Rating: Five Stars—ajklsdflk (when words fail to describe how wonderful a book is)
Oh my goodness, I can’t tell you how happy I am to have finally read ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis. It had been on my wish list for a couple years, but I had always ended up not having the money to buy it, or not remembering it when I did have the money, or not finding it in bookstores. (I know, I have a really hard life.) But, at long last, my sister bought me the entire trilogy for Christmas! So I am one happy little astronaut.
The Premise. The idea of people cryogenically freezing themselves in order to travel across the universe (in this case, a 300-year trip) just to colonize another planet is spectacular. I don’t know about you, but I grew up thinking about this sort of concept a lot. What would it be like to leave Earth behind forever? What would it be like to set out for a new and unchartered planet in hopes of finding a better life? What would it be like to be frozen that long? Obviously ACROSS THE UNIVERSE was written just for me. (But you may also read it and love it, because I am generous like that.)
The story gets better, though, because of course things don’t go according to plan. Fifty years before the ship is supposed to make landfall (planetfall?), someone pulls Amy from her cryo chamber, nearly killing her. Unable to return to stasis, Amy must face the bitter knowledge that she is stuck aboard a ship run by a tyrant and, worse, that when they do reach the planet and wake her parents and the rest of the frozen crew, she will be an old woman. She has given up everything—her home, her possessions, her friends—in exchange for this, and now someone is set on murdering the frozens and destroying all that they’ve sacrificed their previous lives for. Her only hope is that she and her new friend, Elder, will be able to stop the killer before it’s too late. Naturally, I love everything about this—the juxtaposition of the wonder of space travel and the loneliness and separation that come with, the cozy safety of the spaceship and the horror at being stuck inside with a killer.
Godspeed. I love Godspeed and I love that the ship has such a palpable presence in the book. Despite all that’s going on, Beth Revis never forgets to keep us grounded in the setting, almost as if Godspeed itself is a character. As I was reading, I got such a clear picture of the cultural and physical landscape inside the ship—the sad, metal, pseudo sky; the fields with the genetically modified plants and animals; the weirdly complacent, mindless ship dwellers; the cryo level with its window into space, and everything else. I felt I could close my eyes and live inside that ship.
Racism and Monoethnicity. While ACROSS THE UNIVERSE deals with a different sort of racism than we usually face in the real world, it is nonetheless effective at pointing out one of the core problems of racism. On Godspeed, all the shipborn people (descended from those who volunteered to run the ship so the frozen crew would be ready for landfall) have, essentially, been bred to manifest similar physical characteristics. This means they all share the same skin tones, the same hair colors, the same eyes, etc. While part of this homogenization is unavoidable, since the number of humans is too low to avoid inbreeding, it has also been further implemented to prevent any sort of discord caused by differences. So, when Amy shows up, freshly awake from her popsicle slumber, with her red hair, green eyes, and pale skin, she is instantly labeled a freak and treated like a non-person.
The issue is not that she is different but that the people around her struggle to accept differences. In their minds, it would be much easier if she looked like them. And the fact that she doesn’t means there must be something wrong with her. At heart, we humans tend to want everyone to be the same as us—to look the same way, to think the same thoughts, to enjoy the same experiences. And, even with exposure, we tend to have trouble accepting those who don’t fit our criteria. If people like the shipborns have never been taught to understand and value the differences in others, it is unsurprising that they would dislike or be frightened by those differences. I love that this aspect of the book highlights how important it is to appreciate the way cultural and ethnical diversity makes the world a more vibrant, textured place to live.
Amy and Elder. I love their voices. They both have so much to add to the story, and I never found myself getting bored with either of them. Typically, I don’t get too excited about dual narratives because I usually up preferring one narrator over the other. I also tend to forget which person’s head I’m in if the characters’ voices sound too similar (and they often do), which can be frustrating. But that never happened with ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. Amy and Elder are distinct and interesting in their own ways, and I enjoyed their chapters equally. Also, to give you a little perspective, I read most of this book while I was functioning on one-and-a-half hours of sleep. So the fact that the story could hold my attention and keep me from being confused is saying a lot.
The Ending. No spoilers, don’t worry! Usually I find predictable stories a tiny bit disappointing, since I would like to be at least a tad surprised by the outcome. But while the ending to ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is rather predictable, it isn’t sloppy or weak. It just (at least to me) feels like the natural conclusion to the story, and any other ending wouldn’t seem right. So, while it’s possible Beth Revis could have maintained the mystery a little better, I was nonetheless satisfied with the novel’s conclusion.
Sensitive Elements. While I am giving this book five glowing stars, I do want to warn you that ACROSS THE UNIVERSE contains some mature content. A good portion of this book is set during the ship’s mating period, and I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it makes for a fascinating anthropological study, and it adds very well to the dystopian vibe. But, on the other hand, some of the scenes do get a little bit more descriptive than I would have liked, so be advised.
Also, just as a warning, if you have suffered as the victim of sexual assault, or you simply don’t like reading about that sort of thing, this book might not be for you. But, as I recently talked about how much I dislike the way rape/attempted rape is often used in certain stories, I did want to mention that Beth Revis handles these elements rather well, and I would like to applaud her for that.
All in all, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is a gorgeous book. It is both cozy and scary, and it contains many of the elements I look for in Science Fiction. It also reminds me a bit of THE GIVER (but only in the best ways). Basically, I love it to pieces, and you should go read it or we can’t be friends anymore.
What about you, my little coffee beans? Have you read this one? If so, what are your thoughts? What are some of your favorite Science Fiction novels/stories, if you have any?
