I suppose if you’re trying to negotiate a dystopia, it won’t help you much to be an Anne of Green Gables, but I’d like to see a little more balance. In other words, they seem to be the teen equivalent of the strong female adult who is considered to be a witch for playing on the same field as men. Soon they are all fighting to survive, and it seems like their only hope is that there really is an Outside.ĭiscussion: For some reason, strong female teen protagonists in dystopias also tend to be self-absorbed, bristly, cynical, and defensive. And when Trella accidentally falls through a vent and meets an Upper – Riley, a young teen about her age who is also hiding out – all her preconceptions are challenged. She is in a unique position to do so because of her duct work, so to speak. He convinces Trella to meet with yet another ”prophet” who periodically appears among the scrubs to assure them that if they are obedient in this life, they can get from the “Inside” to the “Outside” in the next.Įverything changes when the prophet is in danger and Cog wants Trella to help. Cog believes there is an “Outside” to which they can escape someday. She also is pretty much of a loner, except for Cog, her best friend from when they were toddlers.

The Lowers do the dirty work of the cube, and are known colloquially as “scrubs.” Trella, because her job is to clean the ducts, has been able to make her way (illegally) all around the pipes of the cube. They all work for the “Uppers,” never seen by the Lowers except for the Upper police force. Seventeen-year-old Trella lives in a giant cube with other “Lowers” like herself. This dystopian young adult book is an entertaining quick read with aspects of a survival story, a mystery (complete with twists) and of course a coming-of-age romance.

Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder