Trigger warnings: Military violence and war themes, explosion
Note that my library gave this away for some reason and now I own it.

6/10, now that I look back this was one of the books my library decided to give away either because it was too old or no one read it at all, even though this was part of a duology and now they only have the second book but I have the first. That being said this was an interesting novel but I doubt that I would read this again but I'd like to see what happens in the next book. It starts off with the main character Nik about to be chosen for a career at an organisation called ISIS which stands for Internal Security and Intelligence Services and not the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria but anyways he wasn't chosen and then the school was bombed by who knows. After that he and some other people discuss why the school was bombed and who did it and it turns out that the other side called Cityside had declared war on them for whatever reason, the hostages have kidnapped Sol to probably use him against him and now they and Southside are fighting against each other; life is a lot harder for Nik now. A few hundred pages later he escapes the war by going across a bridge to Cityside and that ends the book on a high note. ( )

I don't know about this book...

The story follows Nik Stais a teenager who finds himself caught between two worlds - Cityside, a shiny, comfortable world of luxury and the Breken, the hostiles on the other side of the bridge, in the ruined part of the city, the invaders.

On one hand, I loved it. The plot was gripping and moved quickly enough through a dystopian world to keep me enthralled and completely absorbed in the struggles of Nik and Fyffe. It was a little predictable in its twists, and the writing was simplistic, lacking in complexity, but was full of good messages and warnings. And a good story. It's a book to read for its story.

On the other hand, as I flipped the last page, I was dissatisfied. I recognize the dissatisfaction as being something completely and utterly real, but I felt by the end of the book like the author hadn't finished her task. I read once that a good author will take his or her reader deep into the depths of despair and hopelessness, then lead the reader out again, offering a simple glimmer of hope that reminds the reader that our world is not lost, no matter what it may seem like.

The Bridge ends with no hope.

Or, maybe it did. But I couldn't see it. It was an enjoyable read, but I feel like I'm looking for the last chapter. ( )

This dystopian novel places two groups of people at war. On one side of the bridge, in Cityside, live the privileged. In Southside, located on the other side of the bridges, live all of the poor people called Hostiles. The Hostiles have been at war with Cityside for years, seeking equal rights and treatment.

Read the rest of my review at my blog: http://shouldireaditornot.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/the-bridge-jane-higgins/
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I usually love dystopian books but this one left me wanting more. A divided city with turf wars and too much confusion about who is where and what they want and who has captured them made it a pretty dull read. ( )

A dark dystopia novel set in a fictional city and written by a local author. Unlike most New Zealand dystopias, this does not have the Polynesian feel and the decline seems mainly from humans rather than environmental instability. It is well written, but no light hearted matter. Within the first few chapters, a bomb explodes at the school, killing a number of student and teachers and throwing the City side into disarray. The hostiles from across the river have invaded, they've taken the bridges and are steadily claiming parts of the city for their own. So where is the army? In the ensuring chaos, a child is kidnapped and teenagers Nik and Fyffe resolve to cross the bridge and get him back. What they find is complicated politics, some dark secrets of their own and ultimately heartbreak. Well written, engrossing and well realised, The Bridge definitely deserves its Text Prize award! ( )

Maybe the abundance of dystopias have made me a little too picky, but I could not get into this story. It seemed very small scale, more like a turf war than the collapse of society. I never connected with the characters and so I gave up on it.

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. ( )

I really enjoying this story. I am a huge fan of post-apocalyptic novels but so many are just sequels-in-waiting and they all begin to run together. I sincerely hope this author leaves this ending alone because like Mccarthy's The Road, I would rather be left with a sad but appropriate ending. ( )

Not really sure where to go with this review. My heart says yes I loved it, my head says but there's so much of it that just didn't make sence..didn't fit...and alot of the book left me feeling like its just same scenerio differnt setting from the past few books I have read out of the same apocalyptic/dystopia obession I've been in latley. I read alot of these types of novels and I think perhaps I need to take a break on this genre for awhile. There starting to kinda all bleed together. It IS a really good book. It's just not "orginal".

I didn't really find much to like in this book. As far as the characters go, I didn't find any of them particularly compelling, especially the protagonist whom I thought was the least interesting. I think that was in part due to the fact that he believed what people have told him all his life, and never even considered that they might be lying or concealing truths. Isn't this the first lesson most little kids learn? Guess what, some people lie? Sheltered or not, he's billed as a smart kid, and even though that definitely doesn't equate to wise, it seems totally unbelievable to me that between his eidetic memory and skills with code-breaking he would not notice inconsistencies, or improbabilities in world around him. He just didn't THINK and that made the plot seem contrived. (He finally started to think about things at the end, which was too little too late).

The plot was also not satisfying. It seemed like the author wanted to say something about the horrors of war, and your enemy are people too, and an eye for an eye make the whole world blind, etc, with bloody deaths to fill you with a great sense of pity and injustice, but she was heavy-handed and the result was preachy and not done with finesse. There were race issues and religious conflicts which were not explained well enough in proportion to their importance to the plot.

Ultimately it didn't feel like a _story_ to me, just commentary and other books have tackled these themes better. ( )

It took me a while to get through this book. I blame it on my own dystopia fatigue. However, once I got into it the story it brought up complex issues about allegiances, right and wrong during war, creating peace, and identity. After Nic's school is bombed and several friends killed by rebels, he ventures into rebel territory to try to find Sol, a kidnapped boy. While there he realizes that he has much in common with the rebels and starts to question what he's been told about them his entire life. As a reader, I was trying to figure things out through the early parts of the book much as Nic was until the pieces of the puzzle started to fit together. ( )

Mixed feelings. Most of The Bridge seemed to be not very different from all the other recent dystopian-genre novels. The action was exciting and it maintained interest, but there weren't really any innovative ideas or situations kicked around. I felt like the various aspects of the plot - the politics in Southside, the attempted rescue of Sol, Nik's mysterious heritage - weren't entirely cohesive and well-developed. I was reminded most of all of a slightly disjointed, dystopian version of one of Tamora Pierce's Beka Cooper books.

The ending, though, was not like all the other let's-write-a-bestselling-dystopian-trilogy conclusions. Not a cliffhanger, but really depressing and open. There's clearly room for developing this into a series, but in a way, I think the ending of The Bridge would better establish its uniqueness and pessimistic realism if the author doesn't try to continue the story. ( )

The Bridge by Jane Higgins is definitely an award-worthy story in its own right. Winner of The Text Prize this intricate novel weaves heavy themes such as political power, friendship, self-identity and survival into a perfectly executed example of writing at its finest.

In this novel, Nik and his fellow classmates of Tornmoor Academy live in a world where their city is at war. There’s the Southside where the hostiles live in desperate, harsh conditions and are fighting to cross the bridge to Cityside, where ISIS controls the area and keeps the hostiles at bay. ISIS comes to Tornmoor Academy to recruit the finest for their cause and immediately after being denied by this elite command, Nik’s school is bombed and he finds himself on the run with his best friends Dash, Fyffe and her little brother Sol. As the story progresses and suddenly Sol is kidnapped by Southside, Nik and Fy infiltrate the Southside camp and uncover details about the war that Cityside has so masterfully concealed.

Nik was a flawless narrator for this novel. He makes the story shift and flow at a deliberate pace that makes you feel like you need to work for the details and answers and when they unfold, there’s a sense of fulfillment that kept me digging for more. I loved his quiet strength and constant determination; and my heart broke for him at the end when he was faulted for something that truly he didn’t deserve. Nik and Fy were the true champions in this book and I commend Jane Higgins for not clouding their story with a needless romance, but rather a genuine friendship. There are other characters that deserve a standing ovation, but for this review I’ll dedicate the stage to my favorite ones Nik and Fy.

There is so much about the ending of this story that screams for a sequel. I want to know who the Academy’s insurgent was? I have my guesses, but I want them confirmed. I want to know what will come of Fy. I fell hard for her character and really came to care for her cause and her values. I’m curious what will come of Dash and Jono despite not caring for them as much. The Bridge was great, but I feel there’s more to tell. Overall, I enjoyed every aspect of this story and I’m hoping there’s a sequel to ease my mind. Awesome book! ( )

I received this book from Librarything Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review.

The Bridge by Jane Higgins follows Nik, who is an outsider of sorts in his prestigious boarding school. The cream of the crop become part of a secret elite group called ISIS who are the prime defenders against infiltration of the other side. Nik, for some reason, doesn't get selected even though he's top in his class. After war breaks loose, Fyffe, a good school friend of his, and Nik cross the Bridge to find Sol, her brother who has been kidnapped.

OK this blurb sounds interesting, right? The problem is, although at times the writing is lyrical and pretty, I felt like it lacked a lot of content. We move from place to place, but I never felt grounded in this world. There was a definite lack of world building. I don't understand this war that is going on, and I have no idea how the society got to where it is. Nik is likeable, but I had no deep feelings for him or any other character in the book, as the conversations are stilted and tough. I had a tough time getting through the whole thing, because honestly, it drags. I guess one of the big points of the book is that both sides are pretty similar in a lot of ways, but the whole time I was just in disbelief that they didn't realize that Nik was from the other side with his poor use of the language. REALLY?

There's a twist at the end, but for me, I was pretty disappointing slogging through all of these pages to end up... nowhere.

The ending left it open for likely a trilogy, but this is a series I definitely won't be following. Pretty cover though. ( )

Nik knows what his future holds. Once he graduates from school, he will be recruited by the Intelligence Service and trained to protect his country from the hostiles across the river. But first, the ISIS turns him down, and then his school is attacked. On the run with his friends, Nik searches for answers. When his friend's little brother is kidnapped by hostiles, Nik has a new purpose: Cross the bridge and get him back.

Higgins' dystopic society is similar to our world in many ways. Differences in religion, language and customs cause misunderstandings. Children are taught from a young age to fear and hate those who are different. Resources are claimed for one group at the expense of the other. Violence is seen as the way to solve your problems. Higgins manages to tackle these problems without getting too preachy and she doesn't offer any simplistic solutions.

Nik was a believable character. He seemed like a real high school kid, just trying to do the right thing for his friend. He didn't have amazing fighting abilities or super intelligence. The mysteries in his life were intriguing and made the ending of the book more dramatic. I did get confused during parts of the book, first at the beginning when new characters were being quickly introduced without a lot of backstory, and later when Nik crossed the bridge. Both times, I felt as if I had missed some explanations about characters and details of the society in which they lived. I know that the lack of information was intentional on the author's part, probably so that the flow of the story didn't get slowed down by lots of explanation. But a little more explaining would have helped me.

Fans of dystopic fiction will enjoy this book, and it will spark good discussions in a book group about the use of violence, the purpose of war, and what individuals can do to make a difference in their own society. ( )

A river runs through a divided city and the bridges across it are gated to keep the two factions apart. Over in the Southside, squalor and desperation rein along with a war against the citysiders who control everything. Nik lives Cityside where he attends a high school whose top graduates are picked for the Internal Security and Intelligence Services (ISIS) who control the war. A top student, Nik and his friends are stunned when he isn’t chosen and his teachers are silent on the matter. Shortly after, the school is bombed as the Southsiders launch an attack. The ISIS is hunting for Nik who is in turn hunting in the Southside for Sol, the kidnapped younger brother of his best friend who was killed in the bomb attack. During his journey Nik starts to wonder if everthing he has been taught at school is wrong.

A good first novel, although it didn't grab me as much as books like John Marsden's 'When the War began'. ( )

In a world where war is normal and the bridges are gated to separate the hostiles of the Southside from the residents in Cityside; Nik attends a well known boarding school. A school where most wanted career path is to be chosen by the Internal Security and Intelligence Services; who are the brains behind the war that continues between the cities.
But when the agents from ISIS come to recruit the students, especially Nik are shocked when he isn't chosen to join the team. There must be an explanation, but no one will talk about it. Then the school is bombed and the hostiles fight to take over take the bridges and win. The hostiles who are out for revenge kidnap 10 year old Sol. Nik with Sol's sister Fyffe go in search of Sol, they sneak over the bridge and immerse themselves in Southside society, blending in well, until they are caught by the ISIS.

The Bridge is a gritty dystopian novel set in a world where fighting for what you think is right may cost you your life. Extremely well written with a storyline that hooks you into it straight away. With a strong, gusty male protagonist this novel is a fabulous read for those ‘hard to reach’ teenage boys. But it also has an underlying love interest that will suit a female reader too. I am not sure by the ending feels like it will lead to another book; I do hope so. Highly recommended for teens over 13 years. ( )

The future and it is not nice. The city has a river running through it with 5 bridges. The river divides 2 warring fractions. The bridges are under al ot of tension and also act as an area for prsioner swaps. The prisoners being swapped wear explosives and if either side betrays the other the explosives can be detonated. Nik is an orphan and finds himself divided between both sides and 2 women. Can't rave about this book it was OK but didn't really appeal to me. At time I found myself skipping pages. ( )