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Jul 04, 2011

Lyndsey rated it:

Space is awesome! I say that like I've been there. For all you know, I have. I could be a certified astronaut in the U.S. Space Program who took time off from being in space to write fiction about being in space and that's why I've been on Goodreads so much. I could be.... You don't know.

Okay, so I'm not. I haven't nor probably never will go to outer space, but that doesn't stop me from thinking it's the coolest and most awesomest thing in the universe. Which as a matter of fact it a More...

17 comments like (45 people liked it)

Jun 08, 2011

Cory rated it:

I didn't enjoy Across the Universe as much as I thought I would. Like most YA, after the first 100 pages, you know you're reading a novel written for teens. That isn't a bad thing, but readers looking for a deep, complex novel, aren't going to find it here.

ETA: YA is not synonymous with shallow. Some writers think it is, but it isn't. They think that because they're writing for teens, they get a pass to write a book filled with plot holes. I don't think that's the case with Beth Revi More...

30 comments like (63 people liked it)

Feb 25, 2011

Jillian -always aspiring- rated it:

I had much trouble forming my thoughts about this book to write a review. Across the Universe is a hard book to describe. Yes, it has that lovely cover that beckons everyone to read it. Yes, it has an interesting premise. Yes, it has all these elements to make it a brilliant read, something fresh and exciting. But, for me, it just didn't give me everything I had wanted.

Dystopians and I have a love-hate relationship. I love The Hunger Games and Unwind -- but others books, like Matched More...

17 comments like (47 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2012

Stephanie rated it:

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I have read a few YA dystopian society books and I have to say, I really enjoyed this one. It would have gotten 4 stars, but I found the ending to be a bit predictable. There were also a few things I didn't like. There will probably be spoilers in this review, but I'll indicate where I'm about to reveal something.

Across the Universe is a really cool story about a girl named Amy who is frozen in time for 250 years aboard the space ship Godspeed. Ho More...

11 comments like (18 people liked it)

Apr 27, 2011

Sandy rated it:

I really, REALLY wanted to love Across the Universe. I've been eagerly anticipating this book for months. And then...I started reading. And it put me to sleep three nights in a row.

I hate that feeling when a book you've looked forward to for so long turns out to be...meh.

Part of my problem? I read Maria V. Snyder's Inside Out last week, and I couldn't help but make comparisons with Inside Out so fresh in my mind. Inside Out is so unique and compelling that Across the More...

14 comments like (30 people liked it)

Jan 31, 2011

oliviasbooks rated it:

4.5 stars. The spaceship Goodspeed is on its 300 years long journey to an inhabitable planet, Centauri-Earth. On board are about hundred specialists and their families (bio-engineers, tacticians, sociologists) stored as frozen human cargo in the deep and forgotten bowels of the huge vessel as well as two and a half thousand common inhabitants, who either research plants, weather and livestock for the future socialization or farm and produce goods for the small community. Since an obscure past ev More...

31 comments like (25 people liked it)

Feb 02, 2011

Princess Bookie rated it:

My Thoughts: Wow, Wow, Wow! I tend to stay away from Sci-fi based novels but this one blew me away. As soon as I saw the summary I knew I wanted to read it, than the cover alone is worth buying it over.

We are introduced to Amy right away and her thoughts and feelings. She is getting ready to be frozen and even the very beginning of the book is very intense. The first few pages made my stomach hurt because I felt so sorry for her because the decision she had to make was huge. Than a More...

9 comments like (15 people liked it)

Jan 15, 2011

Nomes rated it:

I'm just going to come right out and say it: This book was BRILLIANT and I absolutely LOVED every moment of it. I devoured it all through the night and have been thinking about it ever since (3 weeks ago).

Where to begin with my (rave-on) review?

It's epic, dystopian, has an impossible romance, mystery, creativity and lots of heart and soul.

The prose: Gorgeous and evocative. For a sci-fi it was so not complicated to follow - it flowed seamlessly.

Th More...

22 comments like (22 people liked it)

Jan 24, 2012

Heather rated it:

The blurb on the back of Across the Universe implies that this book is a thriller, while the cover, which boasts a boy and a girl a breath away from kissing, suggests the it’s YA romance. In truth, this book is neither. It’s more of a sci-fi dystopian read than anything else.

Apparently the world as we readers know it is ending, or will end at some point. Economy is failing, people are jobless, sickness and destruction of the world’s resources is inevitable. As a result, the U.S. cre More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jun 04, 2011

Thomas rated it:

4.5 stars. This futuristic novel contains enough mystery and romance to entice young adult readers who are reluctant to jump on the science-fiction ship.

I loved the world building and dystopian setting Revis sustained within Godspeed. There were themes such as what constitutes a good ruler and the effect of freedom and whether or not it should be taken away to maintain safety, which are not exactly common in the YA genre. The eclectic genre of this book is one of its strongest points More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Feb 18, 2012

Parvathy rated it:

When I have read reviews where people have stated that they had mixed reactions about a book, I always thought what's there to be so mixed about, either you like the book or don't but that was before I tried a hand at Beth Ravis's creative venture.

I not one to criticize anyone's writing skill ~~(having zero writing skills of my own)~~ but I really thought this book had so much potential. Now you may ask me what other track I would have used or twists I would have brought about and I may More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 31, 2011

Jude rated it:

http://inbetweenwritingandreading.blogsp...

Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes,
That call me on an on across the universe. . .
. . .Nothing’s gonna change my world.
-Lennon/McCartney.

With this words, the story of Across The Universe begins, we are taken to a whole new world, and I don’t mean this literary, I mean it in the sense of what makes a world to all of us, it being our family, friends, or the four walls keeping us safe that we More...

24 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2012

Larissa added it

At the end of December, I picked up Anna and the French Kiss after hearing two of my favorite YA authors John Green and Maureen Johnson gush about it on Twitter. I wasn't disappointed. I stayed up in 3:30 in the morning reading it and immediately after I finished, I went to the author's website to simply find more, and, long story short, I did. I've tried re-tracing my steps to find out exactly how I stumbled across Perkins saying that Across the Universe would be the next big thing and as far a More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jun 19, 2011

Lucy rated it:

Across the Universe is a well-written, creative and exciting science fiction novel by debut author Beth Revis. The author has created a unique world that takes place in the future on a spaceship known as Godspeed. This is a unique, tense mystery thriller that you won't be able to put down.

Seventeen-year-old Amy has been frozen, along with her parents, and placed in cargo on Godspeed to be opened 300 years in the future when Godspeed arrives on a new planet. However, Amy is mistakenly More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2011

Carolina rated it:

I picked up ACROSS THE UNIVERSE thinking that it would be a sci fi novel. And while it was--complete with all sorts of cool futuristic spacey technology, I discovered it was so much more than that. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is like STAR TREK meets THE GIVER bound together by a delicious romance (and lets face it, all the best books will have a delicious romance). Already, I know this will be one of the best books of 2011 for me. I read this book straight through in one day without stopping. Every cha More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Aug 28, 2011

Hayden rated it:

FINALLY got this at Borders. Now, I can play with the reversible jacket ALL I WANT.

REVIEW TIME!
This time, I'm actually going to write a decent, long review. The past few I've been slacking, and I apologize for that. Without further ado . . .

MY REVIEW!
description

It's . . . explosive. *snickers*

Across the Universe is going to be an extremely difficult book to point out flaws in, because I was enraptured in the wonderful and beautiful story the entire time I w More...

8 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 10, 2011

Isamlq rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

10 comments like (6 people liked it)

Nov 29, 2010

Katieb (MundieMoms) rated it:

4.5 stars

Across The Universe is such a fantastic read, and one I became so fascinated with, I read it in one sitting. Beth Revis has done a suburb job at writing a story that has left me wondering, "What if." She weaves together an awesome murder-mystery, sci-fi, dystopian thriller with a bit of romance and all confined within the walls of Godspeed. This air ship has been traveling for over 300 years to take humans to a new world that Nasa found to start a new society. Though More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Sep 29, 2011

Mateja rated it:

Across the Universe is simply amazing. It has managed to knock my socks off time and time again until in the end I was left absolutely stunned. It is simply amazing.

The story is told from dual point of view and is starts off with a terrifying description of the freezing process. That first chapter alone is capable of giving you nightmares. After that kind of a start I was simply helpless, not able to put the book down.

The writing is beautifully descriptive. I got so imm More...

15 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 09, 2011

Crystal Starr Light rated it:

Amy Martin is put into cryogenic freeze with her parents, to travel to a far distant world called Centauri-Earth, which the ship, Godspeed will reach in 300 years. But she is awakened suddenly and nearly dies in the process. Who woke her from her sleep and who is killing the others cryogenically frozen?

I love science fiction. I love Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica...even hard scifi, like Arthur C. Clarke. And when I started this book, I adored it! There is just far too little sc More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Sep 26, 2011

Amy or "Ames" rated it:

Lessons learned:
Never trust history.
Never trust doctors.
Never trust scientists.
Never trust technology.
Never trust blanket medication.

Overall my experience with this book was like meeting and falling in love, being excited and happy, then slowly finding out that he's not perfect. He drinks out of the milk carton, he ignores you in favour of sports events and when you finally get his clothes off he's as smooth as a Ken doll but insists he can still have ch More...

8 comments like (20 people liked it)

Aug 04, 2011

Indiaskye rated it:

I was really intrigued by the premise, and then the rave reviews did the rest and convinced me that I must read this book. I have to say, though --- I don't get what people are so excited about! Yes, the style of writing itself is fairly good, and the idea is certainly unique ... BUT ... the characters stay flat throughout, and there was so much that was completely unbelievable that I just couldn't enjoy it.

You see, the space ship inside which this story takes place is huge. It is so More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Oct 31, 2011

Shannon rated it:

The saying don't judge a book by its cover should apply to this book. I was intitially drawn to this book based upon the beautiful and striking cover. Then the description sealed the deal, a dystopian love story set on a ship in space? Sold. However, the cover and the description were entirely deceptive. This book was not a love story, far from it. It was a a disturbing meditation on the corruption of power and the disturbing means to which one man will go to manipulate and control his small flo More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 11, 2011

Jean Pearl rated it:

I think this book was fairly interesting. Its stunning cover and the idea of Godspeed were the solid charms of the book. Even I bothered to look into Godspeed's interior on its main website and I'd gasped for the vividness and concreteness of the ship. It was really uniquely beautiful. From time to time I looked into its different levels and info while I was reading the parts of the book that had set on the level I searched up. It built up the imagery I had of the ship. Its plot also caught me u More...

41 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 21, 2011

Braiden rated it:

OMG THIS WAS FREXING AWESOME!

If I can say one word and one word only, it would have to be: FREX! I cannot describe how frexing amazing Across the Universe was. This book from YA debut author Beth Revis had everything you could ever want in a story: strong likeable characters, a twisting plot, mystery, suspense, torture, love, family, society, leadership, history, words, words, words, and more words. Words cannot describe how awesome it was. The phenomenal feeling of being fulfilled wit More...

3 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jun 25, 2011

Caitlin rated it:

Okay. So, I can sit here and rave about how great this book was. What makes a book great--but not always perfect--is the combination of great aspects. In other words, great characters, setting, dialogue, development, etc. Revis excels in all categories and I can't deny her the praise she deserves. So instead of talking about each aspect in detail, I just talk about my favorite thing--and then the things that were like an annoying itch.

My favorite part about the book was flaw. Not in More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 02, 2010

Nic rated it:

Favourite quote:- “It is like a piece of my soul had been lost, empty, and it is now filled with the light of a million stars.”

Wow! What an amazing debut. Across the Universe is a book that you will get lost in and completely forget about the rest of the world. Utterly captivating.

It is unique with it’s mix of part space travel, part thriller and part romance. If you are worried that it sounds too sci-fi with all that space travel talk, it is not at all. It will de More...

35 comments like (18 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2011

Brooke rated it:

Wow. Definitely different. Can't say I've read a book quite like it... well, ever. I'm not usually a sci-fi reader but Across the Universe (to my surprise) kept my interest and pages were flying.

I sort of caught on to the 'who' who was behind the murders which was a bit disappointing, so the revelation was a bit anti-climatic, but other bits and pieces I didn't see coming definitely made up for it.

If I'm being honest, I was a tad unsatisfied with the ending, BUT only just di More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Apr 27, 2011

Angela rated it:

Across the Universe is the type of novel I am always dying to read.

The setting is amazing. The characters are real. The plot twists and turns in unexpected and satisfying ways. The dialogue is organic. The story's pacing is not too fast, not too slow, but oh.so.very.right. And the ending of the novel leaves the reader wanting more.

I want to know more about Elder. I want to know more about the future of the ship Goodspeed and its people. I want to know how they will all d More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 06, 2011

Juju rated it:

Across the Universe is an exciting, enticing, and exhilarating ride. One full of mystery, tantalizing factors, and historical rewrites that will keep you guessing. I dare you to read this and not hang on until the very end! How else will you find out why the people aboard Godspeed believe Hitler was a good leader and love and emotion are a thing of the past?

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1 comment like (3 people liked it)