Outside cover art

Outside

Outside Series, Book 1

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Outside

Written by: Shalini Boland
Narrated by: Henrietta Meire
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The future is divided by Perimeters: high-security gated communities where life goes on as normal. If you're inside, you're lucky. If you're outside, life expectancy takes a nose dive.

Riley is fortunate to have been born on the right side of the fence. But her life of privilege comes crashing down when someone breaks through and murders her sister.

She forsakes her own safety to go in search of the killer. Luc decides to go with her; otherwise she'll be dead before she's past the security gate. But what awaits her outside is more unbelievable than she ever imagined.

©2011 Shalini Boland (P)2019 Tantor Action & Adventure Adventure Dystopian Fantasy Fiction Literature & Fiction Science Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy
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Continue the series
The Clearing cover art
The Clearing Written by: Shalini Boland
The Perimeter cover art
The Perimeter Written by: Shalini Boland
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Shalini Boland offers what amounts to a Coming-Of-Age story mainly following 16-year-old 'Riley' - a young woman struggling with the aftermath of the murder of her younger sister as she searches the wastelands for the killer. The setting is an England where most of the country resides in chaos & anarchy.. with islands of civilization restored in elite-run "perimeters" or corporatized/community-run/military-run "compounds" where the rule of law persists and life continues (complete with refined gasoline and readily available chocolate for some reason).
Simultaneously we follow 16-year-old 'Eleanor' - a strikingly realistic teenager pre-apocalypse dealing with friendships & boyfriend trouble - who experiences the collapse of civilization. The contrast between young women experiencing love + heartbreak pre- & post- is quite striking and described with mind's-eye vivid imagery, but plot holes abound and the cause of the fall of society is too ludicrously pessimistic to contemplate.
Still, Boland does her best.. and paces the stories well enough to make the necessary suspension of disbelief almost - ALMOST - achievable.

As to presentation: Tantor Audio Inc. provides exemplary technical support to reader Henrietta Meire - who turns in a solidly "average" reading performance. Her diction, timbre, and cadence are outstanding.. but she reads emotional text with near hysteria, and her male character interpretations are annoyingly affected. Altogether the audiobook is "listenable".

Altogether, 'Outside' rates 5.5 stars out of 10. If you're able to set aside logic, it could be a serviceable distraction for a couple of quiet night shifts or a long cross-country drive.. but I'm doubtless swayed by having downloaded it from the 'Plus' menu. Once it leaves the "included with your subscription" catalog, save your Credit for something else.

[Note: Boland is very, very good at using the James Bond-exemplified "Fleming Hook" (ending chapters with a hint/foreshadowing that drives the reader to turn the page + keep reading)]

Acceptable Dystopian Tale

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I love reading stories where there are two lives (sometimes even at two different time lines) that eventually meet.

The twist at the end.

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