable. Sabe que hay cosas que no puede explicar con ciencia así que las deja como solo ideas sueltas sci-fi que ayudan a su trama. Mientras que otras si tienen explicación y las expone de forma rápida y concisa.
Si lo estuviera leyendo por primera vez ahora en pleno 2015, habría visto venir ciertos giros, pero la mayoría están bien escondidos en la trama. Aunque, como es en realidad relectura de mi parte, pude apreciar ciertas pistas que iba dejando la autora que obviamente no vi la primera vez que lo leí. Y aunque sabia lo que iba a pasar, disfrute mucho la lectura.
Aclarando que todo esta a un nivel YA, por lo tanto aunque se toquen temas como la tiranía, el control biológico o incluso algo sobre sexualidad bastante fuerte, no se siente demasiado oscuro o denso. Mucho de eso gracias a la escritura de Revis, bastante ligera. Y eso es un gran acierto, el saber tocar temas delicados de forma juvenil. No cualquiera lo puede hacer.
Los personajes, sobretodo los 2 principales, me encantan. Tienen ese ímpetu rebelde típico de un adolescente pero con los atisbos de pensamientos maduros que de repente tiene uno a esa edad. Me encanta. Sus diferencias y las conversaciones que encabezan me encantan.
Al final, Across the Universe queda como una lectura fácil, pero en la cual puedes encontrar intensidad y madurez dentro de ciertas subtramas si te das tiempo a leer detenidamente. Recomendado si te gusta la ciencia ficción dentro del genero juvenil y estas en busca de algo amigable pero interesante.