Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

FULL DISCUSSION for Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Discuss the book fully, but tag spoilers.
how-to-spoiler: < spoiler > Words go here < /spoiler > (remove spaces)
Suggested Discussion Points
Do you like the characters?
What questions/ thoughts did the book elicit for you?
What rating do you give this book?
What are your compliments and criticisms for the author?
Will you read more books in this trilogy?

Share your spoiler-free first thoughts here:
/topic/show/...

I am at the half-way point and the story is okay so far. It take a while to get to the romance if that is the primary reason you are picking up the book. ... But then it took a turn: (view spoiler)[Hitler is inspiring the ship's invented government! (hide spoiler)]. I'm not sure where this is going but it bumps up the stakes for sure.

I'm not very far...page 30 only. But so far it's reminding me a lot of The Giver with the whole Elder/Eldest system and everyone being the same, no different races or languages or religions or what have you.

I’m about a third in and enjoying it. That whole section with Amy (view spoiler)[ in the cryotube awake was quite horrifying. Pretty much my worst nightmare (hide spoiler)]

I'm not quite halfway through. I'm enjoying it as well. And I agree that the beginning section with Amy is definitely horrifying. I don't even want to imagine what that would have been like for her.
I'm feeling pretty intrigued now by everything. Plus, what's this "Plague"? Like, was it really a plague from long ago or something else? My money is on the something else.
Also, really not liking Eldest. And am intrigued by Orion. Need more from him.

Yes! More about Orion.

I’m at chapter 43 and (trigger warning): (view spoiler)[rape (hide spoiler)], which I’m a bit upset about showing up in a YA novel of this sort. I’m not sure there’s anything to be learned from it’s appearance in this book. I will wait and see.

@DivaDiane- It think that moment (view spoiler)[signals a shift tone through the rest of the book. Though I agree it may not have been fully necessary. (hide spoiler)]

One good thing is that most of the world-building questions do get answered by the end of the book. .. So keep reading @Jennifer

For the most part I very much enjoyed it. I felt it was a fairly realistic imagining of what several things would be like preparing for a trip to Alpha Centauri and the journey there on a generation ship. There were a lot of things going on and a lot of things that did not go right or as planned, which the author cleverly used to create tension and suspense.

There is plenty which is quite horrific actually, especially one “event� (CW: (view spoiler)[about halfway through there is a sexual assault which narrowly missed become rape (hide spoiler)]), which in hindsight is completely unnecessary and I can see nothing that was to be learned from it, except maybe to show how messed up ship inhabitants had become. It just seemed sensationalist.

Aside from that, there were truly shocking events, but they made more sense to the whole.

There are sequels apparently, and I think I would like to read them.

I listened to the audio book, which is narrated by a woman and a man for the two POV characters. The woman was better than the man, but he did improve as we moved through the novel. All in all, I thought it was a well-done audiobook.

My husband is a nuclear engineer and while the who bit about the nuclear engine and its issues sounded plausible, especially given it’s probably an extrapolation of what we have now, I’m going to have my husband listen to it and assess whether it makes sense or not from a technical standpoint.

I'm almost finished. I have about 50 pages left. I know it's part of a series, but...does this first book have a mostly complete ending, i.e. no cliffhanger?

It mostly sums things up but then start new threads to hook you into the next book.

I think it wraps things up satisfactorily. I mean, you know their stories carry on but it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger at all.

@DivaDiane, I will be interested in your husband's report. I rarely judge the science validity. (I'm kind of a lazy reader in that regard.) But I do like to know things.

I overall liked the book. The mid book shift I felt was well foreshadowed and fit the story decently well. My biggest complaint (and why I didn't rate the book higher is (view spoiler)[how young and immature the female MC reads. I suppose it could just be because she was privileged and sheltered, but she annoyed me a bit ... actually Elder did too. But I mean IRL teenagers annoy me also, so there's that. (hide spoiler)]

I also intent to continue the series, but I don't like it so much that I have to run through the series right now. It can be on a backburner till I'm in the mood for it.