Synopsis
I’m not dead yet, but this isn’t living…
They call me the Ghost. I wander the surface of this nameless city, unseen, searching for the sister I lost many years ago. It is a forsaken place, its battle-scarred surface left to burn under a relentless sun.
I should have given up. But when I uncover a disturbing connection between Lyca’s disappearance and the ancient wars that destroyed our city, I refuse to let it go.
The city is restless. Long-forgotten wounds are beginning to itch. People whisper about rebellion, rising-up to take back what was stolen from us. I only want what was stolen from me.
I would do anything to find my sister, even if it means starting a war. But some secrets were meant to stay hidden, and what I have uncovered will change the city and its people forever.
I’m not dead yet, but I will be soon…
About the Series:
In a world scorched by natural disaster, and a city destroyed by centuries of war, hope is a word most people have forgotten. Mutant soldiers enforce the rule of the few, monsters lurk in the tunnels below ground, and an enigmatic group called the Timekeepers play a deadly game with the lives of the survivors…
When one woman stands up to fight, she finds an army behind her. And when she falls, she’ll take an empire down
For fans of Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows, Scott Lynch’s Lies of Locke Lamora, and Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake. This dystopian science-fantasy series will keep you guessing with secrets, simmering tension, and high-stakes action.
Review
UNDERCITY: REBELLION by SC Jensen was a book that has been on my to be read for some time but I haven’t had a chance to read it due to the fact that, well, my TBR list has been growing exponentially well beyond my ability to manage it. However, I really enjoyed the author’s other work, Tropical Punch (Bubbles in Space #1), as well as its sequels. Having finished the book, I am now kicking myself for not reading it sooner. It is a fantastic post-apocalypse dystopian novel with LGBTA characters as well as themes.
The premise is that Ghost (real name: Anageist) is a young scavenger doing her best to survive in the City. The City functions a bit like Battle Angel Alita with the larger portion being the massive junk-filled slums that are built around an enormous walled paradise built above them in towers (called the Elysian Empire despite it just being the city’s upstairs). Ghost has been looking for her sister, Lyca, for the better part of ten years ever since she disappeared. She has even sought out the service of a fortune teller who tells her that her sister is lost to her.
Things change for Ghost when she’s unexpectedly contacted by the battle-scarred leader of the resistance against the Elysians: Lynch. Lynch immediately impresses Ghost with his capability as well as confidence. Lynch wants to recruit her for a mission to launch an assassination attempt against the Elyisan’s genetically engineered king, the Ursaar, and offers the best bait imaginable: her sister’s location. What follows is assembling a team of specialists Ghosts has met over her two decades of life to pull off this seemingly suicidal revolutionary move. It’s also a lot more complicated politically than Ghost has ever suspected but that doesn’t mean anything to the slimmest hope of finding her sister.
This could be the basis of a typical YA revolution novel from the early 2010s but this is definitely written for adults rather than teenagers. Ghost is a bisexual protagonist who has been struggling with getting close to anyone given the horrifying circumstances she’s grown up with. While love triangles are not to everyone’s taste, I actually was interested in the relationship between Ghost, Mirelle, and Lynch due to the fact it was more a question of which Ghost would open herself up to first. Ghost and Mirelle are also not the only LGBTA characters as it’s a world where it isn’t a big deal anymore
The world-building is well-done with the City and Elysia both being vividly realized. On one hand you have a society barely able to survive with everyone preying on everyone else except for small tribal groups that cooperate. On the other hand, you have a ruthlessly enforced class structure that has managed to maintain itself by taking slave labor from the locals under the belief it’s better. There’s also a bunch of genetic engineering horror tales as Elysia’s remaining science tries to create the perfect slaves but keep running into issues from survival needs hardcoded into their creations.
I really enjoyed the character of Ghost and her journey. This is not a story of black and white or good and evil but a bunch of people fighting for power with the protagonist caught in the meantime. I strongly recommend this story for both fans of dystopian fiction as well as post-apocalypse scavenger stories. There’s a lot of heart in the protagonist who has many vulnerabilities to go along with her strengths.
In conclusion, this is a solid and entertaining story that really is my vote for book of month. If you’re looking for an entertaining post-apocalypse story and a new culture that has arisen in the aftermath then this is a good thing. I look forward to reading the next book in the series and have heard that it’ll have its third and final volume out this year.
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