Intrigued by the main character. Review of Outliers by @kmary0622 #bookreview #scifi #dystopia

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Outliers

A Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Novel
(The Outliers Saga Book 1)

Written by Kate L. Mary

Genre(s): Sci-Fi, Dystopia, Post-Apocalyptic

In the dusty ruins of the world, three groups exist: the Sovereign, the Fortis, and the Outliers.

Indra is an Outlier. Living on land that has not healed from the poison of the past, the Outliers have adapted - but to the Sovereign and the Fortis, they are nothing. For centuries the Fortis have made their abuse of Outliers a sport, but when Asa comes to Indra's rescue, she sees something different in him. Something that marks him as so much more than just a Fortis guard.

But when Indra's world begins to unravel, even the quiet alliance she and Asa have formed cannot save her from the wrath of the Sovereign. In one life-altering moment, everything Indra has ever known is ripped away, forcing her to face a world even more harsh and unforgiving. Broken and scarred, Indra finds herself on a journey that will challenge everything she's ever been taught, learning along the way that she's stronger than she ever imagined. Maybe even strong enough to free her people forever.

Mark's Review

I was gifted the audiobook. My review contains my own thoughts, and I'm not getting paid to say anything nice.

Too many details often ruin a story for me: too much backstory or character descriptions that are either too long or just somehow out of place. This story doesn't have that problem, but there was a time or two where I wondered. It feels like the story progresses slowly here and there. Thankfully the details didn't bog down the story too much. And there were times when the details were spot on and just the right length.

One aspect of the story I found very interesting is that the ruling class is made up of women. One passage even referred to men only having the job of impregnating their wives, spending the rest of their time eating, drinking, and getting fat.

Whether or not the author intended it, I gleaned the lesson that it doesn't matter who is in charge, male or female. When power comes to humans, they use it like a steamroller over their fellow humans.

I haven't read enough dystopian literature to know if this is classic behavior, but I was intrigued by the main character, especially how she viewed her circumstances before events really started getting out of hand.

Of course, she hates how her people are treated, but she doesn't see a way out, preferring not to rock the boat. However cautious she may be, though, I have one nitpick. She gets into trouble with her employer (mistress aka master) early in the story. Though I completely understand why the author wrote it this way and what was being accomplished, I still had to take a step back metaphorically and scratch my head. She easily could have avoided the situation, and the author could have informed us of what we needed to know in a different way, but like I said, it's a nitpick and a rather small one compared to the rest of the story.

Though I wouldn't call it a tear jerker (at least not for me), it definitely has some emotional moments, a few which made me pause the playback so I could catch my breath, so to speak.

My main emotion was frustration and even anger, not towards the author or the story itself, but how eerily similar aspects of the story are to our own world. No, we don't live in a post apocalyptic nightmare, but tweak a few things and we easily could, as evidenced by the current social and political tension.

The main character had changed a lot by the time the end of the book came, a last minute revelation helping secure that change. The soft cliffhanger makes me curious about the next book.