I can safely say that from page one, my kindle didn't leave my hands. Except when I went to sleep. And when I went to sleep, I dreamt I was in a spaceship somewhere, suspended in the universe. Now, I'm not really one for 'thrillers'. And I'm pretty picky with sci-fi. The reason being that most sci-fi revolves strictly around ideas. While ideas are interesting, if I don't connect emotionally to the characters, I stop caring about the story. So here's Across the Universe: a thriller meets murder mystery meets sci-fi adventure, with strong character development and hints of romance. I'm there!Amy has been cryogenically frozen. The process is quite painful, and Revis goes into some fascinating if not gruesome details. (No, it's not like Austin Powers. Not even close. You won't even consider being frozen after this.) She's supposed to be thawed once Godspeed (a spaceship the size of a small country) lands at its intended destination--a new Earth. The journey is estimated to take 300 years. But Amy's accidently thawed 50 years before arrival. And the ship that awaits her is occupied by a few thousand brainwashed citizens--all with brown hair, brown eyes, and tan skin--that are ruled by a tyrant. This tyrant doesn't tolerate differences. It doesn't matter if Amy tries to hide her Earthen origins. Her bright red hair and pale skin already give her away.
The story switches back and forth between two different POVs: Amy's, and a boy her age named Elder, who's training to be next in command of the Godspeed. The pair work together in order to find out who's been unplugging the other cryogenically frozen passengers and leaving them to die. What they find instead are decades of lies--lies that threaten the voyage of Godspeed itself.
Of course, we're left with a semi-cliffhanger ending. I believe the second installment of this intended trilogy will be released later this year.
You can find the book here:
http://www.amazon.com/Across-Universe-Beth-Revis/dp/1595143971
Happy Reading!...and if you shirk all your other household duties, don't say I didn't warn you!
I did enjoy this book, but the fact that one of the big twists went completely against one of Newton's three laws really irked me. So much so that I'm not sure I'll read the next one.
ReplyDeleteI've entered two contests to win it! I hope I win!!
ReplyDeleteSari: Oh do tell...which violation?
ReplyDeleteBecky: Nice to meet you! I hope you win too :) Love your blog BTW.
His first law: An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force. An object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
ReplyDelete(The thing about the ship when it was ... ummm ... don't want to give any spoilers for others but I'm sure you know which bit I'm talking about)
I kinda figure that even though scifi is supposed to be pushing the bounds of science it should at least get the basics right.