Outside in (An Inside Story, #2)

by Maria V Snyder

[Danielle Ackley-McPhail]

Maria V. Snyder does it again in a gripping sci-fi dystopia in the finest tradition of A Brave New World or 1984.

Same shit, different day, as they say. Or that is as it seems to be turning out now that The Committee is in the seat of power and the Mop Cops slide into the place left vacant by the Pop Cops. Uppers and Scrubs are still at odds, intrigue still abounds, and unrest goes on without hardly a hiccup. And then better becomes worse.

In this sequel to Inside Out, the Force of Sheep have achieved their goals only to lose sight of their envisioned utopia as divisiveness and subterfuge, coupled with a string of catastrophic events—soon uncovered as sabotage—place any future at risk, let alone the one they’d hoped to build for all of the Cube’s inhabitants.

Allegiances are in doubt as martial law once more takes hold Inside. With grim determination abounding; a former Scrub, Trella must once more step forward to unite the inhabitants of her world against a common foe. On several levels she is confronted with the need to commit…while there’s still time.

The strengths of this book lie in the complex inner-dynamics between the characters, the attention to detail, and the inventiveness of the reality. I had some trouble about two-thirds of the way through as the dystopian nature of the book had something of a stranglehold on the plot and I couldn’t face one more thing going wrong for these characters I’d come to care so much about. Please do not mistake me; this is not a flaw in the writing, which is excellent, or the storyline, which is engaging, but my own reaction to the seeming hopelessness of the situation. Once I made myself pick up the book again it was quickly finished the same night, with quite a bit of satisfaction.

I give this book a solid 9 out of 10 for both military aspects and quality.