Vox by Christina Dalcher

In the world of Vox by Christina Dalcher, extremist Christians have taken over education, politics, healthcare, the banking system, and government in general in the United States. A televangelist is in a position of power in the government and the "separation of church and state" no longer exists. Dr. Jean McClellan didn't see it coming but her grad-school roommate did. While the earliest movement toward the far right was slow, things moved quickly after the latest president moved into office and women have been forced to stay quietly married at home, choose a mate, or face the consequences.

Change came quickly: the job losses, the wrist trackers, and the silence. Women in the America of Vox are no longer allowed to work, control money, or speak more than 100 words per day. The punishments for disobedience and aberrations (like homosexuality) are severe.

But, then something happens. The president's brother has been injured in a ski accident and the part of the brain that was Dr. McClellan's area in her research is the part that he's damaged. Suddenly, people are begging her to return to her work to find a cure. She's only interested under certain conditions. But, she knows that as soon as her work is done, she'll be back to subservience and quiet. And, there's something fishy going on. Did someone know the president's brother was going to suffer an injury? Is there more to the job than meets the eye?

Jean knows that she needs to find the answers but she also needs to try to drag out her research long enough to find a way to keep from returning to the circumstances of the past year. Will she be forced to rush a cure and return to being locked in silence, unable even to use hand gestures to speak? Or, will Jean and her friends and fellow researchers find a way to end the silence?

Highly recommended - I was so gripped by this book that I didn't want to set it down, the night I opened it. The result was a book in the face. Oops. I finally had no choice but to turn the light out because I kept falling asleep. But, I picked it up as soon as possible and finished it, the next day. Funny, since I'd seen mixed reviews and was concerned. I would never have guessed it would end up on the favorites pile. Good surprise! I did think there was a little bit of convenience to one particular plot point, and after I closed the book another plot point started to make very little sense, on reflection, but . . . who cares. I loved it.

My thanks to Berkley Books for the review copy! And, yes, I agree with the cover quote saying Vox is "sure to beg comparisons" to The Handmaid's Tale. I did occasionally think of Margaret Atwood's own dystopian version of a women-suppressing, mysogynistic society. Christina Dalcher's world, though, is unique. I never had the sensation that she was borrowing from Atwood in any way.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

After the Flood by Kassandra Montag

"I keep thinking grief feels like climbing a staircase while looking down," she said. "You won't forget where you've been, but you've got to keep rising. It all gets farther away, but it's all still there. And you've only got one way to go and you don't really want to go on rising, but you've got to. And that tightness in your chest doesn't go away, but you somehow go on breathing that thinner, higher air. It's like you grow a third lung. Like you've somehow gotten bigger when you thought you were only broken." 

~ fr. p. 282 of Advance Reader Copy, After the Flood (Some changes may have been made to the finished copy)

100 years in the future, after climate change has led to such widespread flooding that cities and mountains are buried, Myra and her daughter Pearl struggle to survive. Myra was abandoned by her husband — who took their daughter, Row, with him — during the early days of the Earth-drowning flood. She was pregnant at the time and has been traveling the world on a boat her grandfather built, Bird. Myra and Pearl fish and trade in the few small port towns at what used to be mountain peaks but now are the last remnants of land.

When Myra finds out Row (short for Rowena) is still alive but in danger of a new horror, she decides she must rescue her eldest daughter. But, that means traveling across the North Atlantic, which is prone to rough waters and deadly storms. Her boat isn't strong enough. Then, she and Pearl find another way. I won't spoil the plot point that lands them on a separate boat.

At first, it seems like they've found a fairly harmonious little group of people to sail with, but all is not as it seems. Myra lies about wanting to look for Row, instead saying she's heard The Valley, the place Row is located, is a great place for settlers. But, she knows it's been overrun by a group known as the Lost Abbotts and that she has little time to rescue her daughter. There are also the Lily Black to deal with, basically pirates who murder and plunder. It's a vicious new world. Pearl is going through a stubborn adolescent phase and has an odd affinity for snakes. Myra knows she could be kicked off the ship for lying. Daniel, a man Myra rescues, and the ship's captain, Abran, have dark secrets of their own. And, absolutely everyone has one or more losses they're grieving.


Recommended - I found After the Flood a slow-paced read, apart from the occasional heart-pounding action scene, and one of my biggest problems with it was that I didn't particularly like Myra. She was strong, resourceful, and had a lot of interesting survival skills, though, so what I did like was reading about how she and Pearl survived and thinking about that world and the what-ifs. What would I do if I was in this situation? Would I say or do the same things? Would I choose to live on land or go from port to port, like Myra? How would I survive?

In spite of the fact that I thought the book could have been tightened up a little, I enjoyed it. In general, I found the world-building fascinating and if a dystopian novel is readable enough (while slow of pace, the writing was solid enough to keep me going and I did want to know whether or not Myra and Pearl would find Row), I will finish a dystopian for the experience of imagining myself in that world. So, I most enjoyed After the Flood for the way it made me think and for some adventurous, heart-pounding scenes. It can be brutal but I love the way a dystopian novel makes me ponder.

I received an ARC of After the Flood from HarperCollins for review. Many thanks!

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Splinterlands by John Feffer

Splinterlands by John Feffer is set in a dystopian future, where climate change and the splintering of nations has led to a violent, shattered world beset by food shortages and flooded shorelines. A former professor who became famous for his prediction about what would happen narrates. The book is his reflection as he lay dying -- complete with footnotes by an unnamed analyst. He recalls what occurred and how his personal mission to visit his family (using futuristic technology that allows a 3-dimensional avatar to walk around and speak to people as if he's there, while he stays home in bed), also splintered and scattered around the world, unfolds. His prediction, which brought him fame when it largely came true, was written in our time, as Brexit was beginning the downfall of the European Union and inactivity on climate change was causing that change to accelerate.

After he visits each of his family members, something sinister happens. They each disappear. The family has broken up for varying reasons and as he meets up with each member of the family individually, they dredge up the past and resume their arguments. Since they argue all over again, it's possible they simply can't tolerate him and have opted to cut off contact deliberately. But, one of his children lives a shady lifestyle. Could the disappearances have something to do with him?

Recommended but not a favorite - I found this book a bit on the dry side. It's written formally, like an academic paper, because the narrator is a former professor. And, of course, it's interrupted by footnotes clarifying the narration. But, it's worth sticking it out for the ending and I think the author did a great job of imagining a future scenario based on current events. He humorously used a hurricane named Donald that destroys Washington, D. C. as one of his defining events.

I bought my copy of Splinterlands from the publisher, Haymarket Books. They occasionally have fantastic sales online. I recommend following them on Twitter, if you happen to tweet.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Power by Naomi Alderman

This is going to be another one of those book reviews in which I confess to being the odd reader out. The Power has so many things going for it. It's a favorite of President Obama! Margaret Atwood wrote a positive blurb! It won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction! It's dystopian!

And, I confess to loving the first 100 pages. It was gripping, unique, the writing is sharp, I was fascinated by the characters. I could barely put the book down. Then, it began to slip and here is probably where my opinion diverges from that of a lot of people who know and appreciate good writing. I didn't like the direction it took. It's not that the writing became any less tight or exceptional. Naomi Alderman is an excellent writer. But, the book didn't fulfill my personal hopes for a world in which the patriarchy is subdued by the sudden acquisition of physical power on the part of women. So, I acknowledge that The Power is an excellent piece of writing but one I grew to dislike because of the direction the author chose to take. It's a taste thing, not a writing thing.

Neither recommended or not recommended - Since I think the one thing I disliked about this book was its direction and the violence that came of the choice on the part of women to abuse power when it came into their hands, I would never tell anyone not to read The Power. But, it wasn't for me.

Incidentally, I decided to skip the synopsis because this one is everywhere, but I'd really like to know what my readers think about how I normally handle reviews. This is something I ponder, now and then (especially at the beginning of a new year). I like to write a brief synopsis -- admittedly, I am often not as brief as I'd like to be -- because when I go to a blog to read someone's thoughts, I don't necessarily know anything about the book they've opted to review. You, the blogger, may be my introduction to a book. I want to know what the story is about before you tell me your thoughts about it. Like everyone else, I hate spoilers. So, when I write a synopsis, I try to avoid them, but I've occasionally been informed about my failures.

Opinions? Thoughts?

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

When I received my shiny, pretty copy of Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich from HarperCollins, I didn't notice that the cover is a glossy ultrasound image. It was only when I went to add the book to my current reads that it became clear. So, what does the storyline have to do with the cover image? The protagonist, Cedar Songmaker, is 4 months pregnant at the opening of the book.

Future Home of the Living God is set in a dystopian near future. Climate change has altered the environment and the human race has stopped evolving and begun to slide backwards at an alarming rate. Pregnant women are being seized by the government. What is happening? Scientists have not been able to figure out why humans are losing ground, have no idea how to reverse the problem. And, people are beginning to panic.

Because she wants her child to be born as safe and healthy as possible, Cedar has decided to seek out her birth parents to learn about her family's medical history. Meanwhile, her adoptive parents have disappeared and the father of her child eventually reappears in her life. Will Cedar be able to remain hidden from view until after the baby arrives? Will the baby be normal or a less evolved creature? How will she and the child hide after its birth?

Those questions were enough to keep the pages turning and I really liked Louise Erdrich's writing, but I had some issues with the world building. As I was reading, I expected the usual peeling of the onion, plot-wise. I presumed that the author would make it clear, for example, why the societal structure was going to pieces, why there was a run on banks, why people would panic and go all Lord of the Flies. I understood why a pregnant woman might be in danger because The People in Charge might feel that it might be necessary to come up with some sort of breeding program that necessitated keeping the healthiest, most intelligent, closest-to-normal babies separate from those who were reverting to a more primitive form. That seems like a pretty obvious concept in a world where the opposite of evolution is taking place. But, I never felt like there was enough basis for such a complete collapse of the societal network, primarily because I couldn't buy into the concept that evolution could reverse itself so quickly that people would worry that soon they wouldn't be human at all.

Neither recommended or not recommended - I have mixed feelings about Future Home of the Living God because there was a great deal that I liked about it but I felt like there were too many pieces missing. Sure, panic could cause things to go blooey, but evolution is such a slow process that a sizeable cross-section of humanity doesn't even believe it exists. The idea that it could reverse itself at such speed just didn't work for me. And, yet, I loved the characterization, the setting, the use of the heroine's Native American heritage, and the way the book made me think. So, it was definitely not a waste of time and I'm glad I read it. I just closed the book feeling a little unsatisfied because I didn't feel the questions the plot was structured around were suitably answered.

I still have a copy of Louise Erdrich's last book on my TBR piles. I started LaRose and was enjoying it but set it aside because I had too many books going at once, last year. Even though Future Home of the Living God didn't entirely work for me, it has definitely made me want to return to LaRose. Erdrich is clearly an excellent writer and I always, always appreciate the use of Native Americans in literature as I feel they're underrepresented.

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Salt Line by Holly Goddard Jones

The Salt Line begins with a group of people who are preparing to go on an expedtion. The world is dystopian, a near-future world in which a deadly tick has caused the United States to be subdivided into zones. The characters we're following are mostly wealthy people from the Atlantic Zone who are going to an Outer Zone in the region that used to be known as the Smoky Mountains. In this future world, people are presumably crammed into cities in the regions that are safe from tick infestations and have little to no exposure to nature. Some zones only experience periodic outbreaks but that's enough to make their inhabitants poorer, their zone less desirable and populous.

We get to know the characters while they're doing their training. Edie is a former bartender who is partnered with the man she's been dating, an online pop star named Jesse. Wes is a fabulously wealthy tech start-up genius who came up with what I presume is a banking system and his partner (on the expedition, each has to have a partner to "stamp" them in the event of a tick bite) Marta is the wife of a mob boss with political aspirations. There's a brother and sister, a married couple who are both lawyers, and some others who have lesser roles. Tia and Andy are their guides.

After the training, the participants don suits that are designed to protect them from ticks and hike to their first campsite. At this point, I was still convinced I was reading a survival story. But, not long after, there's a surprising plot twist that changes the entire character of the novel and the question is no longer, "Will they survive the dangerous Outer Zone or will some die of Shreve's, the deadly illness carried by the ticks?" but "Will anyone survive?" There is some violence and plenty of deaths but fortunately The Salt Line is not too gory, although there is at least one totally gross infestation in which the ticks reproduce and then explode out of one of the adventureres' skin. Ewww.

I found The Salt Line riveting most of the time, but there were moments of exposition that I found tiresome. I'm not sure I always needed that extra bit of character development that came via flashbacks and storytelling by characters. But, that was one of only two complaints I had. The other was the fact that I did have a little difficulty buying into a world in which an entire country had been subdivided on the basis of the presence of a disease-brearing tick. Granted, the author did explain that there was no foolproof defense - no preventive cream or suit had a 100% success rate and the ticks burrowed so quickly that even using the so-called stamp that pulled them out and burned the eggs was no good if you didn't act fast. Would that be enough to drive people into the most crowded regions to survive? I don't know. It felt like there needed to be some other driving factor to explain the mass migration.

Regardless, I enjoyed the reading, the uniqueness of the world building and storyline, the character development (bearing in mind that there were a lot of characters and not all were in need of the same depth of treatment), and the surprising plot twists. There were a couple major plot points that I anticipated but I didn't find the book generally predictable so they were not bothersome. I did sense the author's presence in the "Who will live and who will die?" aspect. But, she did a good job of developing characters with flaws, some more likable than others, and I liked where she took the characters who were the kindest.

Recommended - Surprising in many ways, The Salt Line is a very good read with well-developed characters, unique world-building, and an unusual storyline that shifts dramatically, partway in. I will be looking for more by this author.


©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

I considered not bothering to review The Handmaid's Tale because I think everyone I know has read it and what could I possibly have to say that hasn't already been said? But, I like to write down my thoughts, so I overruled myself.

The Handmaid's Tale is about Offred, a young woman who must dress in a long red dress that covers all but her hands and head. On her hands, she wears gloves when out in public; her head and face are covered with a white headdress with flaps on either side of her face so that she must turn her entire head to see anything not directly in front of her. She goes out to get food rations and meets up with another young lady dressed in red. Sometimes the person she meets is not the same one she walked with, before, and she knows that's a bad thing. When they walk past a wall that used to be part of a university, there are often bodies hanging and Offred looks to see if any of them happens to be her former husband.

Before she was Offred, she had another name, a husband, a child, and a job. What happened to her world and why is Offred nothing more than an object that belongs to the man of the house, now, subservient to the man's wife and doomed to labor or death if she doesn't conceive within a certain length of time? Where are Offred's husband and child? Who is in charge in this strange, dystopian world?

Not every question is answered but I personally think the way Margaret Atwood gradually reveals the story of Offred's past (if her real name was ever mentioned, I've forgotten it) was masterful. The Handmaid's Tale is both riveting and horrifying. I recall the ending as somewhat hopeful (although it's been over a month and I've forgotten quite a bit, already) but most of the way through the book, the sensation of Offred being utterly and completely trapped overwhelms the small rays of hope. Even when something important changes, there's always the lingering possibility that she could be put to death for that small change in her life.

Is this even remotely possible? That's the question that I think most people ask themselves, and they tend to shake it off as ridiculous. But, throughout the reading of The Handmaid's Tale, I kept returning to the thought of women in the Middle East, pre-Al Qaeda and Taliban. I don't want to post an image that might be copyrighted, so I'll just link to the one that really jumps out at me: Women in Kabul, 1970s and today. The fact that women used to be doctors and lawyers, dressed like women in the Western world, drove, and went to college and actually sometimes had rights before American women achieved them (Afghanistan allowed women to vote before the United States) seems to have been forgotten.

In The Handmaid's Tale, the oppressor is unnamed but there are hints that it's a religion dictating the treatment of women as vessels for reproduction or slaves and little else. I found myself wondering if Atwood based the book on what happened in the Middle East. Would women who lived in Kabul in the 70s have imagined what was about to happen to them? I don't think so. And, because of what has already happened in our world, I think I can safely say The Handmaid's Tale is more possible than we'd like to admit. Some of it seems a little far-fetched (the weird ceremonies, for example), but the oppression of women has happened and certainly could happen in other parts of the world.

Highly recommended - Mood-wise, The Handmaid's Tale is miserable. It's depressing and terrifying and sometimes gruesome. But, it's so beautifully done and so thought-provoking that I can see why people have been gushing about it for years. Unlike more recent dystopian reads, many of which are geared toward teen readers, there's no love triangle, no great hatching of a plan to fight back against the oppressor, and the small thread of hope is so slender that it's hard to believe it will amount to anything. I did eventually get to discuss The Handmaid's Tale with an online group, although only a few participated and I keep thinking I would love to someday reread The Handmaid's Tale with my big, noisy F2F group. I'm sure the discussion would be lively.

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Fireman by Joe Hill

The Fireman is set in a dystopian world where a fungus commonly known as Dragonscale that can cause people to literally go up in flames has infected a large portion of the population and caused out-of-control wildfires, disruption of services like electricity, and a divided society in which some of the healthy are determined to exterminate the infected to prevent further spread of the disease.

Harper is a nurse who volunteers to work at a hospital, helping with the outbreak. When she becomes infected, her husband Jakob presumes he's infected, too, and says he wants to go through with "our plan" (really, his plan) to commit suicide. Harper escapes with the help of John, also known as "The Fireman". John has figured out a way to not only live with the infection but use it to his advantage. He takes her to a campsite where a community of the infected — who have learned to live with Dragonscale and keep it from consuming them — are hiding from the Cremation Crews killing their kind. Jakob becomes one of the killers and he is determined to kill his pregnant wife. Harper is equally determined to survive long enough to give her child a chance.

OK, the good and the bad. I liked Harper and John, although John spends most of his time alone on a small nearby island, so the titles seems a wee bit off. Eventually, he becomes more prominent but the story is really Harper's. However, the story is about a disease that sets people on fire, so that falls into the "eh, whatever" category.

As usual, Hill goes all-out with popular culture references, using favorite music, a Dr. Who reference ("Allons-y!"), quotes from various books and allusions to them, etc. I'm not all that familiar with Stephen King's work but apparently there are some parallels to his father's work, as well. I felt like he went way overboard on the pop culture references; it got a little too cutesy and I found it annoying, particularly the music and Harper's bizarre love of Mary Poppins. That was a negative.

The characterization was very good but not quite as deep as it has been in previous books. In NOS4A2, there was no question who was evil and who you were rooting for. I found that a little harder to pinpoint in The Fireman, possibly because there are so many characters. Some just didn't stick; there were hints about at least one having darker motives; one or two became surprise baddies.

And, the violence . . .  this nearly did me in. I am pretty much convinced that I'm not going to read future books by Joe Hill. Much of the book is palatable and even a bit plodding as it focuses on camp life with just a few dangerous missions. But, once it became violent, it was relentless and vicious. I prefer to avoid images that lead to nightmares and this was nightmare-inducing stuff. Also, there was a cat-murder scene. I'm a cat lover; I can do without that kind of horror.

The best thing about the book is the pacing. It took a while for me to get into the book, possibly because I was suffering from jetlag, but even when I couldn't keep my eyes open I was aware that it was well-paced. The pages really flew, once I got past the fatigue. High marks for excellent packing.

The storyline itself is also one that deserves acclaim for its uniqueness. In a book world saturated with dystopian tales, Hill really came up with something totally his own.

Overall, The Fireman is not my favorite by Hill (the short stories in 20th Century Ghosts still are his most impressive work, in my humble opinion) and yet I liked it better than NOS4A2 because there are breaks between the intense scenes; I appreciated the early focus on characterization and the fact that there was less violence. Once it became violent, though, it was just a bit too much for this reader.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Echo Boy by Matt Haig

Echo Boy by Matt Haig
Copyright 2014
The Bodley Head - YA/Sci-Fi - Dystopian
Source: Purchase

Note on the purchase:  I've read two books by Matt Haig. One was a children's book, To Be a Cat, the other, The Radleys, for adults. I thought To Be a Cat was exceptionally creative, entertaining writing and The Radleys had surprising depth for a book that at its surface appeared to be yet another inventive spin on the vampire story.

I've also come to admire Matt Haig as a human during the couple years that he's been one of my tweeps on Twitter. Ever notice how when you really start to like an author as a human you feel like it's worth going that extra mile to acquire their work? That has become the case with Matt Haig. I only had a minor understanding of what Echo Boy was about and it hasn't yet been released in the U.S. but I figured, "Hey, I really like what I know of this author and I'm pretty besotted with his writing."  I really wanted to read his latest in a timely manner. So, I ordered it from Book Depository and, while I was at it, also ordered a copy of The Humans, both because I've heard so much about it and because I prefer the British cover.  Two birds, one stone.

Brief synopsis:

Audrey has never liked Echos, created humanoids who are devoid of emotions, designed to work for their human masters but not to feel. But, she tolerates her family's Echo, Alissa. Even though Alissa's a little creepy, they've really needed help since her father's accident. Then, one day Alissa becomes a killer. Audrey escapes the murderous Echo only to find herself surrounded by Echoes, living in her wealthy uncle's mansion. Daniel is an Echo who works in uncle Alex Castle's home. But, there is something unusual about Daniel. He is a prototype, one of a kind, and he has a message for Audrey. Is Audrey's fear of Echoes unfounded? Can Daniel be trusted? And, what about her uncle? Audrey's family had an Echo created by Sempura, but Alex Castle is the head of Castle Industries, the leading creator of Echoes. Is Audrey safe with Uncle Alex or is she in danger?

My thoughts:

I'm not sure of the exact time period but since the characters occasionally say, "That's so 2090," Echo Boy is clearly set over 150 years in the future. There were moments that I found myself fighting acceptance of this future world but at the same time there were things I loved about it; for example, the flooding and other alterations on Earth due to climate change and some of the newer technology (as fast as it's changed in my own lifetime, much of it seemed plausible). But, it did take some time to immerse myself in this futuristic world and believe in it before I began to really love the story.

Once I'd accepted the author's world building, I became so enraptured by Echo Boy's' storyline that when I closed the book I didn't want to leave that new world and it sent me into a horrendous reading slump. Personally, I think that's high praise.  I also liked Audrey and Daniel enough that I would be perfectly happy if Matt Haig wrote a sequel.

Highly recommended - While I found the futuristic Earth initially difficult to buy into, once I did the story grabbed me hard and I absolutely loved the experience of living in the pages of Echo Boy's dystopian, climate-change-screwed world so much that I had trouble letting it go.  Perfect for YA lovers, dystopian fans, sci-fi fans and other escapists. Great storytelling, a unique world, terrific characterization -- an all-around fun, adventurous read.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

On Such a Full Sea by Chang-Rae Lee

The wake lasted for another hour or so, and probably would have gone on for hours longer had the skies not suddenly clotted up and the winds blown in yet another immense storm system, one that would hover for weeks in a slowly unwinding gyre, the sun blocked out the whole time so that all you could see in your waking and your sleep was not brightness or darkness but a waxen shimmer, as though everything were stuck behind a grimy piece of glass.

~ from p. 31, Advance Reader Copy of On Such a Full Sea (changes may have been made to the final print version)

On Such a Full Sea by Chang-Rae Lee is a dystopian novel set, near as I can tell, approximately 200 years or so into the future. There's no real explanation of what horrors poisoned the air and ground and caused a ragged end to civilization in the United States, although I thought the implication was that nothing was done to halt the use of damaging chemicals throughout the world, that climate change and population increases took huge tolls and that the political climate in the U.S. eventually became so unstable that the country basically went to pieces.  Those are all just suppositions on my part.

The central storyline in On Such a Full Sea revolves around a tiny young lady named Fan who lives in a complex in the former city of Baltimore (now known as B-Mor), a labor-class village that has been around for just over 100 years, since the ancestors of the current residents were brought over from China.

Fan works in the fish tanks that supply meat for the Charters, the wealthiest and most intelligent people, who have closed their own communities to all but those from whom they purchase goods or services. It's very rare for someone in a place like B-Mor to pass the stringent tests that will allow one to cross over to life in a Charter village. Outside of B-Mor is the county, where people who are for some reason unable to live in either the Charter or labor villages live bleak and dangerous lives.  People are captured, traded or killed if they're not considered of any value in the county. Nobody outside B-Mor can be trusted. Seriously, nobody.

Fan is especially good at her job and she loves it but now and then someone is called in by the authorities and never seen again, and this happens to Fan's boyfriend, Reg.  Reg is also good at his job harvesting vegetables and he's not a troublemaker, nor is he sharp enough to have passed the test that would allow him the rare opportunity to move up to a Charter village. Distraught and knowing that she is carrying Reg's child, Fan leaves her safe village life and comfortable job to search for Reg.

The story of what happens to Fan after she leaves B-Mor comprises the bulk of On Such a Full Sea but the author veers back and forth between descriptions of life in B-Mor and how the disappearances of Fan and Reg impacted the people of the village to what became of Fan when she abandoned her home to search for the love of her life.  Her search for Reg takes her from one danger to another and it is in her growing ability to react to each of these dangers that Fan shows herself to be tiny on the outside but a powerhouse in other ways.  I really liked Fan.

Vocabulary word:

penumbra: The partially shaded outer region of the shadow cast by an opaque object.

"When her eyes adjusted, Fan could see in the penumbra that they were in a kitchen of sorts [. . . ]"

Noteable:  Chang-Rae Lee introduced me to Vincent Van Gogh's Almond Blossom, a lovely painting I somehow missed in spite of being a casual Van Gogh fan.

Recommended - On Such a Full Sea is written with complex beauty and admirable world building. Its dense prose makes the book a slow read but although it took seemingly ages to get through the book, there was both a feeling of familiarity (as there often is in dystopian worlds, which tend to feature sharp divisions between the privileged and oppressed) and a uniqueness that eventually kept me glued to the pages.

Belated Fiona Friday.  I was going for the flower-adorned glamour shot but this is what I got from Izzy:

Happy Weekend!

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano (Book 1 of The Internment Chronicles)

Holy Toledo. I am so freaking far behind you'd think I'd have completely forgotten Perfect Ruin, over a month after I closed it.  But, no.  Lauren DeStefano's memorable latest release starts a new series on a unique world, a floating city called Internment.

Just from the name of the floating city, you can get an idea of what it's like to live there -- a bit like a prison. This island in the sky is ringed by a train track and surrounded by some sort of force field. It's against the law to go past the train tracks and if you try to jump off your little world, you're lucky if you survive at all.  Morgan's brother was a pharmacist before he became a jumper and barely survived, now he's blind and a little bit on the crazy side.

So you've got Morgan, young and betrothed to Basil, living at home with her parents on this tiny little island city in the sky.  Her blind brother and his wife live upstairs.  Her best friend isn't entirely besotted with her own future husband but it's not clear why. Pen is a fabulous character, though. Lauren DeStefano has mentioned that people have written to her, begging her not to kill off Pen. I love that.

The two couples -- Morgan and Basil, Pen and Thomas -- ride the train to school, on dates, shopping, etc., occasionally walking if they feel like skipping the train. Morgan's father is a policeman. Her mother is drugging herself to the gills and sleeping her life away. That's the background, the "normal" in Internment. Then, unsettling things begin to happen: a murder, a fire, the king reassuring everyone that the murderer will be caught.

It's not entirely unexpected that people who can barely see things on Earth below might get a little cranky and feel the urge to escape. After her safety begins to feel threatened, Morgan is totally creeped out. Here she is, stuck and well aware of how damaged you can become when you try to escape, but wanting to get out.  When she meets the young sister of the murder victim and the fellow who is being sought as the murderer, Morgan becomes curious and starts to stay out when she shouldn't, seeking answers. And, when she begins to put the pieces together and bad things start happening to her own family, suddenly escape seems to be the only option. But, is it even possible?

Well, you'll just have to read to find out. There were things I liked about Perfect Ruin and things I didn't but, in general, I loved Perfect Ruin.  It's a quick read that sucked me in.  I cared about the characters and I thought the ending held promise for its sequels.

Highly Recommended - particularly to fans of YA.  I love the idea of a floating island, the characters, the way Lauren DeStefano tugs the reader forward, urgently needing to understand what's happening and why, and I love her writing style. I was less enamored of the scenery as it was described. At the beginning of the novel, I had my own mental image of the architecture on a floating city -- futuristic, shiny and rather beautiful -- and I was quickly disabused of my fanciful architectural notions. I hated to say goodbye to my mental image but it is what it is, this Internment, and I liked the story.  I hope the series holds up.

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Death Wish by Lindsey Menges

No Monday Malarkey, this week, but I'll try to throw some Tuesday Twaddle at you, tomorrow or maybe I'll just try to post another review.  I still have about a squillion reviews to catch up on although, honestly, I don't mind if NaNoWriMo gets in my way.  I'm having a great time.

Death Wish by Lindsey Menges is my niece's self-published first novel.  I didn't know what to expect (except that it was dystopian) because I like to skip reading the cover blurb so I'll be surprised, but naturally I was eager to read it and ordered a copy as soon as Lindsey announced that it was available via Amazon.

I was immediately swept into the story. Death Wish is the futuristic tale of a 24-year-old woman working as a "Fairy Godmother" fulfilling individual wishes for death in a world where imbedded chips have made humans immortal unless an individual's Life Chip is removed. When Eliza is told she must train new recruit Robin, she's disappointed that she must be separated from her partner in work and love, Harrison. Eliza is dedicated to the job, though, and does as she is told without question, feeling that it's a kindness to fulfill the last wishes of her clients.

****WARNING!  This paragraph may contain a spoilers (but doesn't give away everything - I'd never do that)! Skip to the final paragraph if you want the entire story to be a surprise!!!!*****

But, Robin is no ordinary recruit.  Because fulfilling death wishes is a permanent job, Robin knows she must do her job or face being forced to file her own death wish.  But, she's not handling the job as well as you'd expect of a person who has committed herself for life.  When Eliza finds out Robin has been planted in the organization to find out how the Life Chips work, she must decide whether to join the Revolutionaries who want to return citizens to living lives with natural death or turn Robin over to Security, sealing her fate.

*****END WARNING!!!******

I had a terrible time putting this book down.  On Friday night, when my eyes grew heavy I put the book aside with regret; and, after I finished my own writing for the day on Saturday, I was excited to pick it back up to finish.  It's the first in a series.  Argh!  I want the second book now!

Highly recommended - Wonderful, action-packed storytelling with a nice blend of characters, excellent pacing and a killer ending. I took off half a point due to the need for a bit of work on the editing but there was nothing that made the read uncomfortable enough to irritate me.

You can buy a paperback copy of Death Wish, here (where you can read the full cover blurb).  Or, it's also available for Kindle (link on the same page) or Nook.

In other news:

I'm still enjoying If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino.  That Calvino dude had a sly sense of humor. IOaWNaT is a fascinating book and, oh, his writing.  It's just stunning.  I've got at least two other Calvino titles I haven't read (probably bought at during some massively cheap book sale).  I knew of Calvino because the e-zine I used to write for was named after one of his books, t zero.

We went to the zoo, today!  This would have worked better if I knew how to adjust the aperture on my little point-and-shoot, but the idea was good, I think . . . a giraffe trying to tell you to stop and smell the roses, haha:

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Registry by Shannon Stoker

The Registry by Shannon Stoker

Copyright 2013

William Morrow - New Adult/Dystopian

321 pp.

Source:  HarperCollins for review

What's it about:

In a futuristic United States, girls are sold to the highest bidder with the prettiest selling for the highest amount, basically to become breeding machines and decorative slaves.  If they don't sell, they become government property and end up prisoners of a wide-spread government workforce.  Boys, on the other hand, are unwanted and usually given away by their parents because they have no monetary value.  Anyone who keeps a son is considered a bit bonkers.  While females are kept by their parents and sold at a certain age, males are typically brought up by the government to a point, then left to fend for themselves until it's time for them to sign in for their military service.  This futuristic, dystopian United States is at odds with much of the world and constantly at war.

Mia is beautiful and will sell for a high price when her 18th birthday arrives.  Her three sisters have been sold and married.  They were all very pretty and fetched good prices.  But, Mia is special, unusually beautiful even within her family.  When one of Mia's sisters briefly escapes from her brutal husband and points Mia to a foreign magazine article that explains what marriage is really like, Mia is skeptical.  She's looked forward to becoming a bride all her life.  Then, her sister dies and Mia is certain she was killed by her husband for disobedience.  Mia decides to run.  How will she survive in a country where it's illegal to seek your freedom?

What I liked about The Registry:

I liked the idea and I thought the book was going to be interesting, going into it.  The stage was nicely set with Mia planning for her wedding, finding out the truth, trying to convince her best friend to go with her and engaging help from a young man who is just leaving to sign up for his military service.  There are some interesting action moments and twists.  But . . . 

What I disliked about The Registry:

Unfortunately, the book is poorly written and executed.  What began as a great idea (with recognizable shades of several other dystopian novels, yet still unique) quickly became plodding and repetitive.  At one point, I read a sentence aloud to my husband to explain why I felt like I was going to have a hard time finding anything kind to say about the book.  He said, "Oh, wow.  Maybe you shouldn't review that one at all." It was that bad.  

Having said that:

Not everyone is as picky as I am and I have a feeling there are plenty of people who will enjoy The Registry.  In my case, it was one of those books that I finished because I kept hoping it would improve. I didn't know it was the first in a trilogy till I reached the end.  I will not continue reading this series.

A note on New Adult:

The New Adult concept is supposed to be a category that bridges the ages between young adult and adult.  Of course, we all know kids who were reading adult books in elementary school.  I did and so did my children. I love the Young Adult concept because YA books took a lot of children who would have likely been in the non-reader category and gave them exciting new worlds to explore.  The idea of creating a new category to ease those readers into adult reads makes sense to me because I know at least one reader who is stuck in a Young Adult reading world.  She grew up reading fantasy and hasn't managed to stretch beyond that, even into adult fantasy.  New Adult books are supposed to be edgier, sexier, more adult but not quite literature, from my understanding.  I thought The Registry failed to live up to the concept -- not just the story idea itself but the whole category concept.  It read like poorly-written Young Adult lit, to me.  

The bottom line:

Not recommended - Great idea, poorly executed.  I'm sure there are people who will enjoy The Registry and the rest of the series but I was disappointed and would not feel comfortable recommending it to my readers.  

Boy was I surprised to find out the author got a 6-figure advance.  I don't know what they were thinking. HarperCollins publishes a lot of excellent reading material but this one . . . it was just a dud, in my humble opinion.

In other news:

Last night was my F2F meeting and it was kind of chaotic so it's probably going to be difficult writing about We Need New Names and the reaction of my group, but I'll do my best . . . probably next week. 

Don't forget I have a Dr. Who drawing going!  You can sign up till the 30th.  Then, the little fairies are going to jump into the internet and pull the plug on the sign-up.  They do that, sometimes.  

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Mini reviews - The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron, Are You My Friend Today? by Gyo Fujikawa and Outside In by Maria V. Snyder

We're getting perilously close to Christmas, now, so it's time to knock out a few minis and then, hopefully, finish up the rest of the book reviewing I need to do before going on my annual holiday blog vacation.  

The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron is a very unique Young Adult book that takes place in Victorian England.  Katharine Tulman has been sent by her aunt to her uncle's massive estate, where she is given the job of committing him to an asylum so that the estate will not be frittered away before her fat cousin comes of age.  Katharine feels she has no choice but to handle this unsavory job.  Although her aunt has generously taken her in, Katharine is treated like a servant and assumes she'll be cast out into the streets of London if she doesn't follow through.

What she discovers is beyond her imagining.  Her uncle is a childlike inventor and the maintenance of his estate supports over 900 people who were plucked from poverty. Katharine opts to take her time getting around to her task, but strange things are happening.  Is Katharine in danger? What will happen to her uncle when tragedy strikes?

Recommended for adventure, a truly unusual story and constant twists and turns.  If you love a plot-heavy book with a touch of romance, The Dark Unwinding is an excellent choice.  The author's first novel is, however, not without problems. If you're a die-hard Anglophile, you'll know right off the bat that the author is not British without even reading her bio.  Still, the language and some minor things I disliked about the setting were not enough to convince me to set the book down.  I love an action-heavy book and enjoyed The Dark Unwinding for the constant surprises, even if there were little things I didn't love about it.  Also, I'm crazy about that cover.  I think it's beautiful.

Are You My Friend Today? by Gyo Fujikawa is a book I've put off reviewing because I don't love it.  I'm so accustomed to falling completely in love with children's books that I guess it surprised me a bit.

Are You My Friend Today? is a book about children playing, fighting, laughing, eating, dreaming.  It's a beautifully illustrated book.  But, some of the pages are very "busy" -- the kind in which it's necessary to point at a particular bit while reading the text, so a small child knows exactly which part of the layout you're describing.  Not all of the layouts are busy in that way; and, at times, I felt like I was totally swept into the beauty of this picture book, so although I didn't adore the book, I did like it.

Because of those particular page spreads that have a lot going on, I recommend picking up the book and flipping through it before purchasing.  I had one child who loved a busy book; he could quietly entertain himself in a corner, just flipping through a book that was heavily illustrated, for a stunning amount of time.  My other child couldn't bear clutter.  So, Are You My Friend Today? is a book that will likely suit some adult readers and the children they love more than others.  It really does have gorgeous illustrations, but is recommended with advice to peruse the book before making your decision.

Outside In by Maria V. Snyder is the sequel to Inside Out (see my review of Inside Out, here), a dystopian Young Adult novel.  In Outside In, Trella has become frustrated with her part on the committee set up after the lowly "scrubs" have won their rebellion over the "uppers" with whom they share a cubicle living space.  

Please be advised that the following bit may contain some spoilers and should be avoided if you haven't read Inside Out.  

In the first book, Trella discovered the secret to her world and that it was far larger than the inhabitants realized.  In Outside In, construction to expand into the empty space she discovered has begun.  But, the former uppers and scrubs still think within the old terms; those who were accustomed to being crammed into the lower levels think of the uppers as privileged snobs.  The uppers, meanwhile, think of the former scrubs as lesser humans.  This results in a lot of infighting as well as difficulty to get the two groups to cooperate on the building process.  

When they encounter a serious threat from outside their world, Trella has no idea who can be trusted.  But, she has to trust someone because she simply cannot deal with the danger on her own. And, boy, that danger is really hairy, toward the end.  There comes a point that you simply cannot turn the pages fast enough.

Outside In is every bit as action-packed and exciting as Inside Out -- the kind of book I love so much I know I'll want to reread it.  I highly recommend both Inside Out and Outside In to lovers of YA novels -- dystopian with a strong heroine, a bit of romance, a lot of questions and crazy-tense action.  Love, love, loved this book, an unusually satisfying follow-up book.  There are only two books in this "series", unfortunately.  

I bought my copy of Outside In in London and absolutely love the U.K. cover, although I can't tell you why.  It's probably a combination of the colors, the look of action (very fitting) and the "sci-fi" feel of the design. 

I have to stop to order a Christmas present and do some wrapping but hope to write up a few more reviews, this afternoon.  You know how that goes.  Sometimes it happens; sometimes it doesn't.

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Fever by Lauren DeStefano (#2 in the Chemical Garden Trilogy)

Copyright: 2012

Published By: Harper Voyager

Length: 341 pp.

Reason for Reading: I enjoyed the first book in the Chemical Garden Trilogy: Wither.

Just a quick note: I purchased my copy of Fever in the UK primarily because it was released in paperback across the pond and I'm a paperback kind of gal.

Warning: Even my brief summary will certainly spoil the ending of Wither. If you have not read Wither yet, please skip this review.

Brief summary: After running away from the home in which she's been imprisoned in a forced, polygamous marriage and he was a servant, Rhine and Gabriel end up falling straight into a totally different kind of trap. In an old amusement park, a woman runs a heavily-guarded brothel. Once again, Rhine's beauty is both her savior and a curse.

Determined to break free and locate her twin brother Rowan in Manhattan, Rhine finds herself increasingly challenged by new dangers and quickly growing more and more ill with a fever that simply will not break. As Rhine and Gabriel seek freedom and Rhine grows ever weaker, her evil father-in-law tracks her down, determined to return her to the mansion. Will Rhine break free, once again, and find her twin? Will Gabriel survive the sinister Madame's dangerous drugs? What is making Rhine so deathly ill?

What I loved about Fever:

Like Wither, Fever is a page-turner. Rhine is beautiful, which is often annoying in fiction because it's so much more common for a character to be beautiful than ordinary. But, in Rhine's case, beauty leads to plot. It's because she's beautiful that she was kidnapped and turned into a "sister wife," in the first place and because of her beauty that . . . well, things happen the way they do in Fever. I don't want to give anything away, so I'm going to be deliberately vague. There's plenty of action in this book, so it's not just a place-holder. And, boy, Lauren DeStefano sure does know how to put her characters through the ringer. I like that.

What I disliked about Fever:

Rhine and Gabriel are thrown into the fire, so to speak, from the get-go. I would have enjoyed just a little more freedom on the part of those two characters before their second entrapment and I was frustrated, at first. After reading Wither, I wanted to follow them on the road for a bit. But, that's more about expectation than execution. I had this mental image of what I thought might happen and instead we got Madame. Oh, that woman is nasty.

I did have a little trouble remembering some of what took place in Wither, so I regretted not rereading Wither before launching into the reading of Fever (which would have meant hanging on to Fever till we returned from the UK instead of reading it immediately -- like that was going to happen). I intend to reread the first two installments when the third is released, to avoid a recurrence of that issue.

Recommendation:

4/5 - Excellent writing, tense plot and plenty more challenges make Fever a solid read. Like many books that are second in a trilogy, you know the heroine is not going to make it to her ending and it leaves you with a vague feeling of having been dangled with permission, but I like this series and don't regret the purchase or feel like it was a whole lot of nothing written for the sake of leading up to the final installment, unlike some series books. I'm looking forward to seeing where DeStefano takes Rhine in the third book and how she wraps up the end of the Chemical Garden Trilogy.

Update: The comments have reminded me that I may have waited a bit too long to write this review. If I'd written it as I closed the book, I think it would have been harsher. It's only in retrospect that I like the complete story. There were a lot of things that frustrated me about Fever (besides the fact that Rhine & Gabriel walked straight into another trap), but some of them are spoilers. Suffice it to say, I still think it was a good read but I gave it a 4/5 because it wasn't as perfect and gripping as Wither and it's possible 3.5/5 is more accurate to how I felt closing the book.

Fever is pretty terrifying but there is not quite as much sexuality as there was in Wither, in spite of where Rhine ends up. It seemed about PG level to me, apart from the fact that the author is really good at ratcheting up the tension. Update on that: There is a bit of torture, actually . . . probably should have mentioned that.

Cover thoughts:

I'm impressed. In the first book, Rhine was pampered and looked suitably fluffy and primped, on its cover. In Fever, she constantly fights exhaustion, then illness, and the change in her hairstyle and pose reflects the alterations in the character. The props are also perfectly fitting.

Which reminds me . . .

I keep forgetting to mention my cover thoughts. I also absolutely loved the cover of Kitty Cornered by Bob Tarte. It's a nice, bright grabber of a cover and, of course, you can't help but love that kitty photo if you're a fan of felines. I liked the cover of The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen, as well (and found it equally fitting to the story), but I can't say I loved it -- probably because it's yellow. I'm not a big fan of yellow.

It's National Poetry Month!

Excitement! I have two slim volumes of poetry that I hope to review, this month. One has been giving me fits: The Auroras by David St. John. I'm determined not to let that book defeat me. The other, Light on the Concrete by Lucas Hunt, was sent by the author and I accepted it because I read his first book and wanted to read more. However, because I was having so much trouble figuring out what the heck St. John was trying to say in The Auroras, I accepted Light on the Concrete conditionally. The author has agreed to let me pepper him with questions if need be. I never took any literature courses in which imagery was discussed -- seriously, none. What I really need is some kind of Poetry for Dummies type of book, but in the meantime, a mentor will do.

And, I have some other poetry I'd like to read, but I'm not sure how much I'll manage to squeeze in. I'm still (ack, gasp!) mixing some March review books in with the April books I've just started.

Next up will be another vacation post. Since I'll have to limit the number of vacation photos I foist upon you, here's a shot of some flowers spotted in Greenwich:

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Matched by Ally Condie

Matched by Ally Condie

I've had Matched on my wish list at Paperback Swap since its release but when I saw a copy at Sam's Wholesale Club for a reasonable price, I snatched it up. It seemed a likely candidate to help me break my reading slump and, as it turned out, Matched definitely helped me get back into my reading groove.

Cassia has always been very trusting and obedient. When the book opens, she's excited about her Matching banquet, where she'll see the name and face of the boy she'll eventually marry. She's particularly excited to find out she's matched to a good friend, Xander, but when she begins to read the data about him, another face briefly flashes onto her screen and then disappears. She knows that face, as well. Did the Society make a mistake when matching her? Why is the other boy, Ky, labelled in a way that makes it impossible for him to be matched?

When Cassia and Ky end up on a work team together and find that sparks are flying, Cassia becomes determined to find answers while fighting her urge to let go of her Xander, whom she knows to be an excellent match.

I was expecting a run-of-the-mill dystopian novel, to be honest, but I found smart, thought-provoking writing, likable characters and a dilemma easy to find yourself quickly invested in, along with a nicely fast-moving plot with moments of slow build.

In a Twitter chat, this week, author Jay Kristoff said, "I think the most important thing to remember when worldbuilding is that worlds are populated by PEOPLE. Character first. Always." That's where Ally Condie really shines. Her characters are believable and the world seems to be built around them not designed first and populated later. While there are times that you feel like, "Sigh, another dystopian. Same old struggle against the powers plotline," Matched is suitably unique and I'm quite anxious to read the next book in the series. There was a bit of a cliff-hanger ending but the book pretty much felt complete to me.

Recommended to lovers of Young Adult dystopian fiction. Light reading, quick-paced but with well-rounded characters and very good writing.

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder

Are you getting tired of my heavy posting, yet? Sorry about that. I'm really happy to be nearly caught up on reviewing. One more review to go after this one!

Inside Out is a dystopian young adult novel about a young woman who lives in what amounts to a gigantic metal cube. There are four levels in the cube, two of which are reserved for the lower class people or "scrubs," the two upper levels for the higher class folks who are simply known as Uppers.

The lower levels are painfully overcrowded with scrubs. Trella is a scrub whose job is to clean pipes. Because she's skinny and solitary, the job is perfect for Trella. She often escapes to the pipes to sleep or just spend some time alone, away from the masses. Thanks to her exploration and knowledge of the pipes, vents, elevator shafts and spaces between, Trella is known as the Queen of the Pipes.

Introverted and firmly convinced that she doesn't like people, Trella does have one very close friend by the name of Cogon. When Cog talks her into hearing a "prophet" speak about his belief in a door to the outside world, Trella isn't interested.

****Warning: I'm trying to keep this review as general as possible but it may contain some spoilers. If you plan to read Inside Out anytime soon, you might want to skip the next paragraph.

You have been warned. ****

But, when the Pop Cops (Population Control officers) find and arrest the prophet, Trella begins to question her skepticism. Why would the Pop Cops grab the prophet if he didn't have something to hide? With only seconds to save the prophet and Cog already rushing to the rescue, Trella makes a decision that will thrust both of them into a dangerous search for the truth.

****The safe version begins here. Skip this sentence if you've read the potentially spoilery paragraph****

But, then something happens to change her mind and Trella makes a decision that will thrust both of them into a dangerous search for the truth.

Is there a hidden door to Outside? What is beyond the walls of Inside? And, why is the exit being hidden from the scrubs, if it exists?

Did you skip the spoilery paragraph? Well, good for you (either way). It's good to know your mind.

First things first. I loved the immersive experience of Inside Out. Trella's world is grubby and terrifying, but surprisingly believable. I can't tell you what Trella and her growing army of information seekers discover without ruining the story for anyone who hasn't read it, but like most dystopian young adult books, the world of Inside is horribly messed up, change is inevitable, and it will take some potentially deadly, surreptitious, clever and violent action to bring about that change.

Although Trella has no interest in leadership, she has a compelling reason to seek answers (which I'm not going to share, sigh). Trella initially risks her life for The Compelling Reason but eventually her priorities expand to bettering the lives of the people she lives with and overthrowing the powerful people in charge. In the process, Trella must face her feelings, her prejudices and the unknown truths of her world head-on.

Inside Out is a remarkably uncomfortable book -- frightening enough that I'm a little surprised I didn't end up having nightmares. There's this thing called the Chomper, you see. If you really screw up, you're fed to the Chomper and recycled. Everything, in fact, is constantly cleaned and eventually recycled. There are some pretty strong hints about what's outside, but I was still surprised when the answer to the crucial question was revealed.

One thing's for sure. Inside Out will make you appreciate what's outside your door and the freedom to step outside any time you so desire. This is not outside my door, but I'm sure you get my drift.

There is a sequel to Inside Out called Outside In and I am anxious to read it, but Inside Out was a Borders close-out purchase and they didn't have a copy of Outside In, unfortunately. I've added Outside In to my wish list and it may end up being my first real e-book purchase (all the e-books I've downloaded, so far, have been bargain priced or free).

A terrifying dystopian world, a young, stolid heroine who must fight her instincts and a fascinating, marvelously twisty plot make Inside Out a winner. Highly recommended. There is a good deal of violence but none of it is superfluous, in my humble opinion. The dystopian world of Inside is so desperately awful that it's a case of the proverbial peasants forced to rebel in order to instigate change.

Inside Out is the first book I've read by Maria V. Snyder but it will definitely not be the last. Fortunately for me, Kiddo is a fan and already owns both the Glass and Study series' by Snyder.

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.