Across the Universe : Book Review

4.5/5 Stars

A Million Suns
First in Across the Universe Series

By Beth Revis

Razorbill (November 29th, 2011)

Genre: YA Sci-Fi, Romance

I get the feeling this book plays homage to the Beatles.  I am really enjoying this series, and I wish I would have discovered it later because the third book isn't coming out till sometime next year *sigh*. I almost need a special book calender so I don't forget about the series I've read. I've been trying to read stand alone books or finished series that way I don't have to wait - I hate waiting. Some may find it exciting I do not, it makes me growl at my Kobo.

To Elder, the ship he and two thousand other people inhabit seems to be wrapped in elaborate lies all created by Eldest, the leader and protector of Godspeed. Ever since the Plague the ship has been based on an Eldest System, where a man is born 16 years before the next generation of inhabitants. Soon the Season will begin and the next gen that Elder will lead will be born. But there's a problem Eldest is getting old, and he should already be retired, but since the Elder before the current Elder died, and  Eldest hasn't passed on the ship to its new leader. Actually, because of the disgrace of the previous Elder, Eldest is withholding information from him, information about the ship and how to run it. It's not until Eldest deems Elder worthy enough to continue his lessons on becoming Eldest, and Elder researches the ship itself, does he discover there's secrets hidden deep within. There's a secret level of the ship - and not a small one for that matter - that Elder never knew existed, and is compelled to discover what its hiding - something he never could imagine. Descending into the lower levels of the ship Elder finds himself in a strange room full of rows of metal boxes, he pulls open box 42 and he can scarcely believe what he is a seeing. A girl his age -unlike everyone else on the ship - encased in ice, with sunset hair and pale skin - she is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. If only he could just talk to her, touch her. Elder is caught by the residential doctor peeping at the girl, and questions Doc about the frozen people. Doc explains they were frozen before Godspeed left Sol-Earth and will remain frozen until they reach Centuri-Earth, 50 years from now.

But something unexpected happens, the fire haired girl is unplugged, and awaken by accident, or is she? Shortly after she nearly dies from waking up alone in the cryo chamber, others start to become unplugged. Some aren't as lucky as her and they don't survive. Someones trying to kill the frozens but why? And why does Amy - the strange and beautiful girl from Sol-Earth- keep claiming that there's something wrong and unnatural about the 'normal' residents on Godspeed? The closer Elder and Amy become the more Elder realizes there's something unsettling happening on Godspeed and it all leads back to Eldest. Now the pair must discover what secrets Eldest has cached inside the ship.

I think what I liked most about this it definitely fills in the missing gaps from A Million Suns which I accidentally read first. I can't say whether or not this book would be predictable because I already knew what happened, but I still enjoyed it a lot none the less. I really like the characters, and the interesting setting of the series. It's an interesting change from the books I normally read, and while I very much enjoy this series, I probably still won't be reading a lot of sci-fi. Revis does a great job developing the misconstrued world that the inhabitants of Godspeed reside on. I also like that there's more to the book than meets the eyes, everyone believe Eldest is a benevolent 'grand-fathery' leader, but that's far from the truth. The truth everyone aboard Godspeed believes is fabricated and manipulated in dark and clever ways.

Though this series is marketed as Romance, it's more of an unspoken one. So if you want some gushy love scenes, you'll have to look elsewhere. I really like this series and I would recommend it, even to non Sci-fi fans. They're pretty quick reads, more in the pacing than the novel's length, so if you're skeptical just give it a shot.