FORM: eBook
SERIES: Across the Universe
SYNOPSIS: A few months have passed since the people of Godspeed were awakened from their drug-hazed stupor. Some are very happy with the new way of living, others long for the stupor, and others feel that it is time the ship was lead by someone new. Discord begins among the people. Elder has decided it is time to figure out what is wrong with the ship, and get the whole mission back on track for landing on Sol Earth, but what he discovers is that Eldest wasn’t keeping just one secret from the people of Godspeed, but layers upon layers of secrets.
REVIEW: The concept of this book, traveling through space on a ship that supplies all your needs, to a new planet – one that is not destroyed by our constant sucking of its resources. Fun idea. I enjoyed Across the Universe quite a bit. A Million Suns picks up a couple of months after Across the Universe, and things are chaos from the beginning. The book starts out with more secrets revealed, and more and more and more just pile on throughout the entire book.
The story line is the biggest “catch all” about the book. The first few chapters were written rather soap opera like, reveal some huge piece of information and then “commercial break” over to the other narrative – leaving us having to read through to find out what happens next. Very clever! I loved the scavenger hunt, and the discovery of all the…secrets of the ship. I enjoyed the mystery too, trying to figure out who on the ship could be trusted, and who was causing all of the discourse. On that note though, I felt like Luther was a little too conveniently dealt with. He was a lurking danger that never really came to fruition, in my opinion.
My biggest disappointments of the book were in the characters. Both Elder and Amy have not fulfilled any of my expectations. While there should be discourse and chaos, I was expecting a leader. While Elder did have potential, he really just didn’t take the initiative. He let (bad) things get done in his name, with a little bit of protesting, but not near enough. More than anything, it seemed like he complained about all the things he was doing, and sulked about everything that wasn’t being done – hello, it’s called delegation. The only thing he really “let go” of as a leader was the creation of a police force. When he discovered people weren’t working, he didn’t do anything to rally them up – he just let the rebellion build. When he found out the Doc was handing out patches left and right, he just shrugs his shoulders and walks away. He knocks people out of their stupor (which agreeably, they shouldn’t have been in, in the first place) but he does nothing to maintain status quo. Of course they are not going to wake up from being controlled and manipulated and be willing to just keep on doing what they were doing as if they were still under mind control – that is obvious! Amy, on the other hand, was no help at all. I liked her in Across the Universe, but here she has turned into a whiney baby. I think in almost every single scene in which she and Elder were together she got upset and threw a temper tantrum, and quite honestly refused to listen to reason. I was done with her about half way through.
So my hope for the future (book)? That they grow up! Both Amy and Elder need to realize that their decisions effect everybody, not just themselves. It’s not about wants, it’s about what is best.
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