Across the Universe

2 articles tagged as Across the Universe

Inside Out, by Maria V. Snyder

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

(Summary from GoodReads)

Keep Your Head Down. Don’t Get Noticed. Or Else.

I’m Trella. I’m a scrub. A nobody. One of thousands who work the lower levels, keeping Inside clean for the Uppers. I’ve got one friend, do my job and try to avoid the Pop Cops. So what if I occasionally use the pipes to sneak around the Upper levels? The only neck at risk is my own…until I accidentally start a rebellion and become the go-to girl to lead a revolution.

I’m a big fan of Maria V. Snyder. I loved the Study Series and was a bit shocked when I learned about this series because the worlds are so very different. Whereas the world in the Study Series lives in the realm of fantasy books, Inside Out is more in line with sci-fi. Despite the different genres, Snyder has succeeded yet again in creating a rich world full of characters you quickly fall in love with.

The book is pretty faced-paced. I read it in one weekend. Had I not been in the middle of a move, I probably would have read it in one sitting. Right from the beginning of the book, you sense the urgency of the story as Trella wakes up to the rush of water and only just escapes the pipe she was sleeping in. And from then on, the movement of the book continues. Although the setting is more or less static – a giant metal structure with thousands of people enclosed inside – you never feel that the narration is constrained.

The world of Inside that Snyder has created is intriguing and very detailed, not that I would expect anything less from her. She manages to turn this small world into a complex system, turning something as mundane as the pipe system into a key feature of the environment.

Her characters are also complex and interesting, each with their own series of flaws, including Trella who not only has many flaws, but comes to understand them and grow as the story progresses. And laced through it all are series of betrayals, but you cannot hold them against the characters because once you understand the motivation behind their betrayals, you realize that they are only human, acting as any human would. Snyder’s ability to make her characters human is one of the things I most enjoy about her books and I think she shows growth as a writer in this area when compared to the Study series (not that the Study series was lacking in this department).

While on the subject of character, Inside Out is told in first person, and I’d say that Snyder has done an excellent job capturing the voice of Trella. I really felt I knew who she was and nothing sounded out of place. If looking for a good example of first person narration, you should definitely give this book a read.

My only complaint, a complaint I have with a lot of books, is that elements of the ending became a bit confusing. Fight scenes prove time and time again to be difficult to write. But with this being the only real weakness of the book, I’d say Maria V. Snyder has created a successful, well-written book definitely worth reading.

As a side note, Inside Out had some similarities with Across the Universe. If you enjoyed Across the Universe, you should give Inside Out a read. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Across the Universe, by Beth Revis

Rating: 3 out of 5

Amy, 17, is cryogenically frozen so that she can join her parents on a special mission to a new planet, one that will take 300 years to get to. 50 years prior to their scheduled landing, Amy’s cryo chamber is unplugged. Not only does she almost die, but she is now stuck on the ship, unfrozen and an outsider. When additional ‘frozens’ are found unplugged, Amy teams up with Elder, next in line to rule, to find out what’s going on before anyone else, including her parents, dies.

There was a lot of hype leading up to the release of this book, and I was incredibly excited about it. The concept alone was enough to make me rush out and buy it. But as I started reading it, I found my excitement ebbing.

The story is well-developed and the world is richly described and convincing. I guessed at some of the twists, but the majority of them came about in unexpected ways and with unexpected consequences. The one element that took away from the story was the use of voice.

Across the Universe is told in first person, but split between two narrators – Amy and Elder. I did not feel that either voice was developed enough for me to easily identify the speaker. I had to keep flipping back to the beginning of the chapter to see who was telling the story and I even thought Elder was a female for several pages into his first chapter. I’ve read other books where first person narration is split among two characters. For this to work, the voices need to be very well-developed (check out Leviathan for an excellent example). Because this fell short for me, it took away from the story. I kept getting distracted, trying to remember who was talking.

Despite my issues with voice, I thought the story was original and intriguing. Not only does Revis tell a good story, but she alludes to some deeper issues that make you think. I can see several English class/book club discussions coming out of this book.

Do I think you should give this book a shot? Yes. It’s worth the read.