Across The Universe Review.

Book - Across The Universe.

Author - Beth Revis.

Rating - Four stars.
Theme song - "Post Blue" by: Placebo.

Synopsis: 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 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.

Across The Universe is a book that I decided to read because I had heard so much about it. I mean, call it curiousity or what have you, but the premise of the book drew me in immediately. The main character, Amy has agreed to be cryogenic-ally frozen along with her parents. They will be frozen for 300 years aboard a spaceship awaiting to reach this new found planet which everyone is calling "Centuria Earth." Amy's moms speciality is genetic splicing and her father is a battlefield analyst in the military. They had been asked to do this because their knowledge needed to be taken to the new planet. Amy was what they called a "nonessential," only on board to be with her family.

The beginning is somewhat difficult to get through because of how haunting the concept of it all is. Beth Revis's writing is so detailed that I couldn't help but put myself in Amy's situation. If my parents chose to do that, how would I feel? If I knew I was going to be frozen, put to sleep and aboard a spaceship for 300 years, how would I cope? If I knew I had to leave my family, friends and boyfriend behind to an entirely different life on an entirely different planet, could I do it? Amy had the chance to back out, to go live with her aunt and uncle but she couldn't do it, she couldn't leave her parents. Amy was very much the typical highschool girl who was unique due to her circumstances. Honestly, there's so much allure to living in the future, to be able to experience new technology and a whole new way of life. Although, it seems intriguing I would've had to tell my parents that they'd do just fine finding new jobs that required a whole lot less. In the same breath, I know that if my parents made that choice that I'd follow them too.

Elder is the other main character in the book. The chapters are split between Amy and Elder's point of view. Elder is a soon to be leader on the ship Amy and her family are traveling on. Elder lives with Eldest, the leader of the ship who is mentoring him to one day become leader. In the beginning, the two of them have quite the complicated relationship and you know from the start that something is absolutely wrong. Elder finds that Eldest is keeping things from him, like entire parts of the ship that have been hidden away and experiments he knew nothing about. Without giving too much away, Elder becomes aware of the "freezers." The bodies being hidden in a part of the ship Elder had never been to. Once Elder saw Amy with her fiery red hair, he knew he wanted her, needed her, craved her existence. Amy was awoken first and was found in her box, melting. Someone had turned the switch off that kept her frozen and the doctor had to go to work immediately. She wasn't reanimated properly and the process in which the doctor took was dreadful but necessary. She awakes to a room full of people she doesn't know in a location she was never supposed to be. Elder immediately takes her under his wing and shields her from scrutiny while Eldest acts like he could disperse of her at anytime.

Amy entered the ship scared, afraid and alone. Godspeed was far from being at it's desired destination and Amy wanted nothing but to awake with her family, but that couldn't happen anymore. It would take all of about two second to realize that Amy was different, that she didn't belong. Everyone on the ship has olive skin and dark eyes, they work and hold really no human emotion whatsoever. It took time for her to trust Elder, but as she begins to their love starts to really take full effect. Although, you know that something is there between them, it's very understated. The mission to keep them all safe and figure out what's going on definitely takes the forefront, but their emotions for one another keep them moving faster. The people who do express emotion are put in the "Mental Ward." The Mental Ward holds a lot of this books most interesting scenes. Amy was completely out of her element and was now on the hunt to find the killer. Now that she couldn't be with her parents she was set on protecting them. Amy ended up getting a room in the "Mental Ward" and spending most of her time with Elder and Elder's best friend, Harley.

Harley played a pretty big part in this story as well. He acted like a normal person toward Amy and didn't shun her. He helped protect her. He stayed in the Mental Ward too. None of these people were actually mental, they just had emotions that people on the ship didn't know how to deal with. Harley was passionate and compassionate. He was intense and hopeful. He was a painter, an artist who met a tragic end.


I could talk about this book for hours on end. I could never fully review this book without it containing spoilers, so I'm sorry if there are a few mixed in. There's so many twists, turns and roundabouts way regarding this book that I couldn't possibly touch on every high and low. Once I got into the book, I found it incredibly hard to put down. It wasn't an easy book to read because it really made you think. It keeps you guessing and it keeps your mind constantly going. Now that I'm done reading this book, I actually find myself missing the characters which is something only very special books can make me do.


The ending of this book was nothing that I thought it would be. It provided such a climatic structure. It was that unpredictable. I was able to predict a few of the problems the ship was having and a few things Eldest was covering up. The very key, the very beginning of Amy's existence on the ship and why threw me completely. It was breathtaking! Beth Revis is such a powerful author who will paint you the most unique picture, and then take her time explaining all the intimate details. I just found out that this is going to be a trilogy too! I couldn't be more pleased and I can't imagine what's in store for Elder and Amy, I only know that it's going to be amazing and I can't wait to get my hands on it!

"It is like a piece of my soul had been lost,

empty, and it is now filled with the light of a million stars."
- Amy, Across The Universe.