Outside In by Maria V. Snyder and Giveaway

Argh, the sniffles and other inconveniences have felled me for so long that I've run out of blog posts--though I admit that I put a few reviews aside for busy times later in the year. I've been thinking about the closure of (some of) Borders and what that means for readers, but haven't had time to get my thoughts down yet.

First: Congratulations to Ricki, who wins my copy of Embrace. I'll e-mail in the next week or two for an address.

After reading and reviewing Inside Out earlier this year, I was curious about the follow-up, Outside In by Maria V. Snyder (Harlequin - Harlequin Teen). I only want to touch briefly on the things that take me out of the story in both volumes--some oddities of grammar, one or two romance elements that border on too twee for words, an occasional unexplainable lost technology. I'd like to spend more time with the compelling story! And with that done, I think it's worth nothing a couple of interesting things.

First, when you think of Harlequin, you probably think of romance. I think of the shorter, "cleaner" books that rotated in and out of my library and supermarket on a weekly basis (and probably still do). I think of higher-concept contemporaries with more explicit sex, and I think of sweeping historicals wherein I can pretend, for a little while, that the modern world's rules don't apply.

I don't think of science fiction.

Inside Out and Outside In are, thus, a surprise. Both of the first two books in (what I think is) a trilogy draw more heavily on science fiction than on romances, and I think that's a good thing. I believe in the romance more because I believe in the heroine, Trella; she has her own plotline that doesn't need romance to succeed. It's just a nice extra.

After the events of Inside Out, Trella finds herself refusing authority--not subverting it, but refusing the role of leader, and hoping that everything will turn out okay for the societies onboard the ship where she lives. She's back to her old ways in the air ducts, and finds some surprising ship features that have been a secret all these years. She's struggling with romance and her relationship with the ship's doctor who might or might not be her biological mother. And just when it seems like the oppression is done, a new and frightening threat emerges from outside the ship--and players on the inside are exacerbating the danger.

As I mentioned earlier, the writing could be stronger, but I'm satisfied in another way. Each volume in the trilogy so far has felt like a complete and satisfying story. The arcs have opened and closed in a shape that mostly works with the length of the book, and the ones that are unresolved are taken up later (and brought to into a holding pattern before the end of the book, if necessary). I've complained a lot in the last year about series that disrespect the reader in the way that they split up what isn't multiple stories into multiple books, and I don't have any of those complaints here.

Also, while there's less of a romantic elements in Outside In than in Inside Out, the romance is still there, and wonder of wonders, we've drawn on romance-as-category. Trella has sexual feelings, and they're not a "problem" or an "issue." They simply are. She is a partner in making decisions about her love life. As in quite a few less-explicit romances, there are string of interruptions and fade-to-black moments, which work with the story.

Outside In's official publication date is today, but I saw it in a few stores over the weekend. To get you started reading this series, I'm giving away my copy of Inside Out. To enter, please leave me a comment with your favorite book, movie, or TV show in space, and include your e-mail address (written out to fool spambots is fine!). For a second entry, mention the giveaway with a link on your blog/Twitter/Facebook and leave me a comment with a link to where I can check it out.



At this time, I'm only able to ship to U.S. addresses. I'm not able to get to the post office every week, but I do get there about twice a month. The giveaway is open until Sunday, February 27, 2011, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time.

Review copy provided by Harlequin Teen via netGalley. Thank you!