A space-aged whodunit, Across the Universe tells the story of a boy, Elder, learning to become the successor of the leader of an interstellar spaceship, and a girl, Amy, accidentally unfrozen from her cryogenic sleep.

The spaceship Godspeed is on a centuries-long voyage to an Earth-like planet, dubbed Centauri-Earth. Her passengers exist in a peaceful Utopia, living their lives in a structured environment, unquestioning the faux reality around them.

The path of the characters in this novel, especially Elder, detour the day that Amy awakes from her frozen state. Her perspective, though hundreds of years-old, gives way to new thoughts and revelations in Elder, who begins to question the authority. The two rely on each other to get to bottom of who is responsible for her unplugging, as well as a series of murder and attempted cryo-murders.

I was surprised to find that this novel adopts the split perspective technique, alternating between the two primary characters as each chapter begins. The previous book I read as part of this giveaway, Future of Us, also used this format. Having never read a novel written in this fashion, it is very strange that I have now read 2 in a row utilizing this style.

While I found it difficult to identify with either character directly, one being a teenage girl who left a life on Earth behind, the other a teenage boy being groomed to lead a small pocket of humanity, I did find it easy to imagine their circumstances. I have an understanding of cryogenics (being a fan of Futurama, and Red Sox great Ted Williams) and space travel (Star Trek), and given the nature of man and the power that can be grasped, Across the Universe was a fairly interesting read.

Imagining an entire world within the confines of a ship, along with rules and reasons, has to be a difficult task when writing a book. The author Beth Revis did a wonderful job of painting a mental picture of this lifeboat in the stars. A great deal of suspense exists within the pages of Across the Universe, enough to keep the sci-fi reader wanting to find out what happens next. It is not as much of a love story as advertised, given the book jacket, however that was quickly resolved by reversing it, yielding a blueprint of Godspeed.

Across the Universe may not be a re-read for my book shelf, but I am generally happy with the amount of imagination I expelled in building this world. I would recommend this book to a late teen who is interested in science fiction.

‘The Future of Us’ is clearly a book aimed at teens, especially ones who live and die by Facebook. While I was an early subscriber to the website, (May 2006, back when you needed a post-secondary email address to sign on) it has never ruled my life, or influenced my actions. For today’s teenager, I imagine that the insight into people’s lives and relationships is continually on one’s mind; much like how Emma’s actions would ripple her own timeline. ‘The Future of Us’ is a neat idea, and who among us wouldn’t want to check out our Facebook profiles 15 years into the future? Aside from the imaginative premise, however, little regard was given to explaining why these kids had access to the future internet, and there was never any danger in their secret being discovered.

The book was very easy to get through by use of short chapters, alternating the point-of-view between the two lead characters, Emma and Josh. I’ve never read anything which jumped back and forth between character perspectives before, which was a nice change. However, this advanced reader’s copy did not inspire many ‘what-happens-next’ thoughts, and the ending was very predictable.

If you’re an adult, skip this one and leave it for the teens; while you may identify with the Facebook element, let the teenagers be the ones to Like it.

-Corey Fischer