Review Detail

4.3 8

Inside Out

Young Adult Fiction 781

Very Fun and Engaging Writing

March 27, 2010

Overall rating

5.0

Plot

N/A

Characters

N/A

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

Reader reviewed by A Journey of Books

Wow, what to say about INSIDE OUT by Maria V. Snyder? Its hard to form concrete thoughts about the book when my mind keeps replaying the story over and over again. If I had to sum it all up, Id say that this book was a fantastic story of discovery, rebellion and love. To shorten it even more this story was awesome.

Trella is a scrub, a young girl assigned to work in the lower levels of Inside. Every day is the same, spend half of her time cleaning the air pipes and the other half sleeping. Occasionally shell find some time to eat and take care of necessities, but every day is the same. Change is actually such a rare occurrence that it literally stops everyone dead in their tracks. When Trellas life is interrupted by change in the form of the prophet, Broken Man, its no wonder that she is less than thrilled about it.

Living in a world where everything is controlled by the Pop Cops and the Uppers, Trella has to fight to learn who she is and what part she plays in the journey that is unfolding before her. Leading a rebellion may not have been at the top of her to do list, but when the rest of the Lowers start to look at her as the revolutionary they have been hoping for, well, whats a girl to do?

Part of what made this book so fantastic to me what Snyders writing style. INSIDE OUT was very easy to read although there were a few concepts that could have been quite confusing. Snyder really created a world quite unlike the one we live in and yet she still managed to make it very understandable without being too obvious. Weve heard it before show us, dont tell us. With so many new ideas and explanations required, Snyder could have easily just told us about the changes in this new world. Instead, she did an amazing job of incorporating this education into the story and allowing us to discover it as the book progressed.

I do believe that Trella is one of my new all time favorite characters. Shes a strong girl and yet a believable one. She has her weaknesses and yet Snyder did such a well job developing her that she refrained from turning angsty. Theres something about Trella where even though nobody would ever want to fill her shoes and the horrible conditions she lives in, shes still a person you want to be. Funny when she can be, strong when she wants to be, shes a well rounded and relatable character.

I believe that Science-Fiction lovers of any age will truly appreciate INSIDE OUT. While it is technically a Young Adult book, there are some older themes in it and the overall feel of the story would work for both Young Adults and Adults in my opinion. Snyder didnt just spend all her time creating great characters and letting us see what kind of shenanigans they can get into. She also spent a considerable amount of time creating a fantastic world and a great storyline. Her descriptions are colorful and he imagery is such that it really feels like the reader is transported into the story as an active participant.

I loved INSIDE OUT and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a change from reality. This was a new and different story that left my fingers flipping the pages as quickly as my eyes could follow. I did receive this book as a temporary file to review, so now the challenge is going to be sneaking out and buying my own copy.

Reprinted here with author's (my) permission.

Guest #1 Reviewer

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