Book Review: A Million Suns

Godspeed was once fueled by lies. Now it is ruled by chaos. 

It’s been three months since Amy was unplugged. The life she always knew is over. Everywhere she looks, she sees the walls of the spaceship Godspeed.

But there may be hope: Elder has assumed leadership of the ship. He's finally free to act on his vision—no more Phydus, no more lies.

But when Elder learns shocking news about the ship, he and Amy race to discover the truth behind life on Godspeed. They must work together to unlock a mystery that was set in motion hundreds of years earlier. Their success—or failure—will determine the fate of the 2,298 passengers aboard Godspeed. But with each step, the journey becomes more perilous, the ship more chaotic, and the love between them more impossible to fight.

Why I read it: I read Across the Universe last summer and really enjoyed it, so I had to read this sequel.

What I liked: Like Across the Universe, this was a story with a great plot, full of twists. I enjoyed how Beth Revis managed to reveal even more secrets inside this story. Throughout the whole book she hinted at one big secret and I was so worried that it would be a letdown, but then when I finally read it I was definitely shocked. So, kudos to Revis for the excellent plot.

I also loved the characterization. Amy was a wonderful female protagonist, and I loved how she wasn’t dependent on Elder, but she didn’t just shove him aside out of a desire to be falsely independent. I thought her romance with Elder was really realistic. And as for Elder… he was fantastic in this book. I loved all the curveballs Revis threw in his way, and the way Elder handled them was perfect. He made some good choices and some bad ones, and he had to work through a lot of what it meant to be a leader. Basically, I loved Elder’s character in this book.

What I disliked: There wasn’t anything big I disliked about this book, but there were some small things. First off, the ‘bad guy’ at the end was a little predictable, simply because there were so few characters in the story that it had to be a specific person. Also, while I did enjoy the plot, it never got to that frantic page-turning stage like in The Hunger Games (still, I read the book in about a day, so it was definitely interesting enough). In short, maybe the book could have been a bit better, but that’s just being nitpicky.

From a Christian perspective: In terms of questionable content, this story was a lot cleaner than Across the Universe. There’s basically no sexual content, other than frequent references to an attempted rape. The replacement swearword “frex” was used frequently. As for religion and the beliefs of the characters, Revis steers far clear of that; as far as I remember, no character mentions anything that could be called religious.

To buy or not to buy: All in all, I think I enjoyed this book more than Across the Universe, which has made me excited enough about the trilogy to want to add it to my collection. For fans of dystopia, sci-fi, or mystery, this trilogy is a must-read. 

Book Review: Across the Universe

by Beth Revis

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.

Why I read it: Why wouldn’t I read this book? It’s got a space ship, a dystopian atmosphere, a murder mystery… This is totally the sort of book I love.

What I liked: There’s so much I liked about this story, so I’ll just list a couple of the main things. First of all, the plot. The ideas are all fascinating, and Revis weaves them together into a story that fits perfectly at the end. I loved all the twists and turns. It felt like a murder mystery in that way, with a list of suspects that you can never quite trust. You never knew who to believe. There were a couple fantastic twists at the end that I didn’t see coming.

Also, Revis’s writing is quite good. The first chapter, where Amy and her parents are frozen for the trip, literally had me squirming, it was that intense. Her writing never comes across as overdone, yet it gave me a vivid picture of the ship and everyone on it. The characterization was well done and the alternating viewpoints between Amy and Elder worked better than I expected. There was only once or twice where I couldn’t immediately tell who it was (without looking at the chapter heading.)

What I disliked: The beginning was a little slow. While the first chapter was super intense, the next fifty pages were basically Amy sitting in her frozen chamber and Elder getting annoyed because Eldest wouldn’t tell him anything. While the pace picks up after Amy’s unfrozen, even then it takes a little while to get going. In fact, it wasn’t until the last hundred pages that this book became a real page-turner.

Though I really liked the ending and it all made sense, there were a couple little things that didn’t seem realistic. Maybe it was the fact that I was reading it at midnight, but still… It would have been nicer if there were a few more clues scattered throughout the book. And then there was one minor plot point introduced in the very first chapter that seemed vitally important, and yet it never surfaced again. Perhaps the author plans to bring it in to a later book, but if not it just seems like false set-up.

From a Christian Perspective: This book ranks a lot lower than I thought it was going to. While the swearing is all using the made-up word ‘Frex’ there’s a fair amount of sexual content. The first time Elder seems Amy, she’s naked and he can’t help fantasizing about her breasts. It’s mentioned several times that Amy had sex with a boyfriend back on earth. At one point Amy is nearly gang-raped. Also, the book takes place during ‘The Season’ on the ship, meaning that everyone is busy having sex in public. Though this disgusts Amy (who wears a cross necklace and claims to be Christian) I still felt it was a little unnecessary.

To buy or not to buy: I’m not sure if I’ll buy this book. I did quite enjoy it, but I’m not sure if I’d read it again. I think there is a sequel, though, which I’ll most certainly be reading. 

First-Impression Friday: Across the Universe

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.

Title: The title Across the Universe certainly isn’t bad. It immediately gives you the idea that this story is Sci-fi and probably takes place on a spaceship. While I think it’s not really that interesting, it gives a great feel for the story.

Cover: So many people have said they absolutely loved the cover, but it wasn’t until I actually got the book in my hands that I saw why. I never understood why it had the random squiggly pink stuff… then when I actually go the book I saw that it’s the black part that’s important. I’m so blind… Anyways, I think this cover is really original and inventive, as well as fitting the book perfectly.

Pitch: First off, I’ve always loved the idea of freezing people to make a long universe-crossing adventure. Then having the main character wake up fifty years early was genius, especially since her parents are still ‘sleeping,’ so whenever they wake up she’ll be older than them. And the idea that it wasn’t just an accident that she woke up, that someone tried to murder her… This is an excellent premise.

First Sentence: Daddy said, “Let Mom go first.”

This isn’t bad, but I’m not sure it’s as strong as it could be. It gives me a question, ‘Go first in what? Why does he want Mom to go first?’ but it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with them travelling across the universe. It does nicely start in the middle of things, though.

First Chapter: This was one great first chapter. Amy and her parents are getting frozen, so Beth Revis describes the process in detail. Her writing is so descriptive that I was squirming through the whole chapter. So early on in the book Amy’s given a terrible choice, which lets us know so much about her as a person. We’re also given a tantalizing tidbit that should hopefully become a major plot point in the story.

Overall: I can’t think of anything I really don’t like about the packaging of this story. Maybe the title could ‘pop’ just a little more, but aside from that everything’s great. 

Catch-up Read-A-Thon Signup

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Catch-Up Read-a-Thon, hosted by Keegan Shayne from Blabbing Books and Elanor Lawrence from Elanor Lawrence. This is our first Read-a-Thon, so we're super excited to be hosting it.

The Catch-Up Read-a-Thon will run from August 13 to September the 3rd, giving you plenty of time to 'catch up' on your reading and hopefully make a sizable dent in your TBR pile. This is also a great time to finish up any summer reads before school starts again.

To join the Read-a-Thon, please enter your name into the link below. Then follow both Elanor Lawrence and Blabbing Books so that you can receive updates reminding you of when the contest is coming up. It would be wonderful if you all could spread the word via twitter, facebook, your blog, Goodreads... anywhere you can think of. Of course, you want to spread the love of reading. And the more entries we get, the more prizes we'll add.

Because yes, there will be prizes! Each week everyone who participates by posting a progress report on their blog/twitter/tumblr will be entered to win a swag pack from our three sponsoring authors. These wonderful women are:

1. Terra Lyn Childs (Forgive My Fins and Fins are Forever)
2. Elana Johnson (Possession)
3. Beth Revis (Across the Universe)

Also, we will both be running individual contests on our own blogs, so make sure to follow them both!


From Elanor:
1) Two Handmade Seaglass Pendants
2) One Query critique

From Keegan:
1) Three Custom Blog Layouts
2) Three Mini-interviews on the blog

The more you participate in the Read-a-Thon, the more prizes you'll be eligible for. For now, add your name to the linky below, follow both Blabbing Books and Elanor Lawrence, and (most importantly) start gathering a sizeable TBR pile. You'll need it in August!

If you are participating, please add your name in the link at the bottom of the post. The put this image in your side bar and link it back to this post to show your support. More information on progress posts, books and prizes will be given closer to the starting date. We hope to see you in August! :)