Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Amy was supposed to wake up 300 years later on a new planet. Instead, she finds herself almost murdered on a spaceship ruled by a man who seems more dictator than leader. There is a secret being hidden. With the help of Elder, the leader-in-training, they must find out before the killer tries again.

Odd terms in ATU:

• frexing idiots
• wrong-footed
• chutzy
• make him less loons
• brilly

Considering the fact that this book is set way, way, way in the future, the terms are an understandable difference in language. They feel kind of funny if you say them out loud (especially chutzy. CHUTZY!), but they appear mostly in in Elder’s portions of the book, which brings me to my next topic.

Across the Universe is told in alternating viewpoints, Amy and Elder’s. The split-up isn’t exactly even. Six pages of Elder’s thoughts may be followed by three pages of Amy’s. It kept the book feeling slightly uneven, never allowing me to get too comfortable.

My favorite aspect of the story is the issue of monoethnicity. It doesn’t take up a significant portion of the story, but it really captured my attention. Everyone looks very similar on the spaceship, and the leader thinks that this helps cause unity, but it doesn’t, not really. Despite monoethnicity, people still divide themselves into groups. People that follow and people that lead. People who are artsy and people that do the drudge work. By the end of the book, I came to the rather depressing conclusion that while people may band together in times of trouble, in times of peace, we tend to slice ourselves into seperate groups.

Across the Universe mixes romance, sci-fi, murder mystery, dystopia into one really cool book. The paperback version (cover above) is released today, and the sequel to ATU, A Million Suns will be available this upcoming January.