Outside In by Maria V. Snyder

Release Date: February 15, 2011
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Pages: 320
Review Source: Netgalley eARC for honest review

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)
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 Thoughts:
In some ways I liked this novel better than its predecessor ‘Inside Out,’ yet in other ways I was disappointed by it. In terms of action and trying to solve a mystery, ‘Outside In’ was far superior. Everything that was going on kept my interest, and I was very curious about who was behind all the accidents and sabotage that were occurring Inside.

Character-wise, though, there wasn’t anyone that particularly stuck out. Trella was still interesting, but I thought she was quite immature at times, and Riley always referencing Sheepy (a stuffed animal of his from when he was little), which was really cringe-worthy. Trella and Riley are okay together, but I never really felt the chemistry. They were just together all the sudden, and it got so serious so quickly.

As mentioned, the action in this book is far superior to the previous book. There was a lot of cool exploration of Inside, and there were explosions and fights, yet it wasn’t too action packed that there weren’t quieter moments to balance it out. Unfortunately I found the whole explanation for everything (which I can’t discuss, or I would ruin the book) a bit lame. Maybe it was just the way I read it, but it felt very Cold War-esque: the powers of freedom versus these alien people who had a very Soviet Cosmonaut feel to them.

Again, I liked this book in general. It was a quick and enjoyable read, I just once again failed to connect to it on any deeper level. Other people seem to really like these books, though, so I would definitely recommend checking them out to form your own opinion.

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