Across the Universe (Across the Universe #1) by Beth Revis

Title: Across the Universe (Across the Universe, #1)
Author: Beth Revis
Publisher: Razorbill
Length: 398 pages, Hardcover 
Release Date: 01/11/11
Rating: 3 stars

Summary on Goodreads:
A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

I am just finally starting this series based on all the good reviews I have seen out in the blogging world. Amy and her family are frozen and placed aboard Godspeed to be taken to a new planet where her mother and father are to be critical components of the new planet. Amy is unfrozen fifty years early, almost dying in the process. Godspeed is run, maintenance, and inhabited by a group of interesting individuals. Society on-board this ship is quite different than what Amy was used to back on Mother Earth. First off, everyone looks almost the same, there are specific mating seasons, and society is run by Eldest. Eldest does have an underling, Elder, who is to run the ship when Eldest dies. Eldest is not a big fan of Amy yet Elder is falling in love with her.
Amy starts to investigate the other frozen shipmates and why some are being unplugged early left to die. With Elder’s help, Amy does what she can to figure out who is killing off the frozen and why they are being killed off, all while trying to protect her parents from that fate.

The main idea behind Across the Universe was really intriguing, trying to start a new world with key people, while having “maintenance” people onboard to protect the frozen.  The story has lots of potential and I do plan to read the rest of the series.   While I find the mating season very odd and a bit uncomfortable, the society aboard the ship is interesting and the hidden secrets make a good explanation of the society’s actions. 
The characters lack some depth, I was not really a fan of how quickly Elder fell in love with Amy. The love story between them is definitely not one of my favorites, their relationship seems forced.  The dystopian society aspects of the book are promising yet some of them are a bit common like chemicals in the water.   The book was a solid 3 stars, the premise was entertaining and intriguing but I wish for more character development, a more kick a** Amy, and less cliché love story.