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.
0 comments:
Post a Comment