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A review by transparent_tea
The Shutouts by Gabrielle Korn
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
One year later after reading Yours for the Taking. It feels like deja vu going back into this dystopian story of the Inside with Ava/Brook, reminding myself that I remember bits and pieces of what happened at the end of the first story. Do note, The Shutouts isn't listed as a direct sequel to the first book, but a book that takes place within the same universe. I do agree with this, as the book is running on two timelines: one that's through a series of letters from 2041, written by a person named Kelly, and the "current" timeline of 2078 (from what the story noted, about 20+ years after Yours for the Taking started.
This new story brings back most of the cast of characters from the previous story and adds a few new names: Kelly, Vero, Cory, and Madhru from the timelines within the letter, and Max and Sterrett from the current timelines. Without spoiling much, the letters do seem out of place within the first couple of days, but they start to explain themselves by the April 11th, 20241 letter, and the reader starts to understand the purpose.
The current timeline, you are reading from the perspectives of the character's name within the title, so it's interesting to shift from one person to another, but it does give the reader a scent of current emotions that the characters are feeling from the events that are happening.
Overall, I wasn't aware that the author wrote another book until I was randomly looking on Goodreads and found it. Similar to the first book, the writing style is easy on the eyes and the choice of words doesn't make the story dull. What I did find uncanny is that the dystopian world that Gabrielle Korn portrays isn't too far from the truth, given the current circumstances, and I would be laughing if there were an actual "force" called the Winter Liberation Army that's based out of Washington State right now.
This new story brings back most of the cast of characters from the previous story and adds a few new names: Kelly, Vero, Cory, and Madhru from the timelines within the letter, and Max and Sterrett from the current timelines. Without spoiling much, the letters do seem out of place within the first couple of days, but they start to explain themselves by the April 11th, 20241 letter, and the reader starts to understand the purpose.
The current timeline, you are reading from the perspectives of the character's name within the title, so it's interesting to shift from one person to another, but it does give the reader a scent of current emotions that the characters are feeling from the events that are happening.
Overall, I wasn't aware that the author wrote another book until I was randomly looking on Goodreads and found it. Similar to the first book, the writing style is easy on the eyes and the choice of words doesn't make the story dull. What I did find uncanny is that the dystopian world that Gabrielle Korn portrays isn't too far from the truth, given the current circumstances, and I would be laughing if there were an actual "force" called the Winter Liberation Army that's based out of Washington State right now.