Across The Universe

Author: Beth Revis
Recommended Age: Young Adult
Publisher: Penguin Group
ISBN: 978-1-59514-397-6
Year Published: 2011
No. Pages: 398
Genre: Science Fiction
Main Character Gender: Mixed
Read & Reviewed by: Chris



Seventeen-year-old Amy is part of a program that is sending recruits to Centauri-Earth, a planet that can sustain human life. Everyone recruited for the mission is cryogenically frozen until the ship lands at the new planet. Fifty years before landing, Amy is awoken from her icy slumber with a jolt and is suffocating in the slush. After being saved by Elder, who is the apprentice of the leader of the ship, the two search the ship for clues to why Amy was turned off. Together, they must work and trust each other to unveil the murderer.

This book was a easy, quick read because the language wasn’t very challenging and the story flowed. I found Revis’ vision of the future frightening yet luring because it makes you wonder if in the future people will be carbon copies of one another with genetic modifications living in a homogenous culture. Amy acts and looks different so it is no wonder Elder falls in love with her. Revis’ future drew me into the story because she crafts a realistic depiction of where we might be headed: conformity.

Across the Universe is written in first person narrative. This really compliments the book as it creates a sense of mystery since you don’t know what everyone else is thinking or feeling. Revis alternates from the point of view of Elder and Amy. Since the novel is limited to these two perspectives, I had to unravel the mystery as it unfolded for them and subsequently it created more suspense as a reader.

I thoroughly enjoyed Across the Universe. The book made me think more about the future and how life might be. This book is an interesting example of what humans will strive to do to live. Across the Universe is one of my favourite books and I would recommend it to anybody who likes breaking rules and mystery. This book contains a mature scenes and a sexual assault. Across the Universe is the first novel of a trilogy.