Across The Universe

This post first published May 26, 2011.

Author: Beth Revis
Published: January 2011
Publisher: Razorbill
Series: Across The Universe #1
398 pages (hardcover)
 
Beautiful title. Gorgeous cover art. They say not to judge a book by its cover but I admit it — I took this book off the library shelves for those shallow reasons. Well, and the summary on the inside of the book jacket sounded good! Lucky for me, the book turned out to be on the impressive side of things.

Amy and her parents are part of a special mission — to travel to, and colonise, the new planet Centauri-Earth with humans. Centauri-Earth is 300 years away, however, so Amy becomes cryogenically frozen. Her body, along with many, many others, is taken aboard the gigantic spaceship Godspeed to sleep for the next three centuries.

But Amy is woken up fifty years too early when her sleeping chamber is purposely unplugged — someone tried to kill her. Suddenly, Amy finds herself stuck in a time and place alien to her own memories, surrounded by the humans of the future. She’s determined to protect her parents’ cryogenic-chambers from being the murder’s next victims, and the only person who offers to help her is Elder, the heir to Godspeed. Together, they discover startling secrets about the spaceship, the people living in it, and their destination.

Beth Revis’ debut novel is stunning. I have some nit-picky things about it, but overall, I really liked the story and I couldn’t stop reading it, though the fact that the prose passed by quickly probably helped. I read it all in one sitting, and when I finished, I was left pondering about so many things — the future of humanity, what’s out there in the universe, the passage of time, what is good leadership, what is a utopia … and so on. Is it protection to not know certain things? Or is the thing you don’t know, the thing that will ruin you?

The plot is actually quite simplistic and not a whole lot really happens. It’s not full of action and it’s a bit predictable (I realized who the murderer probably was about halfway through), but the world created is so strange and curious (could that really be what humans end up doing in the future?) that it draws the reader in. It’s the deceptions, the betrayals, and the lies between the characters that anchor the reader to the book. Ending was a bit lame in that “bad guy reveals everything” kind of way — that’s not very exciting — but I’m surprised that I’m not that bothered by it.

The characters were great too; well, with the exception of Amy. Honestly, I don’t know if it’s just me, or if it’s truly a trend of some sort in YA fiction, but nine out of ten female protagonists of YA novels, I end up not liking. I just don’t understand Amy the majority of the time. Her reactions are, for the most part, the complete opposite of what I would do in her situation, and that’s why I find her a rather unrealistic person. I did like all the other characters though. Elder was admirable, Doc was perplexing (in a good way), Harley was charming. Even the villain, Eldest, was great because he’s one of those villains who aren’t pure evil — he really believes in his purpose, that his actions are for the good of all.

The one thing about this novel that I wasn’t crazy about was the romance between Elder and Amy, though thankfully it is a rather small part of the book. I really can’t see why Elder would fall in love with Amy, beyond her looks. I can see why Amy would become attached to Elder though; she’s alone and vulnerable. But becoming attached is one thing; falling in love is another, especially when she’s constantly having flashbacks of her boyfriend Jason. I guess what I’m saying is, their love is not convincing. I would have rather them have crushes on one another instead of falling in love, OR just omit the romance altogether. I wouldn’t say the love felt fake, but it certainly felt a bit forced. Plus, if I was Amy, romance would have been the last thing on my mind after waking up from a 250 year long sleep.

Across The Universe is magnificent. I know science fiction is just starting to establish a firmer foothold in the YA genre, and I think this book really helps the cause. Even if you’re not normally into science fiction, I recommend this book anyway. It’s really not so much about space and planets as it is about human beings and human nature.

My Rating: 4.5/5