Outside In by Maria V. Snyder

Outside In

by Maria V. Snyder

Pub Date: 3/1/11

Rating: 5 / 5 Stars

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Teen for the ARC!

Netgalley blurb:

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.

My Synopsis:

With the Force of Sheep’s success at overthrowing the Trava family dictatorship over the Uppers and Scrubs of the Inside, Trella begins to realize that there are many hurdles and feats that still need to be accomplished in order to have a happy, organized and functioning population of Inside individuals. In place of the Trava dictatorship, a council of 19 members, consisting of 9 Uppers that were major players in the first and now this revolt, 9 Scrub representatives, one for each labor of trade, and then Jacy. Trella refused to be part of the committee but has accepted the role as a consultant for the council.

Trella is aggravated with her time “being wasted” in council meetings, since they don’t take into account her advice, and the council meetings also ebb away the time she wants to be spending doing two of her favorite things: being with Riley and exploring the area of the Inside she discovered that has room and supplies to create 5 more levels.

Shortly after the success of the rebellion, the setting up of the council and commencing the construction of levels 5 and more, strange things begin to occur – attacks on Logan and Trella, disappearing computer files, bombs, and oh the Controllers are taking back control of all the systems. Trella is required once again to step-up and help determine who the perpetrators are, figure out who she can and cannot trust, and guide Insiders, Uppers and Scrubs alike, to defeat the newest threat that has arrived to the Inside, from the Outside.

Review:

**Warning: some spoilers**

Love, love, loved it! MVS has done it again with Outside In and Trella’s story. From the very beginning, I was hooked – hook, line and sinker. I literally inhaled this book in one day. I enjoying discovering more about Riley, Logan and his sister, and Lamont. I also liked the introduction to some of the new characters – I’ll just say some of them you grow to like, only to hate, but accept them again, and then there are some interesting characters that you just want to cut off their oxygen and put a punishment collar on them and perhaps castrate them (but some kind of already are, in a way, haha). The flow of the story from start to finish was good. There were literally no chapters or parts of the book where I felt I could pause at to take breaks – each chapter ending seduces you / intrigues you / puts you on the edge of your seat, so that it’s difficult to part from the book without finishing it.

I really enjoyed reading more about Trella’s character and her behavior – especially how she has to mature, step-up to responsibilities and learn to think / look at the “big picture”. Trella also must face and deal with the reality of her relationship to Dr. Lamont, her birth mother and attempt to be on better terms with Dr. Lamont.

While the introduction of the Outsiders, their arrival, covert tactics and their physical description was a bit hooky in the sense that “OMG teh aliens are coming! And they don’t come in peace!”, I think MVS created a background story for the Outsiders that sounds plausible and is also quite interesting to read about. And to be honest, they make a great plot for the book as Trella and co.’s enemies and threat to the Inside and all who inhabit it. Congrats and thank you again Ms. Snyder for another wonderful novel and I hope there is a third Trella book possibly being considered or in the works.