Book Review: Across the Universe (Across the Universe #1) by Beth Revis

Title: Across the Universe (Across the Universe #1)

Author: Beth Revis

Publisher: Razorbill

Publishing Date: January 11^th 2011

Length: 416 pages

Keywords: YA, sci-fi, fantasy, spaceship 

Source: Gift

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.

Summary by Goodreads 

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE was my first book out of the sci-fi genre. I’ve never been very into stories about space ships or space wars. The universe with its wide expanse, planets and stars have always fascinated me in some way though. So ACROSS THE UNIVERSE was a perfect pick for me to approach this foreign genre.

The story begins with a decision that has to be made by our female protagonist Amy. She has to decide whether she wants to go on a mission with her parents and be cryogenically frozen for about 300 years or stay on earth all by herself. Doesn’t that sound like the hardest choice? The process of being frozen is described so vividly and detailed it’s pretty scary and I don't know if I would have been able to make such an important and life-changing decision. 

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE embraces about eighty chapters, alternating between the perspectives of Amy and Elder. They are rather short and allow small reading breaks.

The romance between those two is subtle. They need their time to approach each other, both grown up with very different views on the world and relationships.

Amy and Elder are great protagonists and two witty and sharp-minded investigators. The main focus of the story lies on the investigation of the murders of various innocent and helpless…frozen people. I was glued to every step Amy and Elder traced the murderers footprints. I was so eager to figure it out!

The entire ACROSS THE UNIVERSE cast is pretty crazy and everyone on that ship seems to have their own issues that start to influence not only the relationship between Amy, Elder and his best friend Harley and the leader of the ship Eldest, but all the other people, too.

It’s an interesting chase for the evil mind in the limited space on Godspeed. The closed space and number of possible antagonists makes ACROSS THE UNIVERSE a really mysterious and exciting story.

The actual story of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is set in future and has many opportunities and inventions to offer, medical-wise for example. It involves a few very cool elements like frozen people, a total agricultural system inside a space ship of a gigantic size and of course all kinds of other advanced technologies.

The US hardcover copy comes with a very helpful print on the inside of the book jacket with a blue print of the entire space ship of Godspeed. There are several levels on that space ship and many rooms and different parts of it that need to be remembered. Although the story is limited to the setting of Godspeed, a spaceship caught in space, the possibility of settings is very complex. It’s a gigantic project!

1) of a really fascinating setting

2) of finding the courage to stand up against your own believes

3) of a promise in weightlessness

4) of the boy who loves the stars

5) of an exciting murder investigation

5/5 ***** ACROSS THE UNIVERSE- A space ship setting of epic expansion, a murder mystery with goose bump potential and a subtle but sweet romance make Beth Revis’ debut novel shine as bright as the stars.

Beth Revis has a really engaging writing that gives every single character of her Godspeed inhabitants a unique and very authentic voice, especially Amy and Elder as the two protagonists. The conspiracy plot of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is very well-constructed by Beth Revis. If I would have to name a captain of my space mission it would definitely be her!

I can’t wait to start A MILLION SUNS and dive deeper into the romance of Amy and Elder and future of the space ship Godspeed. 

* Loved ACROSS THE UNIVERSE? Then don’t miss its sequel A MILLION SUNS!

* Read an excerpt of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE here. 

* Watch the UK book trailer here. 

* Want to explore Godspeed? Click here. 

* Visit www.bethrevis.com for further information about Beth Revis and her books.