Publisher's Synopsis
The love story of Niko and El unfolds against the backdrop of a brutal dystopian regime in a city ruled by Premier Villinkash, his Overseers, Protectors and Watchers.Following the "Collapse," trust and hope have ceased to exist, memory has been "Cleansed" and electronic InCom screens monitor the people with daily lists to follow while they urge people to inform on neighbors. Children born during the Collapse are housed in penitentiary-like "Centers."When Niko escapes one of these centers, he melts into the city and begins life on the street. One day he meets lovely, innocent, El, who's been raised by two elderly nuns in the last convent to survive the Collapse.Niko and El's developing love is threatened when Niko is forced to compete in the regime's cynical rooftop motorcycle race where only one rider can possibly survive.Although Niko survives, when he chooses as his prize not one of the pimped up girls the regime has pre-selected, but the girl he loves - natural, innocent, El - he instantly becomes an enemy of the state. Relentlessly hunted after a bold escape from the Compound where he and El have been sequestered, even El has turned on him after being humiliated at the hands of the regime. But they are thrown together again in a desperate attempt to survive the Regime's wrath. While Niko and El hide and run, an urban guerrilla force of children trained by renegade priest, Father Ignatius, using the name "Niko" as their resistance cry, wreak havoc on the regime while Niko and El reluctantly rely on each other for a dangerous overland expedition to Zamora, a possibly mythical place where, if they can find it, they hope to be safe.Zamora probes whether love can survive a brutal political regime that pits people against each other to secure its hold on power. Surprise twists and turns in this intricate plot will keep readers guessing about who is really on the side of good and who can be trusted when all is not what it appears.
