This book had so much potential, but it let me down on nearly all fronts. I was expecting some intriguing sci-fi mystery, something that would keep me turning the pages as I followed the experiences of the young girl thawed from cryostasis fifty years too early. Instead, I got a little bit of the I-need-to-know-what-happens-next feeling just before the end of the book, and then everything fell flat again. 
 I will admit, my hopes were probably so high because the cover of this book is quite lovely. That and the title referencing the Beatles. I thought I was in for a real treat. Unfortunately, the whole story felt rushed and under-developed. It only began to feel like the plot was picking up and the story was really starting when I was already halfway through the book, and the climax of the story was far too quick. Even the aftermath seemed too brief. There were things that kept me reading, like the mono-ethnic society that has lived for generations inside the spaceship and how that society works. There were just too many uninspiring things drowning out the interesting parts. 
 First of all, the alternating POV chapters were a little annoying and not entirely needed. I mean, I'm not saying that the entire book should have been written from one perspective - I don't think this story would have worked if it weren't for the different points of view - but I don't see the need to start a new chapter for a few paragraphs from the other character's perspective. 
 Secondly, the characters felt like they weren't properly fleshed out. Amy is a teenage girl who was put into cryostasis with her parents and sent Across the Universe to settle a new planet. After finishing the book, I know that she likes her daddy more than her momma, that she likes to run and wanted to finish the New York Marathon in under three hours, and that she thinks the boyfriend she left behind on Earth was cheating on her. Her character did suffer a little, but I didn't feel it. She was outraged, but I couldn't feel that either. Her character seemed to revolve around the plot that she was given and the male characters around her, not that their characters were any better, really. And I know that part of that is explained by the narrative, but there were so many places where the author could have embellished and created raw and visceral emotions, and instead I was told what was happening. Not very exciting. 
 Which brings me to my third point: I knew who the antagonist was far too early in the book to make it thrilling to discover when the main characters did. In fact, I kind of suspected the antagonist of something from the moment he was introduced to the story. So I was, as you can imagine, rather underwhelmed when the very feeble red herrings showed up, and even more underwhelmed when it came to the big confrontation with said antagonist. I shouldn't be able to guess the secret bad guy from the get go. I attribute it to the flat characters and flat prose in this novel, but it could also be that the author figuratively hung a sign above his head saying, "Ooh, ooh, pick me!" quite early in the narrative. 
 I just read that this was Beth Revis' first published novel, and so I'm willing to give the sequel a try and hope that Ms. Revis has improved her storytelling technique between novels. I really hope she has, because Across the Universe had a solid setting, one that I would like to explore again. The pitfalls were in the imagery, the characterisation and the rushed plot. Or, at least, that's how I feel having just now finished the novel. I might feel differently in a day or two, but I don't think I will.