Glenn's life has always been defined, at least in part, by the Rift. Her family lives on the border of, what she's always been told, is a vast wasteland that was left when technology took off--trans-light travel, cold fusion, and bioengineering, for instance--but part of the land was destroyed in the process and has been off limits ever since. The Rift swallowed her mom years ago, a disappearance that has left her dad distant and obsessed with his scientific work. --- But then her dad says his Project is complete and starts spouting all the crazy conspiracy theories about the other side of the Rift. Then the government destroys her dad's lab and she's on the run with a friend. They stumble across the border to get away and Glenn realizes a number of things: her cat is transformed into a huge, intelligent, upright warrior-beast; technology doesn't work across the border, but magic exists there; her dad wasn't crazy, that the bracelet he created insulates her from the magic and allows her to work technology. suddenly, her eyes are opened to an entirely different reality than she ever thought existed. --- "For over a hundred years, the Magisterium and Colloquium have stayed separate and at peace. The reason that's been possible is that each side knows that any army that tried to cross over to the other's territory would be helpless. Your weapons don't work here. Our Affinity doesn't work there. But this bracelet changes that. If Sturges possessed the technology that's inside of it he could fill the sky with drones and take the Magisterium for himself. And if Garen Tom had it, or the Magistra? Then your home would be invaded by legions far stranger and more deadly than me." --- All Glenn wants to do is return home and go back to the life she's always known, but the powerful and elite from both sides of the border are after her bracelet and won't let her rest. And, perhaps, if her dad was right, somewhere in the Magisterium her mom still lives and the bracelet will be the key to bringing her home. --- I enjoyed the ideas in this book and sometimes found the action compelling, but I didn't feel like I ever really engaged with the characters in a way that would have made it emotional and meaningful.

In sixteen-year-old Glenn’s twenty-second-century world, The Rift is the divide between two very separate societies. Glenn (Glennora) Morgan and her father live in the technologically advanced realm, which is entirely different from the other side. When Glenn was six, her mother disappeared. Since then, her father, a scientist, has been engrossed in building a device that will harness the power to allow him entry into the Rift, where he believes his wife may be imprisoned. No sooner does he finish his project than the “Colloquium Authority” (which has been lying to him all along) tries to obtain the device. It becomes apparent that Authority wants it so badly that it will stop at almost nothing. When her father is suddenly arrested, Glenn and her friend, Kevin, and her cat manage to escape into the Magisterium. Here, the magical Affinity rules and in fact, magic seems to run wild. There is little place for technology – or, as it seems at first, for Kevin and Glenn. Jeff Hirsch has written a fantasy-science fiction novel for teens which features a strong, brave, intelligent protagonist. Combined with a fast-paced and action-filled plot, mystery, and wonderfully descriptive writing, this novel will intrigue readers. Readers who enjoy Magisterium will be interested to know that Jeff Hirsch also wrote The Eleventh Plague, another story set in a dystopian society - in which a horrible influenza strain has killed about two-thirds of the American population.

Awesome book

Dystopic fantasy - Teen gets trapped in a parallel world only to learn that a loved one has become a monster. Good, short plotlines and a girl protagonist that doesn't shy away from confrontation. Her romantic interest is NOT blond, beautiful and athletic. Cool story - hopefully the first in a series