review: Outside In by Maria V. Snyder

pub date: February 15, 2011
publisher: Harlequin Teen

pages: 320
source: NetGalley

blurb from goodreads:
Me? A Leader? Okay, I did prove that there's more to Inside than we knew. That a whole world exists beyond this cube we live in. And finding that led to a major rebellion - between worker scrubs like me and the snobby uppers who rule our world. Make that ruled. Because of me, we're free. I thought that meant I was off the hook, and could go off on my own again - while still touching base with Riley, of course. He's the one upper I think I can trust. But then we learned that there's outside and then there is Outside. And something from Outside wants In.

me:
Inside Out, the first in the series, was okay to begin with. I thought the romance undeveloped, the writing was more like a list of actions than a story that flowed, and the plot was kind of slow. I was less than impressed...until the very end. Then it kinda blew my mind. And my final impression of the book was very favorable.

So I had to read the next in the series. I wasn't disappointed.

Outside In was pretty much awesome the whole way through. I didn't want to put the book down and read it in one sitting. There were a lot of twists and jumps that made reading it lots of fun. And suspenseful.

It wasn't just the plot that I liked more, I also enjoyed the characters and relationships more. Riley we get to know better and him and Trella's relationship is a lot more developed. Though  a lot more than innocent kissing is going on. The dynamics of the uppers and lowers and the issues they face after Inside Out was very interesting and believable. Trella's evolution as a character was also believable. She really didn't want responsibility in either of the books, but she does what she has to do to save her world. And she changes by doing so. I like her a lot.

The wrap up at the end was rather abrupt. We have 300 pages of problems, then a few at the end making all the problems go away. Some parts of the plot took me out of the story because they didn't fit for me. And it was rather serendipitous how the technology they needed popped up at the most opportune times. But it was just fun. And exciting. So that makes me overlook the rest. 

I really enjoyed this book. Snyder is amazing at creating intriguing worlds and characters.