As They Slip Away by Beth Revis

Item: As They Slip Away
Rating: 4
Author: Brin

Posted September 14, 2013 by Brin in Reviews / 0 Comments

As They Slip Away Series: Across the Universe #2.5
on January 11 2013
Pages: 48
Format: eBook
Goodreads

Taking place on the spaceship Godspeed before Amy Martin wakes up and Elder takes leadership, this novella describes life at the Hospital during Eldest's reign. Focusing primarily on background characters, readers will see fan-favorite characters Harley, Orion, Victria, and more.

Selene is a singer on a spaceship that only values people who can provide important skills that enhance survival. As her friends--fellow "loons" in the Hospital--start to join apprenticeships to turn their skills into valuable labor, Selene is sent with a handful of other students to learn about the importance of art from the Recorder, Orion. The assignment pairs her with a young sculptor, Luthor, and their dangerous romance proves just how terrifying living trapped on a spaceship under the rule of a heartless dictator could be.

This tragic tale explores the background of a previously unknown character, linking the history of the ship and its residents to Amy and Elder, giving depth to the world of Godspeed.

A novella set in the same world as Across the Universe, this gave a very different perspective to the inhabitants of Godspeed. This was narrated by Selene, a minor previously unnamed character in the series. As They Slip Away helped to explain some of the underlying plot threads in Across the Universe and gave greater depth to some of the events.

Selene (the rabbit girl) is a tragic character who meets sad end in the main series. As They Slip Away is her story and gives new insight into her eventual demise at the hands of Luthor. It also includes some of the other characters from the novels including Harley (who is my all-time favourite!), Orion, Victria, Bartie, Doc and we also get to meet Kayleigh for the first time.

This is a story about obsession and abuse, about how one person manages to steal the heart and soul away from another. Luthor initially seems to be very taken with Selene, but his jealousy and vicious nature soon becomes apparent. As Luthor is deemed more ‘useful’ to the ship than Selene, whose main talent is that she is a gifted singer, his treatment of her goes relatively unpunished. As a result, Selene makes the choice to ‘fade away’ and she stops taking her pills to forget the fear, anguish and hurt.

This is a very sad, albeit short, novella. Throughout its pages there is a permeating sense of menace. Having read the first two novels in the series I knew what Luthor was (a creepy rapist) so I was expecting something bad to happen even when he was acting love-struck. Although I had an inkling of what the result would be, Selene’s decision still broke my heart a little especially considering what ends up happening to her.

Overall, a good background-filler to the main series.