As much as I appreciate that this is science fiction rooted in real science, there were too many physics lessons and not enough character development in this one. Ended up skimming the last quarter because I just wasn't invested enough to read at my usual pace.

Huge thanks to @penguinplatform for sending me a finished copy of The Upper World by @FemiFadugba (publishing in August), I've just finished reading it & it was intense. Such a clever #SciFi/contemporary #UKYA - a mix of gangs, physics, football, the foster system, time travel... https://t.co/fgIzDlyNki

I’m afraid to say I did not finish this book. It really was not what I was expecting and I was not gripped by it at all !

I chose this book because it’s a genre I usually enjoy. Not generally time travel, but more supernatural. But I have read books where they look into the idea of time travel.

I don’t think I was the desired audience ?? Perhaps at 34 I’m too old ?? I feel the desired audience would definitely be younger.
I could not grasp the “street lingo” and where it was set in London England to me it came across more American.

I found The Upper World to be to mathematical for myself I sometimes felt like I was back in school in either a Maths or science lesson. Which is the main reason I did not finish this book.

This was not a bad book, but like I said it just wasn’t for me so I think it’s unfair for me to rate it fairly hence the three out of five stars.

I see that this book already has a Netflix deal, and I personally think it will be more impactful on screen than it was on the page. A screenplay will cut out the boring bits, and the futuristic technology will be better portrayed visually. I personally found the technology added nothing to the story, with the exception of the police drones, which added excitement. This didn’t hit the spot for me, I thought it was trying a little too hard. I did enjoy the physics though and can see this becoming a GCSE text in the future as it has many themes and Greg areas.

**3.5 stars**

This was a book I didn’t see coming but was glad I read it.

The comparison to Top Boy and Christopher Nolan was very apt as I saw the balance of the two themes in the book. The in depth analysis of the science made me super happy as I’m such a nerd and it did well to explain the time travel concept. As someone who grew up in South East London, reading Esso’s chapters were very nostalgic and I think Fadugba did well to capture the essence of the that culture in secondary school with the slang and attitude of the characters.

I would have liked the characters to be more developed and their respective plots to be tied up neatly as I felt there wasn’t really closure with some of the characters. The ending was pretty similar to Misfits S3 (and I hated that too) but I can’t always get what I want in books.

All in all, an alright book but I just wish it could have unpacked a bit more to make the read more exciting.

This was an interesting read mainly about forgiving yourself. It's told from 2 POVs in 2 different timelines. I really enjoyed it and I think it would be a great read for the age group it's intended for.
Thanks a lot for this copy.

Esso is having a bad few days: demerits at school, trouble with gang members, an ugly argument with his mum, and a car accident that allowed him to have glimpses of the Upper World (along with some scary predictions about the future.) Will he be able to make the right choices and avoid bloodshed – both literal and the gang leader who’s out to get him?

15 years later, Rhia’s life is also far from simple. Growing up in foster care, with a career in football as her only hope of salvation, she desperately wants to know more about her mother – of whom all she possesses is a blurry photograph. When Esso, now Dr Esso, provides the thinnest thread of information about her past, she pulls it with blind determination, only to see her present life unravel.

With mind-bending physics, great dialogue writing, and understated humour, this is indeed a very cool book. It was great to see London’s marginalised areas from the perspective of two teenagers who are trying to get it right – even though their possibilities are limited. In fact, the book deals with notions of free-will, determinism and fate; and the notion that we can only play with the cards we are dealt (and yet, it is crucial to remember that we must play.)

On the down side, with the exception of young Esso, the characters (including Rhia) were portrayed at arms length, making it difficult to truly get emotionally involved with any of them. Moreover, the ending, as logical and inevitable as it might have been, wasn’t satisfying. Perhaps it all happened too quickly (or easily?) and the postscript was as heavy-handed as the ending of the first Matrix movie.

Still, it was an enjoyable book and I can see it as a great screen adaptation. A mixture of Top Boy’s grit with the humour of Attack the Block.

"Without belief, there's no hope. And without hope, there's just an alleyway full of teenagers who'll soon be hashtags on hoodies"

I have a soft spot for books aimed at children/Young Adults that try and blend identifiable realism and education and the debut novel from Femi Fadugba delivers on both.

The Upper World centres on Esso: a 16 year old boy in modern day South East London, and Rhia: football-loving girl around the same age in 2035. Esso is a smart young man, but he also finds himself caught up in a potentially deadly feud with a fellow student. Meanwhile Rhia finds herself with a new tutor – Esso - who wants her to think outside of the box when it comes to the concept of time, and the speed of light. Told in a back and forth manner between the two main characters, Fadugba Pruces a novel that has an edge. It speaks to many young person's experiences of life in inner cities, especially young black men; and doesn't shy away from harsh realities of the self-fulfilling prophesies that arise when people convince you it is your only choice.

"I'd been taught that people like D and Spark, who lived by the sword, almost always deserved to die by it. But I knew both of them, I knew neither of them had ever asked for swords in the first place. We'd all grown up with the same choices: survive or die. There had to be more."

I love the way physics is blended into the fabric of the novel – it reminded me of how philosophy was used in Jostein Gaarder's - Sophie's World. It is not just Rhia that is getting educated.

Ultimately, it is also a book about moving on, and forgiving yourself.

I see Netflix has landed rights to the book with Daniel Kaluuya set to play the adult Esso.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This novel is told from two different POVs in two different time periods. Esso in the present day feels very much based in reality as a black boy growing up in London (until he sees the future haha) using a lot of colloquial language. The first person storytelling helped give a real insight into both character's mind frame but I found this took a while to get used to initially. There was also a lot of physics and maths interspersed throughout the book as well. Overall, I think the plot was interesting and intriguing, keeping you reading and the characters felt well rounded but I felt the pace was a little slow and it took a while to get hooked.

South London, 2020.

A young boy called Esso gets hit by a car and the impact is life-changing. Not his injuries, he'll recover from those, but during his accident he is transported to The Upper World. Here, he catches a horrifying glimpse of a not-so-distant future fifteen years from now. London looks the same, but feels different, more dangerous. And then he sees Rhia, a lonely young girl in foster care trying to navigate struggles that feel all too familiar to him.

Now, he's only got a few days to figure out how to escape the future he's seen and stop the single bullet that will not only destroy his life, but of this girl he won't even meet for another fifteen years.

The Upper World was the perfect blend of science, unnerving realism and something just slightly magical that gave it it's uniquely otherworldly quality. Learning that Femi Fadugba was indeed a physicist came as no suprise, the world-building and the science behind it all felt so very real and I think I've even learned a thing or two along the way without there being anything too complex to confuse the reader.

Esso and Rhia were both so viscerally real that I couldn't help but connect with them instantly. As we see their struggles with family, gangs, violence and just trying to grow up, it's clear that the characters were the highlight of this novel and they continued to grow and learn on every single page. Most of characters spoke using colloquial language and slang, which if you don't understand could be confusing but just immerses the reader further in the world our duo are living in.

Innovative, engaging and unforgettable - this book is soon to be adapted by Netflix so pick up a copy now and you can say you read it before it was cool.

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Femi Fadugba, Penguin and Netgalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.

Esso is in trouble: he was spotted in the wrong place at the wrong time and now everything is falling apart and he’s about to fulfil his mother’s fears of turning out just like his dad. But when Esso is hit by a car, he is transported to a mysterious realm called the Upper World and has a vision of a terrible tragedy that will happen in the next few days. Esso must work out if there is a way to go back in time and stop the bullet that will devastate not only his own life, but the life of Rhia—someone he will only meet in fifteen years’ time.

It takes a certain amount of writerly confidence to start a YA thriller with Pythagorus' Theorem, but Femi Fadugba nails it. ‘The Upper World’ is a brilliantly conceived and constructed story that explores Plato’s cave theory and Einstein’s Theory of Relativity against a backdrop of teen gang violence in South London. It’s also a gripping page-turner with a huge heart—no wonder Netflix have jumped on this bandwagon.

I love a getting lost in a thrilling time travel story and was really looking forward to getting stuck into this book as it sounded perfect for me, however I really struggled with it. I found the language of the book distracting. From the patois of the teenagers to the continuous explanations of the science, it felt jarring and at times clumsy. It was a barrier that stopped me fully immersing myself in the drama and actually caring about Esso & Rhia. I noticed that I was having to reread several paragraphs as my mind was wandering and not properly taking in the events on the page.

The Upper World just didn’t connect with me the way that has clearly has with other reviewers and that just left me feeling disappointed as I really wanted to enjoy it, instead it just left me with a lacklustre feeling.

The Upper World is like nothing I have ever read.

The first thing I want to say is I completely love the dialogue in this book! It feels really urban and realistically modern. More of this style of writing is really needed to engage young readers. I personally loved it but if you don't know your street slang its time to brush up and get with it, you are going to need it to follow this dialogue.

The book is set in two different times, from 2 different view points. Esso who lives in South London and gets mixed up with a gang and 15 years later in 2035 we follow Rhia who's a foster child searching for answers about her parents. A moment from the past leads them to the Upper World a place where the future can be viewed.

The book covers a lot of time, space, relativity and general scientific underpinning logic. It's quite easy to get a bit lost in it but for me, how time travel happens in this book didn't really matter. Ultimately this is science fiction, i'm no physicist, it's unlikely I was ever going to 'get' time travel so I didn't waste to much time overthinking it.

I did find the first half a little slow paced, I don't know why, a lot actually happened, it just took me a bit of settling in but there is so much I appreciate about this book.

The strength of characters was a huge part of my enjoyment of the story.
Oh my goodness did chapter 18 kill me?! I felt so strongly for the character because of the development and depth of writing leading up to the event, that I was heartbroken.
Hats off to Femi Fadugba for tearing up my emotions with very little warning, it made for a stunning chapter.

Fadugba nails the atmosphere. In both the current world and the future world the culture and gritty reality of the South London world he builds completely shines.

If you like science fiction and time travel this book is for you! Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for sharing this ebook with me in exchange for my honest review.

So good! Mind blown! A time-travelling life-or-death thriller from the streets of Peckham and the mind of physicist @femifadugba Hard science and real life drama. #Physics and #football. #YAcrossover #STEM perfect summer reading.

This book has the makings of an interesting read. Sadly I had difficulty with two fundamental parts of the story. Much of the dialogue uses street-speak that is not obvious and it is easy to lose track of what is being said. In addition, the science that underpins the plot is explained repeatedly and using analogy but is still hard to make sense of. There is a good sense of pace and largely it is easy to follow the changes in the timeline and point of view. The ending was a bit of an anticlimax, but everything was resolved.

The rating reflects my lack of comprehension and its impact on the read, perhaps with a younger audience it would be more meaningful

Esso is a pupil in an inner London comprehensive school, trying to navigate through friendship, girls, and gang culture.
A generation later, Rhia, a gifted footballer who was brought up in care, is trying, and failing, to fit in with her team.
Add a whole new “upper world” where time and space act differently, which is somehow connected to Esso’s absent father.
When under extreme stress, Esso somehow visits this world and sees various futures.
Then add a lots of physics, in great detail, and explanations of Einstein’s theory of relativity.

By now, there was far too much going on for me to follow the logic of the story – I continued, but didn’t enjoy it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Children’s UK for the opportunity to read this book.

Femi Fadugba’s excellent debut is much more YA science fiction thriller than horror, however it has such a diverse and vibrant south London vibe I just had to give it a big shout out. Amazon says it is being developed into a Netflix film, I hope that is the case as I would love to see the areas of Peckham and Brixton (two interconnecting south London areas) feature on screen. I live very close to Brixton and really enjoyed the slang, street life and authentic feelings of black teenagers struggling with gangs, poverty and the impossible dream of escaping. The book uses slang words which my fifteen-year-old daughter uses, so if you don’t know what ‘peng’ means you’ll have to use a modern slang dictionary. Fadugba has a scientific background and it shows throughout The Upper World, which is a clever and captivating blend of gang warfare, physics, street violence, philosophy and time travel. I’m not going to pretend to understand the quirky detours into physics, some kids might find it very confusing, but I did enjoy them and much of the novel is grounded in science and quantum physics.

Not surprisingly, for a book about time travel, The Upper World is set in two different times which are cleverly interconnected. London in 2020 in which teenagers run in gangs and a near future 2035 version of the city which is credibly different but still recognisable, with teens having similar problems, but with certain escalations. Fadugba’s future is scarily similar to ours, where the surveillance state is even more oppressive than it is today. London itself is instantly recognisable, vibrant, multi-cultural, magnificent and dangerous where we meet our main character Esso who is struggling at school, avoids gangs and has the usage teenage hangs ups. Soon he discovers he has the ability to see glimpses of the future, he becomes haunted by a vision of a bullet fired in an alleyway with devastating consequences. The second plotline is set a generation later, fifteen-year-old Rhia, who is in the care home system and is a talented footballer and is desperately searching for answers - and a catastrophic moment from the past holds the key to understanding the parents she never got to meet. The book silkily leads both characters into the Upper World, which had other sequences I did not understand, but its strengths were its engaging lead characters and authentic location which portrayed local gang feuds. AGE RANGE 12+

This dual POV, split timeline YA thriller is an explosive story of time-travel, precognition, and physics! The book follows Esso in the present day, who discovers the Upper World and that he has the ability to see the future and possibly change it. Fifteen years later, a girl called Rhia becomes involved with this, eventually becoming pivotal to the consequences of Esso’s actions.

This story never had a dull moment, and the writing style lent itself to contributing to the fast-paced feel. The plot was really well structured, especially in terms of how the two timelines would intersect and the way that I as the reader began piecing the two stories together. The author did a great job of leaving one perspective off on a cliffhanger, only to go back to the other perspective and leave me impatiently waiting for the story to shift back so I could get some answers! It meant that I ended up reading about 70% of the story in one day, so it was definitely addictive!

I really enjoyed both Esso’s and Rhia’s first-person narrations, as a character-driven reader I always enjoy seeing the character’s thoughts and feelings play out within the scene, which the author did a great job at portraying. The characters also accurately portrayed teenagers in terms of their language and how they behave, which is sometimes rare in YA books. It meant that they were flawed and made questionable decisions, but this was understandable given their ages. I liked seeing such a high-stakes story from the perspective of individuals who didn’t know what was happening, which would definitely be the case if a teenager faced what they had to deal with!


I highly recommend this book for YA time-travel and thriller fans. Also, it’s being adapted into a Netflix show, so definitely read it before watching that!

What a brilliant book! Had me hooked from the start!
We follow Esso, a teenager living in a part of town plagued by gangs and crime. Esso is different though; he can time travel…
We also meet Rhia, another teenager coping despite her life being upside down…
But how are these characters connected despite living 15 years apart?
For fans of Malorie Blackman - definite Noughts and Crosses vibes…

I loved this book.

The two main characters are so engaging, the writing has it's own peculiarity and rhythm that immerses you straight into the narrative and the story is uniquely imaginative in a way that I just adored.

It has physics geekery that leads to the possibilities of time travel and an emotionally charged plot wherein the race across time and space to stop and change one single moment is simply stunning in its addictive quality.

I devoured this. I was with it all the way, edge of the seat moments interspersed with vividly presented quieter moments and contemplative tones made for an absolutely brilliant read that went straight onto my books of the year list.

Highly recommended.