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.
What a unique premise and a fun read! Here's my super-shorty review :)
The good:
I loved reading the cryogenics scenes...the descriptions really allowed you to visualize the entire experience. Blargh does it sound painful! I also really enjoyed the political cautionary layer to this novel. As a reader, you easily empathize with Amy and Elder's frustration as they try to wade through the lies that have been fed to the entire society on the ship. Additionally, there are some unexpected twists and turns towards the end that really threw me for a loop.
The bad:
I was bored with Amy's convoluted "dream" sequences in the beginning, it made the first part of the book drag a little. Another aspect that bothered me was that the romance felt a bit unrealistic. It seemed almost automatic...there was no foundation nor buildup for the relationship.
In sum:
Despite having a few qualms, I greatly enjoyed Across the Universe and recommend it to those with a penchant for sci-fi/dystopian books. Also, if you've already read and really liked this book, I highly recommend reading Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy...it's amazing and deals with a lot of the same issues and themes (see my reviews of the first two books here and here).
4/5 stars
I went to the library earlier this week specifically for the Chaos Walking books, but they didn't have the first book, only the second and third, so I bypassed them until later. I've heard and read great things about them so I am excited about reading them.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED this book so much. I think the cover (while beautiful) is a little misleading. It made me think there was more of a romance quotient to this book than there really was. To look at it, it looks like a sci-fi book about two people in love that might be a little dystopian...or at least that is what I judged the cover to be. I found it to really be about the sci-fi/dystopian thing and a little bit about the romance, but not as much as the cover led me to believe initially.
I'm so glad you liked it. I'm really excited about the next book. :)
Boo on the library! ;)
ReplyDeleteIf you loved this, I really think you'll love the Ness books - so glad they're on your radar!
And yes, I'll definitely be checking out the next book in this series as well! :)
I loved this book so much! Really can't wait for the next one :D
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