Across the Universe by Beth Revis

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First off, I would like to say that I love the cover. This was one of the books from the bookstore that I had to stop and read the blurb just because of the cover. This book is also a good example of the cliche, “do not judge a book by it’s cover.”

That being said, I enjoyed the story. I thought it read like it was written for a younger YA audience, but what the heck, it was OK. It is a unique take on the genre Utopia/Dystopia. I hesitate to call it dystopia since the setting does not happen on Earth and the themes tend to lean toward Utopian.

Pros

I thought the story unique in that I haven’t read anything like it before. True, this is not the usual fair that I typically read but I liked that it gave me a different perspective.
The murder mystery was pretty interesting.
The weird, mindless citizens of the ship Godspeed was one of the reasons why I wanted to finish the whole book just to see if my suspicions were correct.
I liked the twist in the end where Eldest is in fact a clone of the very first Eldest. This cycle has been going on where the Eldest has been cloning himself and raising him as Elder until he becomes the Eldest. Confusing, no? Or just plain gross. Take your pick.

Cons

The plot was very predictable. I practically knew who the villain when I read the first few pages and halfway through the book, I already knew who was unplugging the “frozens” (or had my suspicions, which was right when I reached the end).
I expected reading a love story in this book and I was disappointed. Unlike what the blurb alluded to, this is NOT a love story. True, where was a hint of an attraction between Amy (the girl who woke up from cryogenic sleep) and Elder (the guy who saved her) it was not a main plot to the story. There was also a mild hint of a love triangle between Amy, Elder, and Elder’s best friend Harley but it wasn’t even that monumental for it to be called that.
I also found it hard to believe that there wasn’t a new society that arose from the citizens of Godspeed. True, they were drugged by Eldest but I would have thought the people that were called “mentally ill” would be overthrowing the rudimentary government that Eldest had. There would have been a lot of opportunities here.
This reminded me of Batman Begins when Ra’s al Ghul was poisoning the water in Gotham. This is precisely what Eldest did to control the citizens – poison their water supply.

I am not sure if I would be reading the sequels of Across the Universe. I might have to wait for the ebooks to be available at the public library before I would read it.