Mystery and romance fuel spaceship in 'Across the Universe'
By Tierney Banco
Sophomore, Wyomissing
- For years humans have been fascinated by space, the final frontier. There have been countless movies, books and stories that have captured people's imaginations. "Across the Universe" takes space fascination to an entirely new level.
"Universe" is the debut novel for Beth Revis, and the first book in a trilogy. Revis creates a strange new world that is both suspenseful and creative. The story begins with Amy, a 17-year-old girl who finds out she's moving - to a different planet. She and her parents are going to be passengers aboard the largest space vehicle ever designed, Godspeed. Amy and her parents believe that they will be cryogenically frozen for 300 years until the ship reaches the new planet Centuri-Earth. Flash forward to the future. Amy is suddenly awoken from her frozen sleep 50 years before Godspeed is scheduled to land. Whoever violently disturbed her sleep tried to murder her. Now, Amy finds herself stuck in a very strange world. She soon finds out that Godspeed is fueled through lies and secrets. She also learns that of the more than 2,000 people on board, not the frozen ones like her parents, have given up all control to Eldest. Eldest is a frightening tyrant who rules through fears, and threatened to have Amy thrown into space when she was unfrozen. To Eldest's despair, his rebellious, teenage heir to power, Elder, becomes fascinated with Amy. He tries to help Amy adjust to life on the ship and figure out who tried to kill her. Now it's a race against time for the duo as they struggle to unlock the secrets of Godspeed before whoever woke Amy strikes again.
Since the book is told through both Amy and Elder's eyes, I thought it was nice that readers get to see both sides of the story. We get to see Amy's panic and confusion while she's frozen and on the ship, but we also get to see Elder's frustration of being kept out of the loop by Eldest and his worries about what will happen when he takes over.
Overall this book was really good. Revis writes of a fantastic and unexplored world while setting the story in a massive, claustrophobic ship filled with deception. The constant twists and turns keep readers fascinated, trying to solve the mystery. What was great about this book was the detail. Revis' words shape a vision that readers probably have never imagined before. However there were certain sections of the book that were overdetailed. While many chapters create wonderful illusions, a few times there was some confusion. That was the main reason I gave this book an A-.
Sci-fi and dystopian fans will love this book. It had the fantastic space setting, mystery, murder, secrets and a touch of romance that will make everyone happy.