Book Review: Inside Out by Maria V Snyder

Title: Inside Out
Author: Maria V Snyder

Published:  201o

Length:  315 pages

Genre:  Young Adult, Dystopia, Sci-fi, 

Start Date:  17th January, 2011

Finished Date:  17 January, 2011

Where Found:  Borders (I used a gift card I got for Christmas.)

Summary:  

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.

Review:

Let me start off by saying that this is the first review I have written since.. wow it must be 2007. I'm using this review as a practice, so please forgive any mistakes. I'm also trying to avoid any spoilers.

I started reading this book at 1.00pm and finished it a few hours later. I just could not put this book down (The saying is probably over used, but very true in this case). I was intrigued from the first two lines, "A vibration rippled through my body. I awoke in semi-darkness, unsure of my location." I simply wanted to know more. 

Inside Out tells the story of Trella, a lowly scrub, who works as a cleaner in the pipes of Inside. She is one of the many thousands who work in the lower levels, cleaning and performing all the other necessary duties to keep the levels functioning. The first thing you have to say about Trella is that she has spunk. She's tough, smart, strong, and at times cold. All in all a very real character. Adding to this, she managed to grow as a person as the novel progressed. You can actually see her grow as a person - something which I loved. At the start of the novel she is quite closed off to the world around her. She sees it, but doesn't particularly care about it, or many of the other scrubs - except her friend Cogon. Trella mainly keeps to herself and wishes for only one thing: to have some privacy and to be left alone with hopes for escape and a better life ‘Outside’. But then Cog takes her to see a a new prophet, who claims he knows the location of a Gateway (A way to the Outside), and the only thing Trella wants to do is prove him wrong - to prove to herself that there is no hope, so she can accept that the life she as.. is all she will ever have. But soon afterwards, she finds herself caught up in the beginnings of a revolution and all her beliefs about herself and her fellow Insiders are challenged…

As Snyder, through Trella, described the almost bleak world of the Inside, I was able to get a clear picture of her world. Snyder didn't over load the reader with massive amounts of information all at once, it was slowly and carefully explained. And even the background characters had a lot of substance to them. Though I do wish we knew a little more about Cob. I will admit that I guess who Trella's mother was before it was reviled and I hope that we see more of her in the next book. 

I really liked to romance between Riley and Trella. It was very tame and I wish there was more of it. And I was so VERY glad that there were NO love triangles. I'll read them if I have to, but it's like pulling teeth. Riley is sweet, determined, smart and thoughtful. He is very good for Trella, and you see her soften slightly. She's still very independent, and does not rely on Riley for every little thing (unlike some some female characters we're seeing in YA these days). I'm hoping to see Trella and Riley's relationship continue to grow in the next book.

There were also a lot of twists and turns.. and the ending.. WOW. I didn't see that coming. 

Rating: 4.9 stars out of 5. I loved this book and it will be re-read at some point.