Review: Across the Universe

Title: Across the Universe
Author: Beth Revis
Genre: YA, Science Fiction

See it at Goodreads

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.

I can’t believe I was that excited to read Across The Universe. I’d thought I was the last person to pick it up. Really, everyone kept raving on and on about this book, and I kept holding off until it was released on paperback because honestly, I can be a penny pincher sometimes and I’ve been on a serious book budget lately (that is hubby’s rules at the moment, not mine).


Let me take a step back here. The cover: it’s stunning. I’ve been drooling over the hardback cover for a while. It’s all purple-y and has stars…and it’s just seriously one of the most beautiful covers I’ve seen in recent years. The paperback is released and that cover is even really pretty, too.
So, after seeing so many fantastic reviews and recommendations, I get it finally. Like I said before, I thought I was one of the last people to read this book. I was excited and I had high expectations. The premise already promised me something different. It just had to be great, right?


Wrong.


Okay, maybe I should take another step back and explain something else. I don’t like a lot of science fiction to begin with. I mean, I do like it…I love alien type stuff and certain types of sci-fi, but I’ve never been a big fan of the whole “space adventure” thing. I. Hate. Star Wars. Yeah, I said it. Don’t kill me, please?
But I do like this genre on occasion. It depends on how it’s done--and since it is YA, I tend to like the sci-fi genre more in this category. So, I didn’t pick it up on a whim, knowing from the start that it was going to be something I wouldn’t like. I genuinely thought I would love it as much as everyone else.


Still no.


Across the Universe was ALMOST my first DNF of the year. It was that bad for me. I generally try my hardest to finish every book I read anyway, no matter how bad, but I do have the occasional DNF. And this nearly made that list. Does this mean Beth Revis is a terrible author? Absolutely not. In fact, it was her writing style that held me on through the book. She writes incredibly well with great visuals and emotion. I definitely give her credit for her imagination. And I do see why people are so into it. It has that appeal of adventure and an exciting new world, as well as a unique and intriguing plot.


Unfortunately, I couldn’t connect with the story. The world-building seemed entirely unrealistic and the characters were flat and boring. I was not hooked in the beginning, I did not care about Amy or Elder, and the antagonist was predictable.


And last:


That word “Frex” annoyed me so much. After reading it for the tenth time within ten pages, I nearly wanted to slam the book down. It reminded me of “Frak”, and I hate Battlestar Galactica as much as I hate Star Wars.


No, I don’t think I’ll be getting the second book for this one. I certainly see the appeal, but not for me.