Blog Tour Review & Giveaway: Disconnect, by Imran Siddiq

Welcome to my stop on the tour for the Divided Worlds  YA sci-fi series by Imran Siddiq! Below you can find more info on the books and authors as well as my review of the first book, Disconnect, and an international giveaway! The tour has been organized by Giselle from Xpresso Book Tours.


ABOUT THE SERIES


Blurb for book 1: Disconnect
Zachary, a 16-year old Underworlder digs in waste to find anything worth bartering. That is the rule of scavenging. When he discovers footage of an Overworld girl, Rosa, he’s intrigued by her sorrow and breaks the rule.

That decision changes his life, and he will suffer for it.

Zachary must overcome worthlessness, prejudice, and not let a twisted lie devour the new reason that he survives; Rosa.

In space, love had boundaries.

Blurb for Book 2: Disassemble
Zachary is a scavenger, and he’ll do anything to survive. With Rosa by his side, nothing will break him.
After the Galilei Research Base is plunged into darkness, an unexpected threat emerges.

Where Zachary was the hero before, he will become the enemy.
It’s not just about surviving anymore. It’s about saving everyone before they destroy one another, especially Rosa.

Blurb for Book 3: Disrupt
Everything that Zachary lived for has changed. There are no rewards to come from scavenging. Just memories. But even they are not enough to remove thoughts of a worthless life.

In the midst of death, a purpose to live appears.

It wills Zachary to break the divide that has destroyed many.
This fight will be on his terms.

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes&Noble

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Imran Siddiq is a Law Graduate employed as a Senior Manager in the NHS. After an operation to remove a brain tumour, he decided to make his dreams real. Now, he sacrifices time to write and serve his two cats.

He’s a veteran of writing festivals, a constant on Twitter, and gobbles up all forms of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Living in Leicester, he is passionate about creating images in digital art.

Young Adult Science Fiction is his preferred genre, and he will throw a droid into every novel – literally throw.

Website    Goodreads    Facebook    Twitter

REVIEW OF DISCONNECT
What intrigued me most about Disconnect was the premise of two worlds sharing the same space but being separated opposites of one another. I was also very curious to meet a scavenger character.

I’ll be honest, I did have my problems with the novel but what always kept me reading is the actual story and plot because those are very strong and different from most other books I’ve read! Zachary’s life is pretty horrible. Everyone’s life is, in Underworld. Electricity is scarce, good food is nonexistent (try rat for dinner), housing is dismal and real friends are rare. Poverty and darkness abound and there are no prospects to speak of.

Zachary is a well-rounded character, just a 16-year-old trying to make his way scavenging and selling parts. Being a Scavenger rather than a Far-Waller like his father is a large part of his identity and I liked how that was visible in the way he looked at the world through that particular lense. His relationship with his father is complicated and he spends a lot of time alone or with Patch, his half-broken droid. He has difficulties connecting to people and prefers to scavenge alone. That’s how he finds an Intercom dropped with the daily garbage from Overworld. He first wants to sell it (it would fetch a big price) but wants to see what’s on it first. He manages to access the pictures and videos on it, and that’s how he learns about Rosa, an Overworld girl who recorded messages diary-style. It’s his first glance at the other side of the big space research station they all live in, but despite their different lives he feels a connection to Rosa. So when his father mentions a trip to Overworld to fix something and drops Rosa’s family name, Zachary persuades him to take him along and gets his first glimpse at Overworld. And at Rosa in real life, who is not exactly what he expected.

Rosa, unfortunately, didn’t quite meet my expectations either. Her characterization was mostly through Zachary eyes and she just always stayed a bit superficial and flat for me. I got that he connected with her – they’re both lonely – but when started developing romantic feelings for her I got a little doubtful. They kept communicating via her Intercom (risky, since it can be located) but their conversations weren’t all that deep and it was obvious she had no idea what true hardship was. I liked how they got over their misconceptions of their respective worlds, but I would have enjoyed the story more if their relationship had been a strong friendship instead of a romance and the focus had been more on the suspense and intrigues of the plot.

I also had difficulties with the writing. Some of the sentences and imagery used was very strange or didn’t make sense. I had the impression that it got better later in the book (or maybe I got used to it) but in the beginning, and at moments throughout, it really bothered me. Here’s two quotes to show what I mean: “Staggering for a second, a rapid blur sucked his breath away.” Or “whiffs of putrid rabbit meat wrung Zachary’s neck”. How can a blur suck anyone’s breath away? There were a lot of these types of constructions. I mean it’s clear what’s meant… sort of. It just doesn’t quite work semantically.

So what made me continue reading? Easy. The actual story and the really detailed, complex world building. I loved getting glimpses at the larger project and organization of the Galilei Research Base, the space station of sorts originally meant to land on the Jupiter moon Europa. There was just enough explanation in the beginning to ground the readers, and then leave them to piece things together and figure the world out without any major info-dumps via interior monologue. That’s not an easy thing to accomplish considering how well thought-out the world of Disconnect is, and it was executed expertly.

The pacing was also nice. It takes a bit to really bring all the different puzzle pieces into position but the story didn’t drag because it gave the reader time to learn about the world. Also, once the shit hits the fan it’s pretty much non-stop action and I really admired Zachary for his will to keep fighting against really bleak odds and despite the great loss he suffered.

Overall, although I had my problems with the writing, I will definitely read the next book in the series because I want to know how the story continues and I liked that it also dealt with issues of prejudice, equality, the ethics of how far science and experimentation should go and the struggle for a more just system. I was really hooked! The romance sub-plot wasn’t quite necessary in my opinion, but I can imagine that a lot of other readers will enjoy its Romeo/Juliet-esque appeal. If you’re into a YA sci-fi with dystopian elements that is set in space or into stories about a clear class-divide and the problems resulting from it, you should give the Divided Worlds series a try!

To clarify in case you are confused about my assessment: I'd rate it a 3.5 out of 5


What do you think of the general premise of the series? Would you like it now that you know more and have read my review? Let me know in the comments! Also, don't forget to enter the international giveaway below :)

GIVEAWAY

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Debut Review: MILA 2.0, by Debra Driza

Release date: March 28, 2013
Publisher: HarperCollins UK, Children's Books
Format: Paperback, 470 pages

Goodreads description:
Mila 2.0 is the first book in an electrifying sci-fi thriller series about a teenage girl who discovers that she is an experiment in artificial intelligence.

Mila was never meant to learn the truth about her identity. She was a girl living with her mother in a small Minnesota town. She was supposed to forget her past—that she was built in a secret computer science lab and programmed to do things real people would never do.

Now she has no choice but to run—from the dangerous operatives who want her terminated because she knows too much and from a mysterious group that wants to capture her alive and unlock her advanced technology. However, what Mila’s becoming is beyond anyone’s imagination, including her own, and it just might save her life.

Mila 2.0 is Debra Driza’s bold debut and the first book in a Bourne Identity-style trilogy that combines heart-pounding action with a riveting exploration of what it really means to be human.


The following review is based on an eARC provided to me by the HarperCollins UK via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.


Review:
I’m not usually a big fan of science fiction but after reading Debra Driza’s wonderful debut I will definitely have to rethink my stance toward the genre! Once this book got moving it had me on the edge of my seat and despite Mila’s not-quite-human nature, I never had problems connecting with her, so if this is something that usually keeps you from reading SF don’t let it deter you in this case!

From the description, I knew going in that Mila was actually an android. However, she is so incredibly human that I sort of forgot, or at least didn’t think this fact through properly and draw the consequences. Mila is trying to fit in at her new school, but she’s still reeling from her father’s death a few weeks ago. They were very close and she goes over their memories together over and over… apart from the one spot she doesn’t remember – the day their house burnt down and he died. What’s worse is that Mila cannot really share her grief with her mum because she has withdrawn from her since the fire and their subsequent move to the middle of nowhere, Minnesota, and Mila often wonders whether her mother even loves her anymore.

Things change when Hunter moves to their small town. Mila’s ‘best friend’ Kaylee (I never liked her, but then again one isn’t supposed to) has the hots for him… as does Mila, and pretty much everyone else. But Hunter is interested in quiet Mila. They connect and have a couple bonding conversations… until a car accident changes everything and Mila finds out about who and what she really is. And let me tell you, even though I theoretically ‘knew’, or thought I did, my mind was still scrambling to catch up with everything. Because it wasn’t how I thought it would be! Mila’s anguish at finding out that she isn’t human and that everything she believed was a lie was palpable to me as a reader. I ached with her all the way and I felt so incredibly sorry for her! After that revelation, things go out of control and Mila and her mum have to run. From then on, the book is one big adrenalin trip that goes so many places I hadn’t anticipated and managed to surprise me over and over! Maybe it’s partly because I’m unfamiliar with the genre but once we left ‘high school’ I found the novel to be completely unpredictable, right down to the ending.

It’s really hard to talk about this book without spoilers, so I will have to leave the plot alone for now. As I’ve said I thought Mila was a fully formed and deep character. She really struggled with the idea that she was supposed to be inhuman, not real, a machine, even as her enhanced ‘functions’ started to come in more and more handy. Her mum was equally complex and I hope to find out a bit more about her past in the sequels, which I will definitely read. Another character that I came to love is Lucas but I unfortunately can’t say more about him apart from the fact that I hope I haven’t seen the last of him.

As for Hunter… he’s part of the bit I wasn’t one hundred percent happy with in the book. I get it that Mila is attracted to him, and it makes sense with her past and all, but I just didn’t find him to have that much substance. He was sort of elusive. I mean what does Mila really know about him? I understand how she latched on to him because he was one of her few non-fake good memories, but I do wish his description was a bit more varied than her remembering his “lopsided smile” so many times. I wish they would have been given a bit more time before they were torn apart; it would have made the romantic angle of the novel more believable to me. I hope this, too, will be deepened in the sequel.

Apart from that I can find nothing to complain about. The plot was surprising and utterly engrossing. It was ultimately different from what I expected, but in the best possible way! There was plenty of action but the plot wasn’t rushed and unfolded naturally. The scientific elements were described in a way that made them shockingly believable. In our age of 3D printers and whatnot I could actually imagine something like this happening. Mila’s abilities were as amazing as they were frightening. The novel touches on some of the big questions – what makes us human? How far may scientific research go until it becomes hubris? I liked that these themes were not explored in a heavy-handed way. It made me think because even though the issues in themselves are not new, Mila’s perspective was.

Overall, I think that sci-fi fans and action junkies will take as much away from MILA 2.0 as those readers more focused on character and beautiful writing. This novel definitely deserves the hype it got even prior to publication! I am very curious to see Mila’s journey continue in the next installment of the series.


What are your thoughts on the book and my review? Have you read something similar? Also, if you'd like to check out Debra Driza's writing, her prequel-novella MILA 2.0: Origins is free on Amazon and B&N.