Outside In (Insider, #2), by Maria V. Snyder

Release Date: March 1st, 2011
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Age Group: Young Adult
Overall: 5 Stars 
Categories: Sci-Fi, Space Travel, Action
Goodreads Page
Read from November to December 2011

Summary:

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 Opinion:

Thanks to the Insider Series, I now like Sci-Fi books. I didn’t use to; I started Inside Out thinking it was just another Dystopia and ended up being surprised: it was a sci-fi, and I loved it! It was also my first Snyder book, and it got me hooked! Now I want to read every book by her.

Outside In begins where IO left off: the Force of Sheep had won the rebellion, the Insiders learnt they were travelling through Outer Space, the Travas were arrested, a Committee was formed and new levels were discovered. Trella and her friends thought they had nothing else to worry about, but soon they found out how wrong they were.

I truly love how Maria crafts her characters’ personalities, I could sometimes guess how some of them would act, but most of the time, everything was a surprise, which was brilliant!

This book is all about love, trust and betrayal, and making tough choices in the name of everyone on board. Trella must figure out who she can trust and defend everything that’s being threatened in Inside.

A must for Snyder and Sci-Fi fans everywhere!

Inside Out (Insider, #1), by Maria V. Snyder

Inside Out (Insider, #1), by Maria V. Snyder on Goodreads.

Release Date: April 1st, 2010
Age Group: Young Adult
Publisher: Harlequin
Source: NetGalley

Overall: 5 Monkeys
Interest: Series
Categories: Dystopian, Science Fiction

Challenge: 100 Books in a Year
Read between March and April 2011


Summary from Goodreads:

Keep Your Head Down.
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.

My Opinion:

What a great book to introduce me to the work of Maria V. Snyder! Truly amazing! Maria has created a whole new world, for lack of a better term, and it's incredibly exciting to see how it works.

When I started reading it, Trella explained how they lived in a place called Inside, and how it was built. She showed us where she was going in the pipes, but it was hard to keep up with her, I really needed a map! And guess what. I found a map of Inside, after reading the book. So now that I'm done, I can think back on it, and understand her movements better. I really think the map should have been included on the book, so we'd be able to keep better track of Trella's moves through the pipes.

Considered to be the Queen of the Pipes, and not because everyone loved her so much, Trella is a wonderful character, and I loved watching (reading) her evolution on the pages. She starts out as a closed-in character, with Cogon as her only friend (No one recycles Cogon!). But, as she realises how life on Inside really is, and how she has the power to change that, she takes a spin in the other direction. While she couldn't trust anyone before, now she's learning there's strength in numbers.

I loved Riley too. *swoon* He's the Upper who changes Trella's view of the world.

Basically, every single character is written to perfection. They all have their tempers, their characteristics, those things that make them unique, and I love that in a book.

What I love about Dystopian books are the revolutions. I get really excited about them, when I read them, because in the real world, we could really do with a few. And those that are set in motion need our support.

Trella needs to find Gateway, the door to Outside. She'll have a lot of help, a lot of it. The bad guys here are the Trava family, who rule Inside, spreading lies to the Scrubs and Uppers, so they won't unite against them.

The search for Gateway was one of the most thrilling things I've read this year. Trust and treason, friends and enemies, this book has it all. Even love, which I'm a sucker for. And I don't particularly like Sci-Fi, but man, I didn't even know this was a Sci-Fi until the end of the book! So brilliantly introduced! I'm in awe, seriously. 

I'm a new Maria V. Snyder fan, and I'm off to read Outside In. Can't wait to see what happens next!