Across the Universe

Across the Universe
By Beth Revis
Penguin, 2011. 398 pages. Science Fiction

Along with her parents, seventeen-year-old Amy is cryogenically frozen for a 300-year journey across space. During her long sleep, dramatic changes aboard the immense spaceship carrying the colonists threaten the entire mission to Alpha Centauri and result in Amy being unfrozen ahead of schedule. A single tyrannical leader, Eldest, controls life on the spaceship. Amy must protect her parents and all the other frozen colonists from being prematurely awakened or killed. She and her only peer on the ship, Elder, challenge the authority and vision of Eldest.

Gripping and with many plot twists and turns, Across the Universe portrays a claustrophobic dystopia hurtling across space. Some details about the behaviors of the inhabitants of the spaceship make this a choice for older teens and adults. SH