Review: The Sky Above, The Gutter Below, Two men in both worlds
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 26, 2013
"It was the best of times; it was the worst of times" Charles Dickens.In the Sky the air is fresh and clean, the people can walk around without fear for their lives, if a person can afford it they can get any kind of modification to their bodies they wish, cyber terrorist Daniel Harding lives in this world. The son of the owner of Cybernetix, he is under house arrest for fighting against what his father stands for.In the Gutter, the air is filled with the toxins pushed down from the Sky, the people are downtrodden and walk around with shoulders slumped and in fear, they work in the factories that make the chips and parts the people of the Sky buy, this is Liam's world. A vampire cast out for daring to love a human; with the help of modifications he has become a feared assassin who has been hired to kill Daniel.Two men who are on opposite sides of the fight, once lovers, both betrayed by the same man are thrown together by circumstances that will force them to trust each other and possibly find the love they once lost.Author L.A. Witt paints a picture of a world gone mad, a world where the haves have it all and the have nots barely survive. In her world, money can buy any kind of modification to your body you want, modifications from nanobots to repair internal damage to modifications that can enhance ones senses. Vampires live amongst humans, pouring money into research in hopes of finding a mod that will allow them to go into the sun, while the cybernetics firms tell them the mods will come soon. On the opposite end of the spectrum The Gutter is a dark depressing world where the inhabitants have no hopes of improvement.I was pulled into this short novella from the first page, and voraciously gobbled it up like a big bowl of chocolate, disappointed because I finished so soon but well and truly satisfied. Both Liam and Daniel were men with hidden pasts who, because of circumstances not of their own making, have had to change. Liam became someone to be feared, there isn't much he can't do except go out in daylight. Daniel is not as daring, he works with his mind and has made himself into a cyber-terrorist to be reckoned with; there is not a computer he can't hack. The give and take between these two was perfect.My only complaint with the story is that I would have liked a little more background on the world itself; I was a little confused trying to get a grasp on how the Sky and Gutter came to be and how the vampires were made. Action packed, dark and gritty, fun and sexy, this may be a short novella but there isn't much lacking in content. This is the opening of what, I'm sure, is going to be one heck of a great series, well done Ms. Witt.Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Dual Review Team