Across the Universe by Beth Revis

I heard about this book from Caitlin at whatchYAreadin? Her review MADE me want to read this book, and I am glad I did. I don't generally like science-fiction, but I loved this story. The book is mystery and angst, friendship and betrayal. There are two main characters in the story, Amy and Elder.

Amy is a seventeen year-old american girl whose parents are chosen for a mission that will take them on a spaceship for a 300 year journey to another planet. She decides to go with them instead of living without them. When each of the family members were prep'ed for freezing, it was so detailed and well written that it was easy to picture exactly what was going on and feel the characters' emotions. After Amy is frozen, she realises that while her body is inanimate, her mind is buzzing with activity and she is petrified.

"Even when you are silent, even when you block out all noise, your body is still a cacophony of life. Mine is not. It is the silence that drives me mad. The silence that drives the nightmares to me." ...
"And I want to scream. I want to throw open my eyes and wake up and not be alone with myself anymore, but I can't. I can't."

The next main character is Elder, named because he will be the eldest person of his generation and he will rule the ship as the Eldest. He is trained by the current Eldest to be a leader, but his curiousity allows the secrets of the ship to unfold. There is a murderer on the loose, and it is easy to deduce who it is from the first few chapters, but the 'why' was told in installments. There are many secrets aboard the ship - who are the Elder's parents? How and why do the people act the way they do? What happened in the Plague? When will the ship land? - and the writer releases secret after secret during the course of the story to capture anyone's attention.

All in all, it was a fantastic read, one I would HIGHLY recommend.