I'm trying to find a series of novels from the '90s that I read as a teenager back then. Here's what I remember (sorry, it's more than a bit vague, but it was a long time ago and my memory fails me):
- French author (pretty sure but not 100%, I read them in French and I don't think they were translated from English)
- I read them in the mid-late '90s and I think they were new at the time so written somewhere in the early to mid-'90s
- Several books, I read probably the first 2 or 3, there were more (already published or coming soon) but my local library didn't have them. Each book wasn't very long.
Plot: the world was a not so far in the future Earth (maybe mid or late 21st century), with heavy anti-globalization themes, criticism of ultra-liberalism and capitalism. The rich lived in a series of ultra-modern cities, interconnected by hi-speed rails and heavily protected, with surveillance etc. The rest of the population (the majority), the poor, lived in desolate slums, called something like "The Rift", in very hard conditions.
The plot I think took place between Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The environment was devastated by global warming and/or other disasters and contamination. Resources were scare. The outside world was very violent and dangerous.
The hero/protagonist was a young man, somehow a rebel, getting involved in a plot to change the system. Engaging in acts of terrorism or whatever fight against the system. There was probably a romantic interest as well.
I enjoyed it at the time, and would be curious to take a look again now.