The Bridge (Southside Novels)

by Jane Higgins

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.
 
The Bridge is a gritty adventure set in a future world where fear of outsiders pervades everything. A heart-stopping novel about friendship, identity, and courage from an exciting new voice in young-adult fiction.

• ISBN10: 1921758333
• ISBN13: 9781921758331
• Publish Date: 1 August 2011
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 16 March 2021
• Publish Country: AU
• Publisher: Text Publishing
• Imprint: The Text Publishing Company
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 344
• Language: English

Reviews

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2015/03/mini-review-bridge-by-jane-higgins.html
It's no secret that I absolutely adore the dystopian genre as a whole, the oppression, the revolutions and characters that rise against adversity to save the world. Every so often a book comes along that breaks the typical mould that readers expect, The Bridge is that book. More political than pure dystopian, Nik's world is divided by two classes at war, his own in which children are trained to become elite soldiers with ISIS and the war hungry and barbaric Breken who live over the bridges, or so he is lead to believe.

I loved it. It was beautifully written and incredibly engaging. Although I couldn't connect to any of the characters on a personal level, the world building was brilliant. The unrest between both societies is intense, but the political conflict brewing between the Breken adds another layer to the hostile world Nik is left to navigate. If you're looking for a new name in dystopian that isn't weighed down by an awkward romance or teen angst, The Bridge is pure entertainment.