OMIGOSH YOU GUYS
I just finished reading this book last night and you should all
READ
IT
TOO
For realsies.
All ridiculousness aside, this was a great book. It's the first from author Beth Revis, and I truly hope to see more from her in the coming years. I first caught wind of Across the Universe when a friend of mine sent me the link to the Epic Copntest of Epic which is long since over, but still clearly awesome. (Check out the rest of Beth's blog for more awesomeness like a snowman in a Jayne-hat and this. Go now. Then come back.)
Basically, Across the Universe is a murder/mystery set on a spaceship bound for a secondary earth. Earth (more or less as we know it) has suffered from what has taken place over the thousands of years of our existence, so a mission is undertaken to colonize other parts of the universe. The ship is to transport 100 cryogenically frozen passengers to an Earth-like planet 300 years away where they will be reanimated to carry out the terraforming process and settle it in order to carry on the human race. Also on the ship are thousands of people (and by the time of our introduction to the tale, their descendants) charged with living and working on and taking care of the ship and it's cargo.
Amy is a frozen passenger undertaking this journey with her parents, and is viciously awoken before reaching the ship's destination. She ends up joining forces with a boy named Elder, who is destined to be the ship's next leader, in order to find out why she was singled out and nearly murdered. In a world where everything is disturbingly similar yet completely different than the home she left Amy has to trust her instincts and stand up for herself, while Elder learns about the time she came from and how her version of history can help him be a better leader.
I tried so hard while waiting through December not to build up Across the Universe too much in my mind just in case I ended up being disappointed, but I wasn't. I loved this book. For those of you who have read Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, the pacing is very similar. You. Can't. Stop. Reading. After we finally got a copy of the book in the store, I read the whole thing in a few days. (It probably would've been one if I'd had a day off in that time... =D) There are so many things I loved about it, not the least of which was all the nerdy references embedded in the story, but above all - the ending just works. It's not what I was expecting at all, but it's completely perfect. The more I think about the story as a whole, the more I love how it played out.
I realize I'm using the words 'I' and 'love' quite a bit here, but those words have been earned. Beth Revis really has done an impressive job of telling a captivating tale here. I definitely recommend that everyone give this book a try - I enjoyed it, and I hope you will too!
~Aimee
