Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Book Review: The Bridge by Jane Higgins




Title: The Bridge
Author: Jane Higgins
# Of Pages: 344
Publisher: Tundra Books
Publication Date: October 9, 2012
Source: LibraryThing
Level: Young Adult
Rating:  3 Hearts







Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

The City is divided. The bridges gated. In Southside, the hostiles live in squalor and desperation, waiting for a chance to overrun the residents of Cityside. 
 


Nik is still in high school but is destined for a great career with the Internal Security and Intelligence Services, the brains behind the war. But when ISIS comes recruiting, everyone is shocked when he isn't chosen. There must be an explanation, but no one will talk about it. Then the school is bombed and the hostiles take the bridges. Buildings are burning, kids are dead, and the hostiles have kidnapped Sol. Now ISIS is hunting for Nik. 
 

But Nik is on the run, with Sol's sister Fyffe and ISIS hot on their trail. They cross the bridge in search of Sol, and Nik finds answers to questions he had never dared to ask. 
 

My Verdict

I don’t really have any strong feelings about this book. I mostly feel indifferent.  

The book is told from the perspective of main character, Nik, whom I thought was a girl for the first few pages before it told me otherwise. I didn’t dislike Nik, he was a good person who kept getting into trouble for nothing which made me mad; I felt so bad for him. My favorite character, however, was Fyffe, she was so brave in the face of danger, and willing to do whatever it took to get her brother back. The character names were all really original which I loved: Dash, Jono, Fyffe, Sol, Jeitan, Levkova, Coly, Lanya. I really loved Levkova, it was just fun to say.

The world building is a big thing in dystopian fiction. I find it really has the power to either make or break a book. While the war-torn City divided into Southside and Cityside is well described visually and easy to imagine yourself in, the politics behind it became really confusing to me, especially near the end. 

There is a lot of action to keep you turning pages and the ongoing search for Sol that keeps you interested. I was both happy and upset with the ending but you can’t always get the best of both worlds I suppose. I’m not really sure if this is a standalone novel or the beginning of a series? It works perfectly fine as a standalone but I could also see it going further.

4 comments:

  1. Something about the cover and title drew me in for this book. I like dystopian stories and the character names are just different enough that I want to put it on my tbr stack. Thanks Amanda. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The cover is what caught my eye too! I hope you enjoy it Colleen =)

      Delete
  2. Ahh. I'm sorry you didn't love this book. It does seem kind of boring. But I'm glad you mostly liked it :) I do like the cover ;p Thank you for sharing :D
    Thank you for commenting on my WoW. <3
    Love, Carina @ Carina's Books

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The cover is what really drew me to this one! Thanks for coming by Carina! =)

      Delete

What are you thinking? Let me know! I love hearing from you and read each and every comment. I always try to respond or visit your blog in return so leave a comment. I know you want to ;)