{ Across The Universe by Beth Revis }

Across The Universe by Beth Revis

2011 by razor bill - an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc

Source - Library

from GoodReads:

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.

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.

Review:

I had heard many, many great things about this book. I was very excited to give this one a read. I really found the story to be interesting and different. It really did have many different elements. It had a good Murder Mystery element as well as a good Sci-Fi/Dystopian element. I enjoyed the main character Amy, very much. Here is this teenage girl leaving her friends, boyfriend and world as she knows it to follow her parents on an adventure of their own choosing. And then to be 'thawed' into this foreign world - ship - where she is considered the outcast - a freak! She is a very smart, caring, strong female character. I have to say the whole 'freezing' and 'thawing' processes that Amy go through in this book? One of the best elements to the whole story. Gripping!!

Now Elder. I realize that Elder has grown up in this environment and has had to live with Eldest - the leader of the Godspeed - the past 3 years of his life. But really? I found Elder to be so inconsistent throughout the book. I just could never really feel for him all that much. Didn't really care all that much about him. At times he seemed to breakthrough the fog and look like he was going to be this great leader and hero. And then he would fizzle and fade into the background...or at least for me he did.

I loved Harley, Elder's best friend. Harley just has so much character and personality. I would have loved to seen more of Harley...frankly, more than Elder!

The one thing that really bothered me about this book though, is the same thing that others have mentioned as well. The whole 'Season' - mating - thing. I get that it is a critical part of the story. But seriously? If it had gone on much longer, I honestly don't think I would have finished this book. I just found it pointless, disturbing and just...why? One other complaint I have is the slang. What is it with Dystopian slang? Sometimes it is okay and then other times like in this book? Just plain annoying.

Overall, it was a good story and a few really great characters. I would still recommend it if you are a fan of sci-fi/dystopian. And I will probably read the next book in this trilogy to see what happens to Amy...and Elder too...I guess.

Rating: 3.5 stars