YMMV / Across the Void

• Abandon Shipping:
  • Players who shipped Eos/Nova when Eos's character design was revealed quickly jumped ship when the book came out and they were revealed to be siblings.
  • Several players stopped pursuing Sol when playing as Nova because of the former's suspicious and borderline antagonistic behavior in Chapter 5. Their suspicions are justified in the finale, when Sol is revealed to be a member of the Jura.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Sol. Some players admire him for his intelligence, loyalty to the Atlas, concern for the passengers' well-being, and willingness to voice his disagreement with Nova's actions. Others dislike his uptight adherence to the orders Artemis gave out on the Atlas.
  • Zekei. Some players find him sweet and endearing, while others find him completely pointless in the story and say it would still be the same without him. Especially since a large amount of his scenes revolve around Eos bailing him out of trouble.
  • Holmes. Some players like him for his Adorkable and humorous personality. Other players hate him for damaging the Atlas just because he wanted to show off, in addition to his humor coming across as forced and cringy.
  • Nova's robot assistant VEE. While many players like her for her loyalty to Nova, hyper personality, and acting as a Shipper on Deck, some players find her annoying because of her hyper personality and obsession with fashion and romance.
• Broken Base: Players are divided on what dynamic is better. There’s the group who only wants to play from Nova's perspective, either because they don’t want to take the focus away from the main character, don’t like the siblings, or want all the attention of the love interests solely on Nova. On the other hand, other fans like the idea of playing from Pax and Eos’ perspective, since it allows the story to develop further from other set of eyes, understand better their different points of view, and have more variety of love interests without saturating Nova (who already has five suitors).
• Die for Our Ship: A rather bizarre subversion. Fans of Nova/Zekei are absolutely livid when it was revealed that Eos (who is also a playable character) can earn romance points with Zekei.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Beside the five main Love Interests, fans have taken to ship Nova with Artemis and Holmes (the latter of whom ends up being one of Pax's love interests).
• Franchise Original Sin: This is notably the first book with a Series Hiatus lasting several months, owing to the book being rewritten as a standalone (after it was originally intended as a series). While understandable at the time, due to its negative reception, this then happened with several other books, such as A Courtesan of Rome, Platinum, and The Royal Masquerade (as well as the second book of The Elementalists), which were also put on hiatus so the story could be wrapped up in the same book. It has gotten to the point that when any book goes on hiatus, people will panic and think the book is a standalone. It took until Blades of Light and Shadow for a book to go on hiatus and still get a second book.
• Ho Yay: In Chapter 19, Barlow said, "You know I would give him the universe and more" to Quandry. This isn't helped by Barlow being bi.
• Hype Backlash: When the series was first announced, people expected the story to be an epic adventure with a great cast and engrossing storyline. As the story progresses, however, players complain that the story has a slow pacing, the Vanguard vs. Jura conflict remains largely unexplored despite its supposed importance to the story, and the characters are underdeveloped.
• I Knew It!: Many players have long suspected that Artemis is up to no good. Their suspicions are confirmed in the finale, when she's revealed to be the Jura general who triggered a series of bombs in the Atlas, one of them severely injuring Holmes.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Due to the nature of the book that allows the player to flirt with every single character. Nova has no less than five Love Interests (Zekei, Titania, Sol, Kepler, and Meridian), as well as having been shipped with other characters in the crew like Holmes and Artemis.
• One True Pairing: Even if everyone in the fanbase bickering about the Love Interest, Corvus/Argo are unanimously agree to be a cute couple.
• The Scrappy: Pax and Eos are widely despised by the fandom for their Spotlight-Stealing Squad status that take away most of the focus away from the plot. Moreover, Eos is viewed as a hypocrite when it comes to the Vanguard-Jura war, as he tries to justify Heze's war crimes just because she is a Vanguard agent. He also openly tells Nova that he doesn't respect their decision if they hand Heze over to the Jura, indicating his habit of taking other people's decisions personally, even if they have logical motivations to do so. Several players also dislike him for his flirty and unprofessional attitude when it comes to his job. Pax is disliked for her immaturity and forcing Nova into awkward situations.
• Scrappy Mechanic: Many hate that they are forced to spend diamonds for positive outcomes with more serious consequences than usual for a Choices book. Argo, Octan, a family of innocents on Ocana, Deimos, Holmes, Zaniah, Oberon, and Vee surviving all depend on you spending diamonds to save them.
• Slow-Paced Beginning: The first 2 chapters were well received, but the next 3 chapters are generally considered to be dull and uninteresting, with only hints of the war arc. Things starting to pick up in Chapter 6 when Heze - the Vanguard spy, shows up and bring with her a heap of Grey-and-Gray Morality.
• Strangled by the Red String:
  • Some players view Eos and Lyra's relationship as a badly written wish-fulfillment fantasy of an ordinary man falling in love with an empress despite the disrespect Eos shows to Lyra.
  • Several players also criticize Pax's relationship with Zaniah because they have no previous build-up or chemistry. It doesn't help that Zaniah is working with the Void on the Atlas and has a flimsy motive to join them.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: General consensus agrees that the love interests of this story are underdeveloped, though the main standouts are:
  • Lyra. As the Empress of Deevine and Senator Tauri, a key figure in the negotiations at Matara, she should've been an interesting character in her own right. Instead, most scenes involving her relegate her to the status of love interest for Eos.
  • Sol. His vast knowledge of the setting could've made him a good source of information on setting early in the story. Moreover, his dedication to keep the Atlas safe, connection to Artemis, and lack of a sense of belonging in his home planet should've been expanded on. The reveal that he's a member of the Jura like Artemis solidified player belief that he's wasted potential because it should've been expanded on to add depth to his character.
  • Titania. Her standoffish attitude, dedication to her job as a pilot, and PTSD as a result of the Void killing her family could've been developed further and better integrated into the story, which would make her a memorable character in her own right and address the effects of war on survivors.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: One of the main criticisms of this story is the lack of focus on the Vanguard-Jura conflict despite its supposed importance to the story.