Book cover of The Bridge

Book description

The City is divided. The bridges gated. In Southside, the hostiles live in squalor and desperation, waiting for a chance to overrun the residents of Cityside.
 
Nik is still in high school but is destined for a great career with the Internal Security and Intelligence Services, the brains behind…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

3 authors picked The Bridge as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The premise of The Bridge, a sci-fi/dystopian young adult novel, grabbed my attention off the hop.

The protagonist, Nik Stais, one of Tornmoor Academy’s top graduates, is shocked when Internal Security and Intelligence Services selects his peers as recruits but leaves him behind. Questioning his privileged Cityside upbringing, Nik is soon forced to venture over a bridge into the hostile Southside, where he finds answers—and also warring factions bent on destroying the City and each other.

Higgins’ complex world-building reminded me of Lois Lowry’s The Giver, John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids, and Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games. With…

I cried at the end of this brilliantly crafted novel about the futility of war.

It shows how an unnamed society might respond to ongoing conflict. Both sides have de-humanised the other; both are committed to revenge and retribution for the daily tragedies; and groups on both sides believe there can’t be peace without the total subjugation of the other.

I really appreciate how Nik’s worldview is shaken – and ultimately widened – when he crosses into enemy territory to find a captured friend. This story is a lesson in how peace can never come without justice, or empathy, told…

This book had me hooked on the first line. We rode to war in a taxi cab. 

Nik and his friends live in a divided city. They are in the wealthy Cityside which is guarded against incursions from poverty-stricken Southside. In Cityside, ISIS (Internal Security and Intelligence Services) select the best and brightest from Nik’s school to become elite agents. He is clever, he’s quick thinking and smart so why is he not chosen?

The world is in chaos, kids are forced to fight for survival. But who is the enemy and are things really as they’ve always been taught?…

If you love The Bridge...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

Want books like The Bridge?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Bridge.

Browse books like The Bridge

Book cover of The Road to Winter
Book cover of Rocco
Book cover of Daughter of Gloriavale: My Life in a Religious Cult

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,366

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like The Bridge, you might also like...

Book cover of The Duke's Christmas Redemption

The Duke's Christmas Redemption by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.

Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…

Book cover of Coyote Weather

Coyote Weather by Amanda Cockrell,

Coyote weather is the feral, hungry season, drought-stricken, and ready to catch fire. It’s 1967, and the American culture is violently remaking itself while the country is forcibly sending its young men to fight in a deeply unpopular war.

Jerry has stubbornly made no plans for the future because he…

5 book lists we think you will like!