Across the Universe - Review

Across the Universe
By Beth Revis

Across the Universe by Beth Revis has nothing to to do with The Beatles. There is no singing in it, well, I take that back, there are a few lines about singing; but, other than that, it really is a book of its own, and for a debut novel by Revis, it is pretty strong.

The premise of the novel is about a space mission called “Project Ark Ship,” this ship would be the carrier of necessary people to a new planet, that had been discovered by a probe and held an oxygen based atmosphere. Over a hundred people would be sent there, cryogenically frozen, all these people were found necessary to the mission as they were scientists and military officials and leaders. Only one person was an extra to the mission and that is Amy Martin (one of the voices in the novel). The journey is scheduled to take three-hundred years and then they will arrive at the new planet to learn and cultivate it.

It does not take long for the story to advance to the future, on the same ship that is taking everyone to this new planet, but things have changed. Elder is the future leader of the ship and he is young (the second voice of the book). Eldest, the current leader of the ship, does not seem to have faith in Elder and thus, has not taken to teaching him what he needs to learn for when he takes over and becomes the new Eldest. This causes Elder to become a bit rebellious, with the help of another on the ship, he starts to learn secrets, and digs deeper into them until he meets Amy.

A clash of past and present occurs and then the mysteries deepen. Murders and lies. Amy and Elder start to search deeper into the ship to find the murderer and truth that hides behind metal walls.

Across the Universe is a young-adult sci-fi novel, with a hint of romance and mystery. I enjoyed reading this light-hearted novel. It was a definite page turner, reading from two different perspectives and personalities never left the book to become dull. I felt for each character when it came to the situations and problems that they were facing. The characters were not dry and they both had a good history to them so that they did not feel fake.

The first half of the book was well-paced; but, the second half of the book felt like a snowball falling down a hill, gaining speed and not slowing. For the most part, I don’t mind that; but, the problem was that, with this speed, new ideas were brought into the book that left me wondering, and hoping would be answered in the end.

The book concluded and left these questions unanswered, and made me feel like a ship left to float in the middle of space with no navigation or thrusters to push me on. It leaves me to hope in a way there is another novel, at least to finish off “Godspeed”’s (the name of the ship in Across the Universe) journey.

*Addendum: According to Beth Revis' Twitter, this is actually the first in the trilogy. Well now I am excited.

Recommendation: Borrow or Buy

Start of a short story - Untitled pt 1

So I'm going to try something new. This is a short story, or at least the beginning of one right now. I plan to add more to it every now and then. Here is part 1.

It got rather boring sitting in the forest eating bamboo. Bamboo, bamboo, bamboo. That was all that Panda-Deng spent her whole day doing. She would eat and collect bamboo. She was a solitary creature; but every now and then she longed to meet another one of her kind, or, if not that, some excitement in her life.

There were days that she had some sort of change to the monotony of her days, like the days the Tiger-Deng found her and chased her about the mountain until she found her den. But like herself, Tiger-Deng seemed to be alone.

It was a humid, gray day that Panda-Deng decided to do something she had contemplated over ever since she saw the strange creature that walked on two legs and had strange skin that never seemed to belong on them. These creatures were not like the primates she had seen in the mountains where she called home; though these creatures had two arms and two legs, they walked tall and straight.

She remembered the day when they had watched her, they attempted to come close to her as well; but she did not trust them. They smelled odd, different, and they had all those machines that made irritating noises. They spoke in quiet voices, as if they were trying to not be noticed, but she knew they were there. She did not like them; but, they seemed to be everywhere.

She saw them climbing through her land every few days, sometimes they would disappear for a month, but then they would be back, and normally there would be more of them than there were the previous time. It had been a few months since the pattern started, and her curiosity was eating at her, especially when she was bored like she was then.

Upon her decision, she was moving down the mountain slowly, following the few-day old scent of these odd creatures. She would stop every now and then to get her fill of food and water. It was not long till she started to notice the different surroundings, surroundings that were not home, even if she was still in the woods, she knew she was now some place different. Perhaps she could find another like her.