I love Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder so I always keep my eye out for more of her books. About six months ago I picked up a paperback copy of the second book in the Insider duology, Outside In, at Goodwill for less than $1. I kept hoping to find the first book for cheap too but it never happened (story of my life) so I finally checked it out from the library.
Amazon.com Summary
 |
| MariaVSnyder.com |
Don't Get Noticed.
Or Else.
I'm Trella. I'm a scrub. A nobody. One of thousands who work the lower levels, keeping Inside clean for the Uppers. I've got one friend, do my job and try to avoid the Pop Cops. So what if I occasionally use the pipes to sneak around the Upper levels? The only neck at risk is my own…until I accidentally start a rebellion and become the go-to girl to lead a revolution.
What I Thought - B+
The plot was the strongest part of the novel. The reader starts out with very little information about Inside and its population but what develops is truly awesome. Inside is literally a big box everyone is stuck in and nobody knows why. The lowers are slaves keeping everything from falling apart. It's like a giant maze and the main character, Trella, is the poor mouse scrambling around in the walls trying to get out.
Snyder captured being a teenager pretty well. Trella feels like she's different and she doesn't belong. She is surrounded by thousands of people but still feels like an outsider. She has only one friend and spends most of her time alone inside the pipes. Her friend sucks her into the search for a possible door to outside called Gateway. Nobody knows what it looks like or if it's even real.
I liked the sense of urgency and all of the action elements. Trella was go, go, go all the time and it kept the story exciting. Chomper scares the crap out of me. Who feeds bodies into a giant trash compacter? (oh right, Stephen King does. haha. Check out his short story The Mangler).
The description of Inside made me think they must be in some kind of underground bunker because of a nuclear war or something so I didn't see the twist coming. I can't say anymore about it but it will blow your mind. I am looking forward to finally getting to read Outside In.
Suggestions
Books ~ Incarceron by Catherine Fisher, City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, Under the Dome by Stephen King, Gone by Michael Grant, Across the Universe by Beth Revis
TV ~ Under the Dome
Movies ~ Escape from Alcatraz, The Running Man, Cube, The Mangler, The Mist, The Poseidon Adventure, The Fog, Day of the Dead
COMMENT BELOW! Have you read Inside Out? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.
