Fire and Ice

4.5 stars See our related handmade giveways here http://fireandicephoto.blogspot.com/2011/01/silver-sheepy-necklace-giveaway.html and here http://fireandicephoto.blogspot.com/2011/01/stuffed-sheepie-giveaway.html ends 1/28/11

In this second installment of Maria V Snyder's Inside Out series Trella "the pipe queen" has led a rebellion against the uppers and the Trava's. Divisions between the two are supposed to be smoothed over by a committee of 19 leaders but things aren't going so hot. No one wants to work, old prejudices abound and squabbles turn into more...bombs begin to rock the Inside. Their lives may be in danger as they hurdle through space in a giant cube and systems are down. It's up to Trella, Riley, Logan and their crew to find out who is threatening them and bring order t0 their community.

Trella has some important decisions to make about who she is and how much responsibility she wants to take on. Her character is forced to do a lot of growing up to shift into position as leader. All the old cast is back but you'll be on the edge of your seat trying to figure out who is sincere and who is evil. Plus we meet a fun new character named Bubba Boom. Duplicity and high tension is riddled throughout Outside In. We learn more a lot about Dr. Lamont and grow to see a different side of her. But, my favorite character this time around is Logan, TechNo extraordinaire.

Outside In had me hooked despite the technical descriptions of quadrants and time which I had a hard time with in the first book. Snyder does an excellent job of crafting personalities and pitting them for and against each other. She adds much more sci-fi to the mix which makes it more than just dystopian.

The climax caught me completely by surprise. I had NO CLUE who was controlling things on the Inside until it was spelled out to us. The only set back for me in the book was the two sex-y scenes that seemed to literally come out of the sky. One minute Riley and Trella meet, then they barely have time to spend any time together. The next thing they are fighting and two seconds later comes more than I think the plot suggested they were ready for. Unfortunately, this makes for a mature teen read of 16 and over.

Overall, I thought the writing of Outside In was ingenious. Maria Snyder captures details and creates a world like no other we have seen. Thanks so much to HarlequinTeen and NetGalley for introducing me to book two. I enjoyed it more than the first, Inside Out, and I fell head over heels for Riley's sheepy. So, here's your chance to win one plus get your own beacon device just like Trella's....