I was astounded by the universe Rizzo had built after I finished reading the first book in this series. Although the society is dystopian, it seems believable and even frightening because it doesn't seem like anybody has learnt from the past—in the second book, they are on the verge of another Holocaust. The book began with a good deal of action, which I loved, and it was again simple to cheer for the characters. However, the second half of the book regrettably dragged down and lost me there. However, the politics that gradually surfaced are nicely done. The resistance narrative itself moves a little slowly, so I started to wonder whether there would be a huge reveal at the conclusion of the trilogy. The book is nicely written and edited; it is a fascinating read.

DNF

This book was not for me. I had a hard time keeping track of all the different characters and there was a lot of religious details in there that just didn't do it for me.

Maybe it got lost on me as this was the second book in the series. It's not badly written, it was just too much for me and it could not hold my attention.

An ARC was provided to me via netgalley in return of an honest review.

The Border Crosser is a YA speculative fiction novel and second in The Split series. The book has the USA split in two with the God Fearing States (GFS) and the United Progressive Regions (UPR). The GFS is mostly white having pushed out people of color. But the Jewish people are being repressed and find it difficult to live their religion. The three main characters Judith, Dani and Jeffrey come from both sides and became friends through a pen pal program. All three are given POVs. I appreciate the world building and can make scary comparisons to current times. I loved learning more about the Jewish community customs and rituals. But truly I’m not a big dystopian reader and some parts really slowed down for me. I think if you enjoy dystopian or speculative fiction you’ll enjoy this novel. As others have said read them in order. Thank you to NetGalley and Bella Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. (3.5 stars)

3.5 stars. When I read the first book in this series I was amazed by the world Rizzo has created. It’s a dystopian world, but it feels plausible in an almost scary way because it appears that nobody learned from the past, as in this second book they are at the brink of a second Holocaust. The politics that slowly creep up are well done, the book started with quite a lot of action which I enjoyed and it was once again easy to root for the characters, but during the second half the book unfortunately slowed down and it lost me there.

This series needs to be read in order and is about the USA being divided into the God Fearing States (GFS) and the United Progressive Regions (UPR). While the UPR is anarchistic the GFS has morphed into an almost all white Christian fascist country and the Jewish population that lives there, and hoped to be able to live there in peace and live by their religion, find themselves being repressed more and more. The main characters are teens from the GFS and UPR that came into contact with each other by a pen pal program and want to be there for each other and help the repressed Jews in the GFS. I won’t go into detail on what happens in this book for those that haven’t read the first book, but the political tensions reach a breaking point and the MCs are right in the middle of it.

The characters in these books are very likeable, their friendship and comradery are touching and there are some sweet (and PG) romances. I have to mention that the latter were fast tough, especially their declarations of love were a little too fast for my liking, but the romances were not the main focus of these books. It’s all about the political situation and how the Jewish community fits in there (or better said, doesn’t fit in there). I liked reading about the resistance, how they try to find ways to stand up against their GFS leaders with what little breathing room they have. Another important topic, that became more of the main focus during the second part of the book was religion, the faith and rituals in Judaism. I’m always interested in learning about other cultures and religions and Judaism is a religion that I don’t know much about, so I started enthusiastically and interested to learn more, but I have to admit this was too much for me. There were so many details on religion and belief that it just couldn’t hold my attention anymore, it almost felt like a lesson on religion to me, so after the action parts of the resistance in the first part of the book the second part of the book was underwhelming. It’s not badly written, but I think I’m not the right audience.

I’m conflicted on how to rate this book, the worldbuilding and political storyline is good and unique, but other parts of this book failed to keep me captivated due to the heavy-handed and extremely detailed religious parts. I decided to round it up due to its uniqueness and solid writing, but I hope that the third part will go in a different direction.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The US has been divided into two countries - the God Fearing States and the United Progressive Regions. Three Jewish teens want to fight against the rampaging anti-Semitism that looks very much like that of Nazi Germany. Once it becomes obvious that the leaders of the God Fearing States are creating a ghetto like the one in Warsaw, Poland under the Nazis, the teens have to do something.

The book is told by three narrators, Judith, Dani, and Jeffrey. Rizzo does a creditable job of telling her story through the eyes of the three teens, but as always with multiple narrators, the reader may never feel like she gets to know any of the characters well and the story fails in adequately developing the relationships between the narrators.

Rizzo uses many Jewish words and explains their meaning at the end of the book. However, by putting the definitions at the end of the book, she forces the reader (particularly those using Kindles) to stop reading and find the End Notes thus, taking the reader out of the story completely. After a while, the reader may not bother with seeking out definitions of the unfamiliar words rather than leave the story. Also readers may think that the words used are only used by Orthodox Jews when, in fact, they are used (and practiced by) not only the Orthodox Jewish communities but by the Reform and Conservative communities as well.

If you enjoy dystopian stories, this book is for you. If you don’t think you’d like to read YA fiction, try this one, it may surprise with how well written the story is.

My thanks to Bella Books and NetGalley for an eARC.

Dystopian world riddled by antisemitism with queer activists
This is the second book in a dystopian series where the US is split between the liberal States and the Godfearing States (GFS). The novel focuses on two groups of mostly young adults on both sides and there is a lot of queer youngsters who communicate and work together although this is of course illegal in the GFS.
On the white supremacist side of the Godfearing States (and people, do they need to fear their God and his final judgement!!) the noose around the Jewish Ghettos tightens with travel prohibitions, a surge of brutalizing of Jews and the cancellation of citizenship. The author draws several times parallels to what happened in the Third Reich with a pinch of North Korea. Rizzo shows how it is only a very short way from discrimination to Ghettos to concentration camps: It is a slippery slope and resistance is difficult and may cost too much for the individual, their family and their community. I liked that although the focus clearly is on anti-semitism that racism and homophobia are included as well.
What I loved about The Border Crosser is the inside out view of a Jewish orthodox community - the rituals, the way of life. It is a shining focus point and gives non-Jewish or non-orthodox readers a wonderful glimpse into this world. A point is made about „coming out“ (or not) in such a strict religious setting.
I am a bit sceptical about the black-white/evil-good approach of the story and it irked me at times as too simplistic. The story of the resistance itself is a bit slow and I wondered whether the big-bang, if any, will be happening at the end of the trilogy. The book is well written and edited, it is an interesting read but didn‘t get my blood boiling.

Thanks for the ARC via netgalley and Bella Books. The review is left voluntarily.

This story is part 2 of the Papercutter series. It is told from 3 points of view from each of the three main characters, Dani, Judith and Jeffrey. The story picks up right we’re book one left off( you should read it first) The USA has been split into two nations, GFS and the UPR. The teenagers have found a way to smuggle an old iBrain across the border and the techies use a 3D printer to make one for each person in the minyan. So now they can communicate quicker and have group chats. A tragedy befalls Judith and Dani senses that something is wrong. When she learns what has happened she decides she needs to be with Judith and crosses the border to comfort her. The Minyan work together to disrupt the GFS government which is creating more sanctions against the Jewish population in Cincinnati. Jeffery gets a more active role in this story and gains a new friend. Dani becomes more curious about the Jewish Orthodox faith.

The first part of this book has quite a bit of action in it and the second delves deeper in the meaning of the Jewish faith.

I enjoyed this book and look forward to book three in this series. I’m hoping to see more progress in Dani and Judith’s relationship.

An ARC received from Bella Books through Net Galley for a voluntary and honest review.