Review: Across the Universe (Take Two)

Book: Across The Universe
Author: Beth Revis
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: January 11th 2011
Pages: 398
Date Read: 2/5/2011

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.

Yani's Analysis:
You can never go wrong by starting a novel with a quote from The Beatles.

That being said, this novel is intense. You feel it from the first page to the last. Amy POV starts off the book with her memories of the freezing process. It so heartbreakingly vivid and torturous it makes you wonder why someone would go though such a thing.... almost feels like dying.

Then Daddy squeezed my hand, once, hard, as they crammed the tubes down his throat, and I crumbled, inside and out.

Once awakened, Amy finds herself in a completely new society onboard the Godspeed, a ship where history has been rewritten, the sky is painted on, and a dictator controls everything. The people are pods, as Eldest believes the society thrives as long as it is monotonous. Anyone who do not follow these societal norms are labeled as crazy and live in the hospital.

Part mystery, part reflection on humanity and survival, this book keeps you guessing till the last page. Beth Revis did a brilly job creating an isolated world inside a spaceship and reflects very well the consequences of being captives of space for so many years. Even the language and slang is adorable.

For a young adult novel, the themes in this book and the language lend to a more mature audience. This book was not at all what I expected and although it is labeled as Sci-Fi and takes place centuries from now, I think its a great novel that reflects the times. Can't wait to see more from this debut author.

Ratings:

Plot: 5/5
Writing Style: 5/5
Uniqueness: 5/5
Characters: 5/5

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Memorable Quotes:

"So, I do what any reasonable person would do when faced with a crying girl. I get the frex out of there." Elder

"Everything is wrong here. Shattered. Broken.
Like the light.
Like me.
I never thought about how important the sky was until I didn't have one.
I am surrounded by walls.
I have just replaced one box for another."Amy

"A leader doesn't make pawns- he makes people." Edler