Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Reviewed by Lori
Across The Universe
Title: Across the Universe

Series: Across the Universe (Vol. 1)

Author: Beth Revis

Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 49097

Description: Seventeen-year-old Amy awakes from frozen animation to find herself hundreds of years in the future and racing to save herself and the inhabitants of the spaceship Godspeed.

Rubric Rating: Level 3 - Laud It

Why I Read It: I have been reading a lot of dystopian titles and was looking for something a little different.

Lori's Notes: Amy is cryogenically frozen, along with her parents and a few hundred scientists and technicians, to travel to Centauri-Earth to start a colonization project.  A trip that should take 300 years. But something has gone wrong - someone is unplugging and killing people.  Amy survives and meets Elder, the next leader of the ship GodSpeed.  Elder is being taught by Eldest to lead the now monoethnic inhabitants of the ship. But who is the strange man who looks so much like Elder and who is unplugging the frozen people from Sol-Earth.   A dystopian set in space this book was an interesting read.

Recommended Readers: Grade 9 and Up.  Because of the dual perspective between Amy and Elder this book would be good for either boys or girls.

Themes: Space, Family, Isolation, Dystopia, Murder, Mystery, Cryogenics, Recolonization Projects.

Cross-Genre Links: 
Movie: Lost In Space (1998)
Movie: Wall-E
Music: Across the Universe performed by The Beatles
Search: Cryogenics

Post Reading Discussion Questions and Activities: 

  • Who are Elder and Eldest?  
  • What has led the inhabitants of GodSpeed to become Monoethnic and what does that mean?  How does this isolate Amy?
  • Why was Amy unplugged and how does she survive?
  • Create a deck plan of the ship GodSpeed.  Include multiple levels.
  • How long do you think the GodSpeed has been travelling? What makes you think so?

Other Books in this Series:
Book 2: A Million Suns
Book 3: Shades of Earth


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