Across the Universe by Beth Revis

From The Publisher:

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.

My Review:

Finally, a science fiction novel for teens! It’s been 26 years since Ender’s Game, and it’s great to see YA authors branch out into something other than “paranormal romance.” Don’t worry; if you like the romance, it’s there. It’s just not the focal point of the novel. If you are hesitant to pick this up because it is “science fiction,” don’t fret, the book is also part mystery.

The point of view switches from Amy to Elder every other chapter. The juxtaposition between the two allows the reader to fully discover the ship. Through Amy’s outsider eyes, the reader is lead into the ship with vivid descriptions while Elder discusses why and how the ship came to be what it is now.

As with most science fiction novels, there is some kind of social critique. On board Godspeed, all of the passengers are mono ethnic. They were “created” that way (think, A Brave New World) to cause of sense of unity, but Elder questions this with the arrival of Amy. Together, Amy and Elder discover the reason for the corruption within the ship and the murderer.

This book could be a stand alone. There was enough closure at the end, but it’s all about the trilogies with respect to YA books. A Millions Suns will be released sometime in 2012.

The Bottom Line:

This amazing debut is a definitely worth a read. The fast paced plot will have readers wanting more from Revis. Hopefully more young adults will start enjoying science fiction! 4/5