My Thoughts: Inside Out (Maria V.Snyder)

Click here for the Goodreads Summary
Cover: Not bad

My Thoughts: So I had high expectations going into this book. First off it's written by Maria V. Snyder, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE her Study series, Poison Study is one of my favorite young adult books. It's magical and gripping and raw and just an amazing story.  With that, this is also dystopian, one of my new favorite genres. So I had high hopes of loving this book. Sadly, my hopes were a little crushed.

I almost quit about half-way through this book, but kept reading, which I'm glad I did because the second half made up for the first. I'm not any kind of a writer, but I can imagine that dystopian fiction can be tricky because you have this whole entirely different world that you have to introduce your reader to.  There has to be a balance with presenting a thousand new details about a world that can be quite confusing and overwhelming or just plain boring if not done well. 

At the start of the book, I couldn't get into the world of Inside and I wasn't a fan of the main character Trella, who I initially found to be very juvenile and just rubbed me the wrong way. In this particular book I liked the supporting characters much more.  The writing flowed differently from that of Poison Study and I just didn't find myself immersed right away.

All that being said, I'm glad I kept reading, because the second half picked up on the action and grabbed my attention back.  Also by the end I did become invested in the world of Inside and the characters whose lives were ruled by it. 

Favorite Quotes:
"I let the waves of anguish pound in my chest. Abandoned and alone I rode my emotions as I would surf in a water pipe, allowing the force of liquid to take control. Eventually I fought for control and won. I shoved the sadness deep within me , locked it down and focused on the present."

"I squashed my fears and worries into a small metal box and dropped in the shattered remains of my heart for good measure. Locked with an obnoxiously big lock, I pushed the container into a far corner of my thoughts."

"My whole future depended on so many ifs and hopes and assumptions and possibilities that I would consider it impossible right now if I thought about it too much."

Bottom Line: Saved by the second-half, intrigued enough to read book two.  3/5 "stars"