Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A Million Suns (Across the Universe #2) (YA)

A Million Suns (Across the Universe #2). Beth Revis. 2012. Penguin. 400 pages.

"This isn't going to be easy," I mutter, staring at the solid metal door that leads to the Engine Room on the Shipper Level of Godspeed.

A Million Suns is the sequel to Beth Revis' Across the Universe. It is narrated by Elder, the 'leader' of the space ship, Godspeed, and Amy, a young woman awakened too early from her frozen sleep. In this novel, Elder struggles with leading a ship; he discovers that it isn't easy to lead people who aren't drugged, that people have ideas of their own, that some people will do anything and everything to stir up trouble for him. Amy has struggles of her own. She misses her parents. She fears that the ship will never reach its destination and that she'll never see them again. She even thinks about disobeying Elder and awakening them before they arrive. But something always stops her from direct rebellion. She also struggles with something that almost happened in Across the Universe. She's still keeping that secret from Elder because she doesn't quite trust him not to abuse his power. And, as you might expect, she struggles with her feelings for Elder. Does she or doesn't she like him like that? Is she attracted to him because he's the only boy her own age who doesn't think she's a freak? Or would she still choose to be with him if there were dozens, hundreds, thousands of other guys to choose from?

A Million Suns is a compelling read. It definitely offers reader a mystery to solve. I recommend that you don't read too many reviews of this one or you might just guess too much. I happened to guess the big-big mystery of this one. I even guessed some of the smaller mysteries. And so it didn't offer me many surprises. I think if I'd not guessed, if everything had remained a mystery for a little bit longer, then I would have enjoyed this one just a little bit more.

While I'm not sure A Million Suns is a novel that will stay with me, it was a very good way to spend an afternoon. In some ways it reminded me of all the reasons I love to read science fiction. So even though I don't find this title the most amazing book I've ever read, I am glad to have read it.

Read A Million Suns
  • If you're a fan of science fiction, particularly if you like novels set in space on colony ships
  • If you're a fan of Across the Universe
  • If you're looking for science fiction with a little romance and a lot of drama
© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

1 comment:

Kailana said...

I didn't love the first book, but I did request the second from the library anyway...