Title: Disconnect
Series: Divided Worlds #1
Author: Imran Siddiq
Published: January 27th 2013 by Flickimp Publishing
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
Source: Xpresso Book Tours
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In space, love has boundaries.Dirtying fingernails in sewers is fast approaching worthlessness for Zachary, a 16-year old Underworld scavenger. When footage of an Overworld girl, Rosa, is discovered, his intrigue heightens at why she expresses sadness with a lavish lifestyle.
In meeting Rosa, Zachary is scorned by her opinion of the deprived. She pities him and provides a means for them to communicate. With time, friendship and something he’s never felt grows; love for another human. Knowing Rosa calls him when it suits her isn’t enough; he wants to meet her, but how? Relationships in Underworld are few, let alone the impossibility with those above the ceiling.
Underworld will suffer when plans to conquer Jupiter’s moon, Europa move ahead. Worse is Rosa’s father, a disgraced Overworld ambassador, approving the plan.
Zachary must defeat the prejudice of the worlds, sneak within opposing forces, lose friends and challenge Rosa’s sadness. In doing so, a twisted secret is uncovered that may devour the reason he lives; Rosa
What a pleasant surprise this was!
Zachary Conner lives in Underworld with his dad and Patch, a semi functional android welded to the wall. He spends his days rummaging through the trash that drops from Overworld, trying to find salvageable items for sale so that he can put food on the table that isn’t contaminated and funny smelling. His life is dreary, and he mistrusts most people. Until he finds an intact communication device while scavenging one day. Finding one in working condition is practically unheard of, and Zachary could make very good money off it. If he could get himself so far as to sell it. You see, the device contains pictures and diary entries of a girl unlike anyone Zachary has ever met in Underworld. She’s practically from a different world, and he wants to know more about her. Wants to know everything.
The fascination gets even worse when he manages to meet her. Once is not enough. He has to see her again.
Life is not that simple. Orders have been given that the Underworld districts evacuate. Its inhabitants are considered as dispensable as the trash that drops on them, and nothing will be allowed to stand in the way of expansion.
This was a nice, clean, easy read. I enjoyed the main character, Zachary, though for some reason I thought he was 14 for most of the story. The gritty, struggling to survive and stay human feeling of Underworld contrasted well with the cold, clinical Overworld where they would rather make androids more human than care about wasting actual human life. I see you, social commentary.
By far Patch was my favorite character. Robots need love too!
(4/5)
Imran Siddiq may have tried to leave Leicester a few times, but its become his place to wake up to two cats, freeze when the heating’s off and most of all, get down to writing. At a young age, his primary school teacher commented on his creativity and ability to tell stories. At the age of 29, during a night in the jungle, the bug inside awakened, and for the last 5 years he’s been sacrificing every second that he can to write. A veteran of writing festivals, a presence on Twitter and gobbling up all forms of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, he hopes he can bring a smile to others in the same way that he had, aged 5, reading with a torch under his duvet. Imran’s preferred genre is YA Sci Fi, and he has a tendency to throw a droid in every novel.
Thanks for this
I'm running an additional giveaway, where readers that review on Goodreads before June, will get free e-copies of Books 2 and 3 a month prior to release.
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