Across the Universe by Beth Revis

No, not this Across the Universe, although, that was one wicked awesome movie.  I was thinking more of this Across the Universe:

I'm not sure why I didn't read this book any earlier because it was awesome.  I almost picked it up numerous amounts of times and almost got it yet again at Breathless Reads in February, but I didn't.  I was convinced that I was a No Dystopian kind of person.  I think I Am Legend--remember that movie?--kind of spoiled the wonder of it for me.  Though, I was a youngin then that was scared of everything that went bump in the night.  But I think what really convinced me to pick up this book and read it was Beth Revis when I met her at Breathless Reads.  She's amazing, you guys.  She loves violence and killing off a whole bunch of people, but also those tender and heartfelt smooching scenes that makes your heart swoon and your mind sigh.  I may not be a romantic, but I sure enjoy having those brief moments of it in books.  I think they really do make a YA book.  They make it whole.  And just between you and me, I'm a hopeless romantic deep down.  Might as well tell you guys this now.

So overall, it was the hilarious and completely mad scientist-like Beth Revis that convinced me that I should read Across the Universe before I die.

The Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.
Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.
Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

My Thoughts:

I loved Amy.  She was tough as nails and didn't take any crap from anyone, including the most powerful person on the ship, Eldest.  She never really broke down, no matter how upset she was.  I really admired that about her personality.  She hated it on board Godspeed because it wasn't Earth.  It wasn't freedom.  Everything was artificial, including the people.  Lies were tangled around every thought and hung like a dark cloud of doom to Amy.  And she wasn't about to sit back and take it all; she was going to find out the truth, no matter what people thought of her: crazy, different, slow, unwanted, a freak.  I was applauding her every step of the way.  And honestly, if I were her, I probably would have cried like a little baby 90 percent of the day and then stuffed my face with as much space chocolate I could find.  Though, they don't have any chocolate or candy, for that matter, and I think that 90 would be a 100 instead.

Elder wasn't exactly my favorite swoon-worthy man, but I really liked his character, too.  He was different in my eyes as Amy is in his.  I surely don't agree with everything he did.  Sometimes, I really wanted to punch him in the face because he was being such a stupid space monkey butt.  I'm not kidding.  It was infuriating, and the biggest problem I thought was that Amy and Elder never really communicated.  They never really talked about their feelings and their ideas, because most of times either Elder was busy or being a jerk or Amy was storming off.  I was practically pulling my hair out throughout the book.

AND THEN THEY KISSED.

And I died.  Not literally, of course, but I thought it was sweet and the hopeless romantic in me was squeeing like a little girl.  It was perfect in every sense and it reminded me of that one Taylor Swift song, I believe, if my memory doesn't fail me here.

The overall story?  It was awesomesauce.  There were so many surprises and plot twists and loops, it hurt my head.  In all of my creative mind, I could not ever in my wildest dreams come up with all she did.  I thought it would go one way, but no, Beth Revis wanted it to skip ten billion feet and do a backwards flip over there. 

It was a fascinating read that kept me hooked on every page.  It was dripping with action and betrayal and awesomeness.  If I review any more, I'm bound to spoil something, and like my blog promises, I do not spoil.  So, there will be no spoils since I'm closing the review here.  If you haven't read Across the Universe, I suggest you do.  Overall, this lovely gets four out of five stars from me.  This could be because of my reluctance towards dystopians, but I feel as if it was missing just that extra wow factor to it.  Don't get me wrong, there was plenty wow to it, but it's not quite there yet.

And because I'm such a romantic here you go!  This is because I love The Beetles, Jim Sturgess, this song, this movie, and love--duh.

And that's it for my Across the Universe review! Up next, A Million Suns by Beth Revis--oh, yeah!