Keep Your Head Down. Don’t Get Noticed. Or Else.

I’m Trella. I’m a scrub. One of thousands who work in the lower levels, keeping Inside clean for the Uppers. I do my job and try to avoid the Pop Cops. The Trava family who rules our world from their spacious Upper levels wants us to be docile and obedient, like sheep. To insure we behave, they send the Pop Cops to police us.

So what if I occasionally use the pipes to sneak around the Upper levels? Not like it’s all that dangerous–the only neck at risk is my own.

Until a lower level prophet claims a Gateway to Outside exists. And guess who he wants to steal into the Upper levels to get the proof? You’re right. Me. I alone know every single duct, pipe, corridor, shortcut, hole and ladder of Inside. It’s suicide plain and simple. But guess who can’t let a challenge like that go unanswered? Right again. Me.

I should have just said no…

Synopsis from Maria Snyder’s web site, release date April 1, 2010, Harlequin Teen

Inside Out is Maria Snyder’s first foray into true science fiction and I think many people will find it a success. The world of Inside Out is filled with mystery and complete otherness. The people of this world live in what they call “Inside,” a huge metal cube where they exist. On the lower levels, the people called “scrubs” maintain the systems of living, air, waste, water, etc. and in the upper levels, the “uppers” live in what the scrubs believe to be relative luxury. The scrubs are given very few rights, and live in crowded quarters, working long hours. The uppers have families and maintain more of what we would know to be careers. The scrubs have no choice in their every day living, while they uppers have more freedoms and privileges.

In Inside Out, Trella, a scrub known as “Queen of the Pipes,” gets by day-to-day, living out her life as a loner. She has few friends, and most of the scrubs regard her with resentment because of her skills. She’s content with her existence in Inside, until the day her friend Cogon brings her to hear a prophet called Broken Man. Broken Man tells Trella and Cogon there is a way to reach Outside, through something called Gateway, which is a sort of portal to Outside that most Insiders believe will be found someday. Trella isn’t a believer in Gateway, but Cogon is, and his belief convinces her to take on a task that will lead to an even greater, yet exceedingly dangerous, journey. The path she takes could lead to redemption for the scrubs, or utter destruction of all she’s ever known.

Inside Out is an interesting, complex sci-fi story with a world similar, but unique from, many other future worlds. Trella is a complex character that you’ll simultaneously love, but occasionally be annoyed by. For me, I find that a great skill in an author–it’s easy to make characters that you’ll love or hate, but not always so easy to make characters that are realistic, with the qualities of a real human being (despite being in a completely “other” world). Inside Out will make you laugh and make you feel. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series!

Digital ARC received from publisher via NetGalley

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