Allison: A Million Suns | Beth Revis | Book Review

When I read Across The Universe by Beth Revis over a year ago, I absolutely LOVED it. The proof of this can be found here in my review. Unfortunately, it took me a little bit of time to get around to reading the second book in the series, A Million Suns. But after a brief re-read of Across the Universe, I quickly found myself re-falling in love with the characters, the world, and the story, and couldn’t wait to get right into the second book.

**Minor spoilers for A Million Suns ahead: Don’t read if you prefer not to be spoiled. Or just read my review of the first book Across The Universe**

A Million Suns picks up shortly after the ending of Across The Universe but still things are quite different. Amy and Elder have both have a little bit of time to adjust to the way that things are. Amy has had time to adjust to being aboard the ship and being the strange one that everyone is continuously staring at. She really is doing a lot better after having had time to adjust to life about the ship. However, Elder is no longer the Elder that we knew in the past because he is now officially the ruler over Godspeed. This is both a good and a bad thing as he is filled with many good ideas of making Godspeed a better place but as good as his ideas are he has absolutely no idea how to implement them. Also, he is the youngest person to ever run the ship thus forcing the others to view him as being completely unqualified.

Amy and Elder bump heads a lot in this story. They are still uncertain as to how they feel about each other and there are secrets between them, which they are keeping from each other because they think that it is the right thing to do at the time but ultimately it of course only causes more problems. For example, Amy is sent on a scavenger hunt for a series of clues for a decision that apparently only she can make about Godspell. I know that this may sound a little confusing (it was a tad confusing at first reading it as well) but because she believes that she is the only one who can really make the final decision on the issue, she doesn’t tell Elder about the clues. Likewise, Elder doesn’t tell Amy about the struggles he is having with his decision making, and how the people aboard Godspell are truly threatening to revolt against him thus making him completely question himself. All these secrets lead to multiple moments of mis-trust and danger for the two characters which honestly made for some good reading!

Aside from reading about Amy and Elder, the thing I loved the most about reading A Million Suns was getting back into the world of Godspell. Seriously, I love the world building of Godspell. This time around Beth Revis reveals even more about ship and all of its secrets. There are more descriptions of the ship, and there is more exploration of its secretive levels which I absolutely loved. You even get this sense of claustrophobia which is so awesome. I mean, I don’t like feeling claustrophobic at all but if an author has the ability to create that sense through her writing style then it just simply AWESOME!  You did get this feeling in the first book as well but in the second book the tension is even more so that it feels that much more intense.

The main thing that causes all the tension in this story is all the twists and turns. I swear, every time I thought I had something figured out … it got all switched around again. At times it drove me nuts! But yet I couldn’t stop reading because I wanted to know exactly what was going to happen. The psychological and the sociological aspects of the story absolutely intrigued me. How far would this society go to survive? How far would the people go to survive? I just had to know what was going to happen. Even as things got worse, and more intense, I just kept reading waiting for answers to my questions regarding Godspell and those aboard the ship.

Just like Across the Universe, A Million Suns is an intense page-turner filled with moments that literally make you stop and go “WHAT THE FREX JUST HAPPENED?!?” I honestly cannot believe it took so long to read it, and I have a feeling that it will be one that will stay on my shelf as part of a trilogy that I will re-read more than one time in the future.

Disclosure: Gifted to me by April (and it’s SIGNED too).

Other reviews of A Million Suns by Beth Revis:

Written Words Worlds: “I’d give A Million Suns by Beth Revis a score of 8.5 out of 10…”

Forever Lost in Books: “When I started reading A Million Suns, it felt like I was coming home from a trip…”

Into the Hall of Books: “Even if you didn’t like the first book all that much, I think the series can redeem itself to you with A Million Suns…”

365 Days of Reading: “If you thought Across the Universe was exciting, just wait until you read A Million Suns. Your mind will be blown…“