REVIEW - "Across the Universe"

What else is there to say other than "wow"!  Beth Revis has created a believable and well developed  piece of fiction.

The book starts off with Amy and her parents undergoing the process of becoming frozen to travel across the universe in a voyage that will take 300 years. Amy hears the technicians talking and they mention that the takeoff date is a year behind schedule, but they continue with the process of freezing the passengers anyway. Amy has a full and productive life on Earth and she keeps thinking and screaming in her head that she wants her year back.

Then the story picks up with Elder. He is the future leader of the ship Godspeed. He is learning about the ways of running the ship.  The society of the ship is described and the beginning of the storyline is laid out.

Amy is unfrozen early and is thrust into a very strange society.  Her awakening is brutal and she was left to die.  Murders are beginning to happen to the other frozen people. Her main focus is to protect her parents.

 The rules are different and the people do not act like people. They act more like robots or animals. They lack emotion and the ability to think on their own. One of the most disturbing things to me is that there is "season". The people act like animals and mate in the open on the streets. Humanity has been lost and changed on the voyage.

I don't want to tell you anymore about the plot. It is well developed and is a fantastic read. There are many disturbing elements in the story and many secrets. This book will keep you fascinated until the conclusion.

I gave it four out of five stars.  I purchased this book because I wanted to read it, and I didn't win it in any of the contest I entered.

This is a YA novel, but I would not recommend it for younger YA readers.  It has material that many parents would find inappropriate for a younger audience.