Across the Universe - Beth Revis

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.

Why I Read It
It's a dystopian in space.  On a spaceship.  Dystopian.  In space!  (also, it's a 2011 debut).



What I <3'd
I have a huge thing for dystopian, which is great, because they're really big in YA fiction right now.  However, I have always loved sci-fi as well, so this was pretty much made for me.


The story really surprised me.  I had heard amazing things--I've yet to find a bad review of this book--but it really wasn't what I thought it would be.  The world Revis created in this ship was a lot more complex than I thought it would be.  Instead of taking the easy way out and having Amy wake up with everyone else, she is woken up alone and is forced to deal with the persecution of being the only "different" person on Godspeed.


The relationship between Amy and Elder was also really surprising.  While there is a definite attraction, their relationship isn't the absolute focus of the story.  The focus is more on the society itself and the mystery behind the attempted--and successful--murders of the other frozen crew members (which includes Amy's parents).


Every step of the story was fresh and surprising, and Amy's plight was very moving, as was Elder's struggle to choose between being his own person instead of just accepting his position as future leader mindlessly.



What I didn't <3
The only thing I didn't love was the scene at the beginning, where Amy and her parents were being frozen--and that's mostly due to the fact that I have an overactive imagination and am really susceptible to graphic stuff.  The scene was really well written, but was a little too realistic to me, and it made me feel like it was happening to me...and that made me feel woozy.  But I think that's just me.



GEEKOUT Moment

Other than the fact that this entire book is a dystopian in space?  The very last scene between Amy and Elder.  I can't say more.  Just read it--the whole book, not just the last scene.  Don't spoil yourself.  Trust me!

Loved this one so much.

Happy Reading!

-geekgirl