A novel focusing on a world completely underground sounds intriguing at first, but sadly “Downsiders” by Neal Shusterman fails to grab the reader’s attention and keep them interested.

Shusterman’s 1999 novel starts off quite confusing, following a snowflake before randomly introducing the main characters, giving no background whatsoever to the reader on what is going on.

On the other hand, being thrown into the novel adds some mystery to the story, making the reader want to turn the page and keep reading. But when they do, they find themselves slightly disappointed. The rest of the book falls flat, the plot failing to captivate the reader for more than a few pages.

The book follows Talon, a Downsider who longs to be apart of the Topside, but when he meets Lindsay, a Topsider, their two worlds collide and predictably fall in love. But, their relationship threatens the future of the Downside world, causing a domino effect of unfortunate events as they try to maintain their respective worlds. While there are some surprising twists and turns keeping the novel interesting, the interest does not last long.

Despite blending two different cultures and societies nicely, Shusterman takes an exceptional idea and turns it into a lackluster novel. The characters seemed slightly underdeveloped, lacking the depth needed to connect the reader and the book. While the novel is not bad by any standards, it was too generic and predictable to be considered exciting or stimulating.

Although “Downsiders” was ahead of the sci-fi, dystopian novels that are popular today, it seemed like a second-tier novel compared to many other thrilling fantasy novels, despite Shusterman’s best efforts.