Snyder, Maria V.: Outside In
Outside In (2011)
Written by: Maria V. Snyder
Genre: YA/Science Fiction
Pages: 336 (Kindle)
Series: Book Two
Why I Read It: Because I'm an unabashed Maria Snyder fan (we went to grad school together!) and I've read every novel she's written! Also, having a Kindle to instantly download it? AWESOME.
The premise: ganked from BN.com: Me?
A leader?
Okay, I did prove that there's more to Inside than we knew.
That a whole world exists beyond this cube we live in. And finding that led to a major rebellion -- between worker scrubs like me and the snobby uppers who rule our world. Make that ruled.
Because of me, we're free. I thought that meant I was off the hook, and could go off on my own again -- while still touching base with Riley, of course. He's the one upper I think I can trust. But then we learned that there's outside and then there is Outside.
And something from Outside wants In.
Spoilers, yay or nay?: some spoilers, but nothing super-major. However, if you're worried, feel free to skip to "My Rating."
Thumbs Up:
Talk about this book being a little steamy in terms of romance. We don't get anything graphic, but Trella and Riley showering together? That's quite steamy for a YA, and I mean that literally! I didn't mind it, especially considering the way these people have been raised and that no adult seems to mind the direction Trella and Riley's relationship is going: on the Inside, it seems people have to grow up quickly, so the pace of Riley's and Trella's relationship makes sense.
This book also made me wonder if Maria V. Snyder has ever read any of Pamela Sargent's work, notably Earthseed. Not that this book is a carbon copy by any means, but there's similar themes at first, in terms of someone taking control of the ship and forcing those living there to live a certain way. Maybe the plotline itself is a little generic, and that's why I was reminded of the much earlier book, but I was glad to see how Snyder took this rather generic idea (adults/Outsiders know best) and twisted it. I didn't see the real motivation behind the Outsiders until it was revealed that really, they just wanted their ship back and were pretty much happy to send everyone inside the ship to their deaths just to do it. I did have some confusion about who the Outsiders were though: at first, I thought they were aliens due to their technology and their breathing requirements as well as their appearance. Yet later, it's implied that they, too, were human, so really, I have no idea what they Outsiders were are. They don't talk much about their past and the reasons they were exiled, only that they WERE and they're quite ANGRY about it, so we're left to our imaginations as to what and who they really are.
I really liked the relationship between Trella and her mother. There's a lot of tension between these two characters, and it ranges all the way from denial to acceptance, and it worked very well. I also liked seeing just how many people Trella had that supported her, because in the first book, she was more of a lone wolf, you know? There's a hiccup with Riley, sure, but Trella's got a lot of allies, a lot of people she can turn to, even when you're so deep in the mystery and you're not sure who to trust. That's kind of cool. I was a little saddened that she lost her only apparent female friend on the ship, but oh well. It was a good scene, and it helped jumpstart the rest of the ship into taking action instead of believing lies.
Thumbs Down: I didn't like the introduction. Wait, let me rephrase that: the introduction itself was fine (well, a little bit of a clunky way to refresh readers' memories and could've been done with more finesse or dropped completely and trusted the reader to remember), but the label of introduction put me in a nonfiction mindset so I thought I was reading the author's words, not Trella's. Preface or Prologue might've been better, but who knows. I just know that the term introduction is too much a nonfiction thing, and it had me jarred a bit.
Typos are a tricky thing when it comes to the Kindle: I don't know if the same errors are in the physical copy of the book. In some cases, I think I can tell the difference, when a line breaks in a funny place (like the middle of a word) or when a word like Outside is spelled Out Side, stuff like that I think is a Kindle issue. But then there's things that I'm pretty sure would show up in the publication, like early on in the book we hear the Pop Cops were threatening uppers to make them work, but the Pop Cops have been disbanded, you know? On a section where Trella's describing the Expanse and she uses the word Expanse twice in the same sentence.
I also had trouble keeping up with all the characters, especially early on. It's been a while since reading Inside Out and let's face it, I've read a lot since then anyway. Many names are quite similar and with the exception of maybe half a dozen characters, I couldn't remember who people were or why they were important. Oops. It got better as the story progressed and the important characters stood in the forefront, but it took a while to get there.
This is a me-thing, but I'm losing my tolerance for sudden, unexpected violence. I had this problem with Pamela Sargent's books, and here, when Trella meets Sloan for the first time and he slaps her, I was ticked. I know that some people's tempers are time-bombs and what sets them off isn't rational, but when it's a minor character in fiction, it's hard to pull off without being shocking in a bad way. If Riley had done this, or Jacy, it would've been shocking in a good way. But this character neither we nor Trella know? Not so much. I would've rather met Sloan earlier in the book and had a sense to fear him before this happened. After this happens, we learn more about Sloan and he definitely proves to be an asshole, even when he becomes an ally.
Trella's also rather frustrating with her refusal to take responsibility for what's going on. The good news is that she realizes the error of her ways and does everything she can to make things right. The problem is it takes half the book for her to come to that realization.
I have an issue with YA, and that issue is that unless it's made immediately obvious that a character is an ADULT, I assume everyone is the same age as the protagonist. That left me reeling a bit when we learned about Hank having sons who were Trella's age. Sure, maybe Hank was described as an adult earlier in this book and I just missed it, but that's something to keep in mind for anyone looking to write YA: it's too easy to assume, especially in fantasy and science fiction, that everyone is the same age as the protag.
My Rating
Like, Not Love: It's an enjoyable book that's a remarkably fast read. While I prefer Inside Out just a bit more, this is still a great sequel, especially once Trella pulls her head out of her rear and starts taking action. There's a lot of great action in the book and some interesting twists to what's really going on and why, and the book ended on quite the sweet note. Fans of Maria Snyder will be happy with this, and for those of you who like the lighter-side of science fiction but don't want to be bogged down by a lot of technical jargon, this two-book series (you definitely need to read Inside Out first) should definitely fit the bill. Snyder has a great way of pulling readers into her fiction, and she's an author I'm happy to recommend to those looking for something enjoyable and relaxing.
Buy or Borrow: I feel a little bad that I didn't get the physical copy of this, because I own physical copies of all of Snyder's books (some of them twice over) and in particular, I own the hardcopy of the first book in this series. But I'm happy with the download (despite the few annoying typos that no doubt came from Kindle conversion) because that meant I got to read it ASAP, instead of waiting to go to Knoxville. That said, if you're a collector, I'd lean towards getting the physical copy.
Cover Commentary: I like this cover a LOT more than I did the cover of Inside Out (see here). It captures the feel of being in a ship a lot better, but all things being equal, the UK covers to these books are SUPERIOR to the US versions. Just look: Inside Out is here and Outside In is here. Talk about superior! Not only do I prefer the coloring and all the pipes, but they really convey the feel of the novels SO much better! Kudos to the UK cover artist!
Next up: The Habitation of the Blessed by Catherynne M. Valente