Three months have passed since the action that took place in Across the Universe. Elder has assumed leadership of Godspeed and although Amy feels like the walls are closing in, she has hope that things will be better, especially since the Phydus drug has been banished from the ship and its people are no longer brainwashed.

But now that the ship’s residents are off of Phydus, they are violent and rebellious. It also turns out that there are still many secrets about the ship and its journey. Through it all the feelings between Amy and Elder build as they decipher clues about the ship’s mysteries.

Like in Across the Universe, A Million Suns alternates between Amy’s and Elder’s points-of-view, which I think is a good device that allows the reader to know what both are thinking and feeling. It gives the reader a fuller view of what is going on. Not too much time has passed, but enough that readers can immediately pick up on the changes on Godspeed. Dissent, laziness, and violence are rampant, causing decreases in the food supply and other materials. When murder is added to the mix, things really get out of control.

I was really impressed with A Million Suns. Across the Universe was really good and A Million Suns was even better. It is part murder mystery and part scavenger hunt. Clues were left specifically for Amy because she has known life both on Earth and on Godspeed. The first clues include literary quotes that added that extra “oomph” for me. In fact, the whole hunt for the clues really drove the story for me and they led to even more twists and “gasp” moments.

Elder had to grow up a lot in this book and although I really admired him, I was more focused on Amy and actions. I liked that Amy has very real emotions. I liked how she was not impenetrable. I liked that she did not try to force things with Elder even though they were the only ones their age on the ship.

There was a moment (my favorite) in chapter 34 when Amy was so bad ass that I would have cheered if the whole house was not sleeping. I was so proud of her.

Wow. A Million Suns is a very good young adult science fiction novel. I enjoyed it even more than the previous one and I am really looking forward to the conclusion next January.

Recommended for young adult readers sixteen and older, especially those who are already fans of Across the Universe. No blatant sexual content in this one, but there is implied rape and more violence (of the mob mentality type). No language - just the clever substitutes Beth Revis came up with.

Seventeen-year-old Amy Martin is about to embark on a journey that will take her to a whole new world. Literally.

Along with her parents, she is cryogenically frozen and placed upon the spaceship Godspeed with ninety-seven other frozen people from Earth. The ship is traveling to a new Earth-like planet on an exploratory mission and it will take three hundred years to get there - hence, the freezing.

But Amy is unfrozen fifty years too early, by an inhabitant of the ship intent on killing the frozens. Not only has she lost the chance to be with her parents again, but she also has a murder mystery on her hands that Elder, the sixteen-year-old future leader of the ship (and boy she develops complicated feelings for), may be involved in.

The first chapter of Across the Universe is horrifying. It is not that anything bad happens, but that the whole process described is just scary and nothing I would ever want to go through, except for maybe…maybe if I were in Amy’s position.

I feel like Across the Universe is very character-driven (which is not a bad thing) and I say that because I did not find myself taking many notes on the plot. I felt like this 2011 debut was all about introducing readers to the characters and life on the ship. There are a lot of characters, but only a few sentient ones that really drove the action: Elder, Eldest, Amy, Harley, Orion, and Doc. Elder is the indecisive, inexperienced future leader and Eldest is the tyrant who still manages to keep things from falling apart. Orion is the mysterious record-keeper and Doc is the doctor with no bedside manner. Harley is the creative artist with a different way of seeing the ship and he was probably the coolest and my favorite character. Amy is the one from Earth who sticks out like a sore thumb and who often came off as child-like despite her seventeen years.

As for the story, it was good. I really enjoyed it. There were a lot of twists that kept me on my toes as well as lots of horrifying revelations. It was like thing after thing happened or was revealed and just when I thought there could not possibly be anything else to throw me a loop, there was - and I loved it.

I really felt for Amy. Even though she seemed very young at times, she still handled herself rather well. I would probably have gone off my rocker if I were in her situation.

Across the Universe is the beginning of a twisty, mysterious, imaginative science fiction trilogy.

Recommended for those sixteen and older who enjoy young adult fiction, particularly science fiction and dystopia. There is a lot of sex in the book that is not super graphic but graphic enough. There is also attempted rape, some violence, and no language but in context it is not gratuitous. For mature readers. 

Tomorrow is Today is a prequel short story to Tempest. It was actually released over a month ago, but I had not heard about it until recently.

The story covers the period between 14 May 2009 and 8 June 2009 (Tempest begins in September 2009). It is set before Holly and Jackson get together. Holly is still with David. Adam and Jackson are just fooling around with Jackson’s time travel ability with little consequence. It is unclear how long they have been experimenting, but it seems to have not been long.

I really enjoyed this short story. It allowed me to dive back into the world of Tempest sooner than I thought I would. There are some bittersweet moments throughout it.

Tomorrow is Today also includes the first four chapters of Tempest and I agree with Julie Cross that readers should read those chapters before the short story because it will give you a sense of how the time travel works, whereas Tomorrow is Today does not.

Recommended for fans of Tempest!

2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer seems like the normal guy. He has a girlfriend, he goes to college, he volunteers at a summer camp…but he can also travel through time. Forget everything you know about time travel.

Jackson’s time jumps are harmless fun until scary strangers burst in on him and his girlfriend Holly in her dorm room and shoot her. Panicked, Jackson immediately jumps all the way to 2007…the furthest he has ever gone back. It is not like his other jumps. It feels differently and he is stuck. No matter what he does, he cannot get back to 2009.

He has no choice but to settle in and try to learn more about his abilities with a younger version of his best friend, Adam. Before long, the people who attacked Jackson and Holly come looking for him in 2007. Apparently, these Enemies of Time have similar abilities and want to recruit him or if he refused, kill him.

Another amazing book! Most of this book takes place in 2009 (Jackson’s present) and 2007, but other years are featured and they all give Jackson clues about where his ability came from. At first, when he jumps back, his body stays in the present, but it is out of commission. He and Adam term this a half jump. But when he jumps to 2007, all of him jumps. A full jump and the first he has experienced.

Admittedly, the first few chapters slightly bothered me. It was not the content, but the delivery. The story jumped around a lot, but then I took a minute staring at that word: jumped. And then I figured it was an appropriate feel for the book because Jackson jumps around in time. And honestly, after I had that epiphany, it was no longer an issue. It might have even remedied itself, but I was so absorbed in the story that I did not notice.

Tempest pulled me in more and more with the time travel, conspiracy theories, and CIA involvement as well as the wonderful cast of characters.

My exact thoughts and emotions when I finished reading this book?

Whoa. Wow. Sad. Amazing. Heartbreaking. Satisfying. Grief. Hope.

Tempest quickly went from a book I was not sure about to one that I love. It is another early book on my personal best of 2012 list. There is so much to this book and a lot of it should be confusing, but it instead makes perfect sense.

Recommended for older YA readers, probably seventeen and up. Some violence, a bit of language, a lot of sexual references. If you enjoy time travel in YA, you have to read Tempest. If you think it is not for you, try it anyway!

Familiar with the Cinderella story? How about Cinderella + androids + cyborgs + a deadly plague + moon people?

The world has been ravished by war and plague so that there are only a few ruling powers left and they have changed from our time. Plus, there are people known as Lunars who live on the moon and have evolved in such a way that they can use the bioelectricity around them; in effect, “magically” manipulating those around them.

But what about our Cinderella character? Linh Cinder is a cyborg (though few know it) and the only full-service mechanic (and a gifted one at that) at New Beijing’s weekly market. Of course, her talent and personality matter nothing to those who consider cyborgs to be second-class citizens. Her stepmother, Adri, looks down on her as well as one of her stepsisters, Pearl. But Cinder can count on two friends: Peony, her younger stepsister and Iko, her android with a personality all her own.

Life becomes interesting when Prince Kaito disguises himself to go to market and seek out Linh Cinder, the best mechanic in the Eastern Commonwealth. Cinder is surprised to encounter the prince and to learn that he is kind and cheerful with a sense of humor. He leaves his broken android with her, making light of it even though it is important that he retrieve information from it.

Then Peony, the good stepsister, falls ill with letumosis, the plague. Cinder’s world falls apart after that.

Prince Kai’s android, the plague, and Cinder are all connected and when Cinder puts some of the pieces together, she must get to the ball to warn Kai before he makes a dangerous decision.

Wow. Cinder is an amazing retelling of Cinderella with an originality all of its own. I absolutely fell in love with it despite my confusion about androids and cyborgs in the beginning. There were a lot of things going on in Cinder and at times they seemed completely unrelated, but everything was connected in some way. I did figure out some things about Cinder about eleven percent through the book, but that did not spoil my enjoyment. The story was beautifully crafted and the characters were complex. Cinder closes with what I think is more of an open ending than a cliffhanger and I have a feeling that the second book will pick right up where this one left off.

Recommended for young adult readers who are at least fourteen and older. This is a clean read.