Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Book: Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 416
Source: Library
Links: Goodreads | Amazon

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.

Guys, I believe with all my heart that science fiction is going to be the next big thing in the YA genre. Across the Universe is my first, real taste of science fiction in YA, and boy was it good! (Is it just me who barely noticed that the cover has two people facing each other? I thought it was just blobs.)

Anyways, ON TO THE REVIEW.

WHAT I LIKED:

• Intriguing mysteries? UNPREDICTABLE twists? WIN.
• If y'all know me, you know how much I enjoy those shocking twists that make you go, "OH WHAT THE FUDGE IS THIS?" This book is FILLED TO THE BRIM with these kinds of twists. Good gosh, I can't remember how many times I was surprised from this book.

• The storytelling in this book is just as entrancing and captivating like the stars in the galaxies.
• Ohohoho, Gianna has some poetic side to her after all! (Not really.) Point is, this book has super lovely prose and it was a key aspect of why I liked this book. If anything, this is what stuck me through the long, tedious lulls I experienced when I read AtU.

•  World building scores!
• Floppies, "frex", high tech gizmos and gadgets, Across the Universe had some fairly good world building, which I really liked. It was really fascinating to learn about the technology that was invented in this book and I could probably see these things happening in the future!

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:

• I... couldn't really connect with the characters.
• Sure, they were enjoyable to read about but I found it so hard just to connect with Amy, Elder, and everyone else on the ship. 

• A love out of time? Psh, more like, "A love that needs more time!"
• Warning, folks: signs of instant love is definitely strong. I like Amy and Elder as a couple. They mesh well together, to put it in one way. 
• Here's the thing though: they hardly know each other. I wanted to see their relationship develop more in AtU, but unfortunately it didn't happen. In my opinion, I felt that things were moving a bit too fast between them and that is something that just doesn't sit right with me.

•  If this book was a reptile, it'd be a turtle that has a faulty rocket jet pack.
• Now, you may be going like, "WHAAA?" but I'm completely serious. You're also probably wondering how is it like that? Sometimes, the turtle's faulty rocket jet pack would work. In this case, that means the book would be fast paced and engaging. When the faulty jet pack wouldn't work, the turtle (the book) was very, very slow. (Am I making sense here?)
• Point is: book could be fast paced sometimes, book could be so slow sometimes.
• Slow paced books equals me getting heavy lidded eyes and my entertainment level on low.

 THE VERDICT:

• For the love of all things cute and adorable, I swear I really liked this book. It sounded like I didn't, but I really did. Sure, the romance and plot pacing fell a bit for me, but in all, it's a really great book. Across the Universe has some definite potential to be the start of one kick butt sci-fi series, a series I will definitely be on the lookout for.