Book Title: Across the Universe
Author: Beth Revis
Series: Across the Universe #1
Series: Across the Universe #1
Date Started: June 6th 2013
Date Completed: June 9th 2013
Genres: Romance, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Rating: Three stars
Review:
My expectations for this book weren't that high, if I'm honest: I suspected it was going to be a typical Young Adult romance novel, so I had already accepted that when I began reading it. But actually, even though I didn't expect a brilliant novel, I was quite disappointed by what I read - admittedly, because the beginning started off so well I thought it was going to be better than I'd first thought. It's a shame really that the quality wasn't consistent in my opinion.
Across the Universe is a Sci-Fi novel set on a spaceship that is headed for a new planet. Professionals on a wide range subjects have been frozen in stasis until they reach the new planet after an estimated 301 years of flight; including seventeen-year-old Amy Martin. But when Amy is mysteriously woken up early and nearly drowns in the process, she is thrown into a new world she doesn't understand: one with strange new people that stare at her flowing red hair; one where a Plague wiped out half of the ship's population long ago; one where a shadowed murderer is killing off the frozen people on by one.
Beth Revis' writing was quite good for a Young Adult novel. It was reasonably sophisticated and flowed quite well so that it wasn't too hard to get through word-wise. I did feel that some of the words used (e.g. gah, ech etc.) lowered her standard, but at the end of the day that's just my control-freak writing instinct kicking in - it didn't affect the overall text too much.
The story had a lot of potential, but I really don't think it was carried out as well as it could have been. Looking back on it, the main basis of the plot was really interesting and exciting: a crime mystery while on a ship with a girl that has no idea what's going on has promise for a huge range of twists and turns. But not that much actually happened. And what did happen didn't always connect with the overall story very well - it was almost like a TV series: a strong base plot running through everything, but all the other components and parts were a bit isolated from the general synopsis.
I also think some of the involvement and graphicness of the Season (you can probably guess what that is) was overused, over exaggerated and just uncalled for.
I'm not saying the idea wasn't good - and relevant - but its was presentation was just over done to the point where I felt it was created just for the hell of it.
I like Elder as a protagonist. He was a good protagonist, if not always believable, and his personality is likeable enough for me to enjoy his chapters and understand his judgements and actions.
Amy, on the other hand, is the perfect stereotype for the helpless girl. I was really not happy about this. I'm not saying that all female protagonists have to be able to kick ass or make a sarky remark, but I don't like them being shown as completely useless when Amy is obviously a very intelligent girl. And then, halfway through, she suddenly has a reason to be small and timid - and then she suddenly starts making her own decisions and standing up for herself. This might be quite believable, but the contrast between her before and after is just too much: I feel like Amy was two different characters in this book. (But I suppose better late than never.)
Harley is my favourite character because he's realistic and lovely and misunderstood. I really wish he'd been more involved. Also, his main part in the story wasn't build up to enough - I usually like sudden happenings like that, but it didn't feel like a climax to me because there really was no indication. (I also wish she'd presented some of the issues in a more sensitive way. She wasn't being downright blunt or mean about them, but I do think that the subject wasn't addressed in completely the right way - especially not for a teenage audience.)
The pace was all over the place. The beginning started off really well, I feel. I was actually reviewing my first impressions of the book and starting to think that maybe I'd like it overall. It was a real shame when things started going downhill from there.
The pace was just really inconsistent. I admit, near the end I started to like it again. The last 70ish pages were really good and the ending was brilliant. But the middle 300 or so pages just didn't work for me. No a lot happened, everything started to crowd in on itself and it was like twenty other little subplots were thrown in to try and claw back some interest.
(I also felt that Harley's story wasn't shown in enough detail. I was really interested in that, but Revis neglected to explain everything to the reader and the opportunity was lost fairly early on.)
I also really liked the ideas: the mysterious Plague; how the mental patients are actually more normal in our society; the conspiracy of the flight etc etc. But I don't think they were explained in enough detail. This may be because there are two following books to Across the Universe, but unfortunately my curiosity isn't enough to make me want to read them.
The romance was okay. But there were hints of a love-triangle that never happened (I can't decide if that's a good thing or not) and Harley's previous relationship wasn't explained enough for my taste (but then again, Harley was the character I found most interesting). The love didn't consume the entire plot, so to speak, but I did feel it got a little in the way.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly what it was that I didn't like about this book - the characters were mostly good and and the main plot was exciting and interesting - I just felt it didn't tie together.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Sci-Fi romances, but don't expect too much. I know a lot of people really like this book, so it might just be my personal opinion that it wasn't that good. It's not completely awful - as I first thought - but it isn't a really good read either.
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8235178-across-the-universe?from_search=true
My expectations for this book weren't that high, if I'm honest: I suspected it was going to be a typical Young Adult romance novel, so I had already accepted that when I began reading it. But actually, even though I didn't expect a brilliant novel, I was quite disappointed by what I read - admittedly, because the beginning started off so well I thought it was going to be better than I'd first thought. It's a shame really that the quality wasn't consistent in my opinion.
Across the Universe is a Sci-Fi novel set on a spaceship that is headed for a new planet. Professionals on a wide range subjects have been frozen in stasis until they reach the new planet after an estimated 301 years of flight; including seventeen-year-old Amy Martin. But when Amy is mysteriously woken up early and nearly drowns in the process, she is thrown into a new world she doesn't understand: one with strange new people that stare at her flowing red hair; one where a Plague wiped out half of the ship's population long ago; one where a shadowed murderer is killing off the frozen people on by one.
Beth Revis' writing was quite good for a Young Adult novel. It was reasonably sophisticated and flowed quite well so that it wasn't too hard to get through word-wise. I did feel that some of the words used (e.g. gah, ech etc.) lowered her standard, but at the end of the day that's just my control-freak writing instinct kicking in - it didn't affect the overall text too much.
The story had a lot of potential, but I really don't think it was carried out as well as it could have been. Looking back on it, the main basis of the plot was really interesting and exciting: a crime mystery while on a ship with a girl that has no idea what's going on has promise for a huge range of twists and turns. But not that much actually happened. And what did happen didn't always connect with the overall story very well - it was almost like a TV series: a strong base plot running through everything, but all the other components and parts were a bit isolated from the general synopsis.
I also think some of the involvement and graphicness of the Season (you can probably guess what that is) was overused, over exaggerated and just uncalled for.
I'm not saying the idea wasn't good - and relevant - but its was presentation was just over done to the point where I felt it was created just for the hell of it.
I like Elder as a protagonist. He was a good protagonist, if not always believable, and his personality is likeable enough for me to enjoy his chapters and understand his judgements and actions.
Amy, on the other hand, is the perfect stereotype for the helpless girl. I was really not happy about this. I'm not saying that all female protagonists have to be able to kick ass or make a sarky remark, but I don't like them being shown as completely useless when Amy is obviously a very intelligent girl. And then, halfway through, she suddenly has a reason to be small and timid - and then she suddenly starts making her own decisions and standing up for herself. This might be quite believable, but the contrast between her before and after is just too much: I feel like Amy was two different characters in this book. (But I suppose better late than never.)
Harley is my favourite character because he's realistic and lovely and misunderstood. I really wish he'd been more involved. Also, his main part in the story wasn't build up to enough - I usually like sudden happenings like that, but it didn't feel like a climax to me because there really was no indication. (I also wish she'd presented some of the issues in a more sensitive way. She wasn't being downright blunt or mean about them, but I do think that the subject wasn't addressed in completely the right way - especially not for a teenage audience.)
The pace was all over the place. The beginning started off really well, I feel. I was actually reviewing my first impressions of the book and starting to think that maybe I'd like it overall. It was a real shame when things started going downhill from there.
The pace was just really inconsistent. I admit, near the end I started to like it again. The last 70ish pages were really good and the ending was brilliant. But the middle 300 or so pages just didn't work for me. No a lot happened, everything started to crowd in on itself and it was like twenty other little subplots were thrown in to try and claw back some interest.
(I also felt that Harley's story wasn't shown in enough detail. I was really interested in that, but Revis neglected to explain everything to the reader and the opportunity was lost fairly early on.)
I also really liked the ideas: the mysterious Plague; how the mental patients are actually more normal in our society; the conspiracy of the flight etc etc. But I don't think they were explained in enough detail. This may be because there are two following books to Across the Universe, but unfortunately my curiosity isn't enough to make me want to read them.
The romance was okay. But there were hints of a love-triangle that never happened (I can't decide if that's a good thing or not) and Harley's previous relationship wasn't explained enough for my taste (but then again, Harley was the character I found most interesting). The love didn't consume the entire plot, so to speak, but I did feel it got a little in the way.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly what it was that I didn't like about this book - the characters were mostly good and and the main plot was exciting and interesting - I just felt it didn't tie together.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Sci-Fi romances, but don't expect too much. I know a lot of people really like this book, so it might just be my personal opinion that it wasn't that good. It's not completely awful - as I first thought - but it isn't a really good read either.
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8235178-across-the-universe?from_search=true
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