Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Bought from Borders
Published January 11, 2011
Amazon - Goodreads

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.

It took me forever to finally pick up Across the Universe and I'm totally kicking myself for waiting so long! I was only a couple chapters in before I became hooked to the story and fell in love with the characters. It's just such a unique story and the plot was action packed with just the right amount of romance thrown in, I loved it!

It was really awesome how Revis had me questioning everything that I've been told, but in a good way! The book left me having more confidence in my 'gut feeling' and really showed how much a person can be impacted by their education or upbringing. Elder used to blindly follow everything that Eldest, the current leader of the ship, said and never questioned his teachings until one day he has reason to. It was so fun watching Elder figure out things on his own and watch him grow into an incredibly strong leader.

I had a history teacher in high school that would constantly say, "History is the most important thing you'll ever learn. It's how we keep the past from repeating." Until I read Across the Universe I never fully understood how right she was. Some of the history that was taught to Elder on Godspeed was incorrect or presented in a way that made it glorified. (Hitler was a good man in their history's eyes, which is messed up to say the least!) It was interesting to have real historical references in the book and how the horrible things that happened on Earth were happening again because they didn't have the correct history for reference.

The book was in two P.O.V.'s which I loved! I was able to see into Amy and Elder's heads throughout the story and it's really interesting to see the events from a resident of Sol-Earth's (aka Earth's) perspective and from the next leader of Godspeed, who spent his whole life trapped inside of a ship.

I adored Amy's love for her parents and how she was willing to leave her entire life on Earth behind just to make her parents happy. She was one of the most courageous main characters that I have read about in a long time. I definitely wouldn't have handled being woken up early after being frozen for almost three hundred years on a ship rocketing through space without knowing anyone! Elder was such an incredible character too! I loved how he learned a lot about his home and himself throughout the story.

Just everything about this book is amazing: the setting on a space ship, how it takes place in the future and all of the characters! I loved Elder's best friend Harley, he's an artistic guy who lives in the hospital with a few others that are deemed 'crazy' because they are free thinkers and creative. It's just so cool to see how Godspeed's norm is so different from our society's norm!

The ending, oh my goodness! I saw one little part of the ending coming, but I totally didn't see everything else! I'm actually pretty glad I saw one aspect of it pretty early on because I didn't feel totally stupid that I didn't see anything coming, haha! The climax in the book was filled with action and so many confessions!

Awesome Quote:
"In amongst all this sorrow...there is also joy. You can't have one without the other."

Characters: 5/5
Creativity: 5/5
Voice: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Impact: 5+/5
Overall: 5/5

Across the Universe is an incredible book that I can't say enough positive things about. It is an amazingly unique story about two courageous teens trying to discover the truth behind all of the chaos taking place in their world. This book is frexing incredible! It was not only entertaining, but it also left me with a lot of questions about my surroundings and showed me how dangerous being impassive really is. Seriously jump in your car, head to the bookstore and go get it, you won't regret it!