Amy was cryogenically frozen along with her parents so that she could be among the first settlers on a new planet. Elder is the next leader of the ship, Godspeed, that will take her there. Everyone is happy on Godspeed, except for those who are crazy. But is this paradise everything that it seems to be?
I think the premise of this novel had the possibility of being great, but it fell short of that potential. Way short.
There are a ton of tiny plots in Across the Universe, which would be fine if they were treated properly. Half of the plots are pointless and have no resolution or are empty. The other half point towards the ending and were so obvious they might as well have been written in neon. I don’t know why so many YA books seem to talk down to their readers, like we won’t catch on to something unless it’s repeated a thousand times. YA readers aren’t idiots, and a lot of us want to be surprised. Try some subtlety please.
I also have a huge issue with Amy’s characterization. Let’s just say something pretty darn huge happens to her (a couple things actually) that would drive most people insane. Amy, apparently, has no mental scarring whatsoever. Really? Then why even have these things happen to her? What was the point?!
And this is what I found myself thinking through most of this book: what is the point of this? It’s not something you want to be thinking while reading any book. By the end of the book, I was just glad it was over, and I was sad by the wasted potential. It sucks when you see excellent ideas go bad because they simply weren’t planned all the way through.
Books with similar aspects
Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
recommended to people who like space?
not recommended to people who don’t like answers shoved at them
Don’t just take my word for it!
“Ultimately, Across the Universe is not as compelling, exciting or romantic as it is painted out to be. Teen readers looking for a hint of sci-fi with their romance will enjoy Elder and Amy’s shy courtship.” Angel @ Mermaid Visions
“Across the Universe is definitely a page turner.” – Kyle @ A Reader’s Pensieve
coffeeandwizards 
Aw, I’m bummed you didn’t like it! I thought it was pretty fun, although the idea of being cryogenically frozen really skeeves me out. Gross!
I’m glad you still reviewed the book even though you didn’t like it too much. I think it’s really fascinating how people’s reading tastes differ. I, for one, put down Anna and the French Kiss a quarter of the way through, but everyone who has read it LOVES it. To each their own, I guess.
Yeah Anna and the French Kiss is one of my favourite books ever. It is funny how much reading tastes can differ.
That sucks. I hate having all these expectations for a book and then having it fall short.
My co-blogger, Allison, loved Across The Universe. So, I think I’m still going to check it out! 🙂
I hope you’ll enjoy it more than I did! There were some great aspects, but the bad outweighed the good for me.
Yes Yes Yes. I thought I was the only one who didn’t care for this book. Amy drove me nuts. I found she had no strength of her own and very few original thoughts and because of that I didn’t really care about what happened to her. Definitely not the attitude you want readers to have towards your protagonist.
So glad I’m not alone ❤
I found the novel to be a page turner and liked the twist ending, but I agree it does talk down (or “spoon feed”) the reader, which bothered me. I do wonder if it would be the same if it wasn’t YA.
Jess
Books and Sensibility
It’s probably more an author to author thing than the genre, I guess. I mean, J. K. Rowling definitely did not spoon feed us, and the Harry Potter books started out as children’s/middle-grade. But I’m finding I’m noticing the “spoon feeding” more and more often in YA fiction, though I don’t read a lot outside of YA to be able to compare.
I have to read this for my grad class on dystopian/science fiction this summer. I was kind of excited about the premise, and having a book take place in space. We’ll see if I like it, and I’ll definitely have to do a post about what my class/professor says about the book. I’m always curious why books make the class text list versus other books.
Lauren @ Hughes Reviews
That sounds like the coolest course ever. I suddenly want to become a grad student, or better yet an English professor!!!
I felt the same way you did. A LOT of people really liked this one, but I just wasn’t feeling it. It felt underdeveloped to me on several levels but I’d recommend it as an introduction to the science fiction genre book. I felt like I was too old (and picky?) for it or something…
My feelings exactly.