Review of "Uploaded" by James W. Hughes

Uploaded (Uploaded Series #1) by James W. Hughes

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How I Got this Book

I bought the Kindle edition of Uploaded for the full price ($2.99) from Amazon.

Summary

In a dystopian Britain, the rich elite lives immortal lives inside the last known city, the Enclave, while the poor live grueling lives in the Outside. Two teenage protagonists, Xander and Rachel, live opposite lives. Xander is the son of the Enclave President, slated to succeed him while Rachel struggles to survive on the Outside. However, an unexpected force threatens both - and their world. They both must join the Underground, the mysterious terrorist group, to save what remains of human civilization.

The Good

By now, 10+ years since the Hunger Games/Divergence craze, we all are familiar with the YA Dystopian genre. Uploaded surprised me with it's clever defying of the usual tropes, from the gay romance subplot to nuanced discussions of terrorism (the intro scene is simply amazing!). 

I also love the abundance of social commentary, most importantly about socioeconomic inequality and environmentalism. Unlike most of the many, many Hunger Games/Divergence copycats, the dystopia of Uploaded actually "makes sense" as a possible result of our current, real-world problems.

The Bad

As much as I like Uploaded's setting, I do think there need to be a bit more "show" of the world-building. The descriptions could be improved. For instance, I was confused about what exactly the "uploading" process entails.

Overall

4 of 5
A great, trope-defying YA dystopian novel!

Sci-Fi/Fantasy Hardness Scale

quartz (7 of 10)

Uploaded is on the hard side of sci-fi.