Review: Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder

 

Title: Inside Out

Author: Maria V. Snyder

Series: Insiders #1

Publisher: Mira Ink

Publication date: January 2011

Format: Paperback | 315 pages

Genre: YA | Dystopian

Goodreads

I'm Trella. I'm a scrub. A nobody.

One of thousands who work the lower levels, keeping Inside clean for the Uppers. I just to my job and try to avoid the Population Control Police, who dream of recycling scrubs into fertiliser. So what if I occasionally use the pipes to sneak around the Upper levels? It's not like it's dangerous…

Well, turns out it is. Because I know ever corridor, pipe and shortcut I've become the go-to girl to lead a revolution. I know if we find a gateway to Outside it'll be suicide plain and simple. But guess who likes a challenge?

My thoughts:

Inside Out follows the story of Trella, one scrub among thousands whose job it is to clean out the pipes that make up the 'Inside'. While some scrubs take pride in their work, Trella can't help but feel like she doesn't belong when she sneaks around the pipes and catches glimpses of the Uppers. Because of Trella's knowledge of all the shortcuts and ways around the pipes, she soon becomes the figurehead needed to lead a revolution and change the scrubs lives for the better.

Trella was a great character. She had such a fiery personality and I really enjoyed reading her interactions with the other scrubs. Trella did kind of push people away in order to protect herself and while it was annoying at times, it was also endearing once I realised why exactly she does it. 

However, a lot of the characters, in my opinion, were lacking a lot of depth. I didn't find Cog and Riley to be relatable at all - they always came into the story where they were needed and never provided any additional support to the plot. I didn't connect to them at all and I feel that it was purely because they weren't around enough, especially Cog. Cog appeared frequently in the beginning of the book but afterwards he wasn't heard from at all. Both Riley and Cog were characters I didn't end up caring about so in the end, I wan't anxious about what might happen to them.

I have to admit as well, I lost interest in the plot very quickly. There was no issue with finding it predictable or unoriginal just because I couldn't bring myself to care enough to think about it. I think there wasn't enough suspense for me. I recognised where the author really tried, for example, countdowns to somebody's execution. But if I don't like the character in the first place, it's not going to affect me greatly if he was executed so it didn't really work. 

Overall I wouldn't really recommend this read. There have been a lot of good reviews for it though, and this is only my opinion, so check it out if it looks interesting.

My rating: 4/10

Maria V. Snyder:

Goodreads | Blog | Facebook 

Insiders:

1. Inside Out
2. Outside In

Review: Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

Title: Dreams of Gods and Monsters

Author: Laini Taylor

Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Publication date: 17th Apr 2014

Format: Hardback | 528 pages

Genre: YA | Paranormal

Goodreads

 

 

By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz.

Common enemy, common cause.

When Jael's brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love.

But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz ... something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.

What power can bruise the sky?

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy. 

At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter? 

My thoughts:

Dreams of Gods and Monsters is the third and final book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. It starts off essentially where the second book, Days of Blood and Starlight, left off, with Karou and Akiva trying their best to unite the seraphim army, known as the misbegotten, and the surviving chimaera.

 

Every since I finished the second book of the trilogy, I've been simultaneously dreading and anticipating the release of the last book. The second book ended with such a surprising turn of events that I really didn't know what to expect to happen with this one. I just had the feeling that everything was going to get so much worse for the characters and there's no way they could get out of the situation they were left in. Especially for Karou and Akiva, I couldn't bear the thought of them not being together in the end and so I was so nervous to see what would happen between the two.

 

Honestly though, just like the last two books, this book was an absolute joy to read. Not because everything was all puppies and roses, it wasn't, it's just that Laini Taylor has this beautiful, mystical way of writing that sucks me into her world and lets me see what she sees. As of writing this review, I'm emigrating and you can imagine that takes a lot of work and a half! This book proved to be the most perfect distraction when things got a little too stressful and gave me the most amazing place to escape to so that I could forget about reality for a little while and go into a world filled with flying, blue-haired girls and angels with golden eyes.

 

The characters in this book are amazing. The story is amazing. The writing is beyond amazing.

 

There's absolutely nothing more I can say that will do this whole trilogy justice. If you haven't already, please, please give it a go. 

 

My rating: 10/10

 

 

Laini Taylor:

Goodreads | Website