The Outside, Ada Hoffmann

[extrapenguin]

Humanity’s super-intelligent AI Gods brutally punish breaches in reality, as one young scientist discovers, in this intense and brilliant space opera.

Autistic scientist Yasira Shien has developed a radical new energy drive that could change the future of humanity. But when she activates it, reality warps, destroying the space station and everyone aboard. The AI Gods who rule the galaxy declare her work heretical, and Yasira is abducted by their agents. Instead of simply executing her, they offer mercy – if she’ll help them hunt down a bigger target: her own mysterious, vanished mentor. With her homeworld’s fate in the balance, Yasira must choose who to trust: the gods and their ruthless post-human angels, or the rebel scientist whose unorthodox mathematics could turn her world inside out.

I ordered this book upon reading the synopsis while checking stuff for space_swap, and it looked appealing enough to read. I devoured it! The fast-paced plot of defeating the Outside was engrossing, and the worldbuilding cool.

That said, there were a few things that bothered me. First was the way the book (its autistic protagonist, her homeworld, the narration) talked about autism/neuroatypicality, which is probably at least on some level wish fulfillment for the autistic author but incited a very large quantity of DNW in me. Second was the resolution of the narrative, in which the third option didn't feel third option-y enough and also felt like a huge violation of medical consent. (No, I did not have this problem with Children of Time.) Lastly, the love interest was annoying. *g*

I don't regret reading it, by any means, and if the synopsis interests you, you'll probably have fun! I'll have to think about it some more before forming my own opinion. A kind soul's already nommed it for space_swap and the latest round of Writing Rainbow, should you wish to request it in an exchange. It's also published in 2019 and thus Hugo Award eligible this year.

(Next things to read: The Luminous Dead and Children of Ruin, in some order.)

Comments

[schneefink]

I almost didn't finish this book because I didn't find the main protagonist interesting at all. I think it's probably because I wasn't interested in her very few relationships with other people (her mentor, a little, but late.) For example, she frequently calls her girlfriend a "good girl" in a way that sounded very patronizing to me and made it impossible for me to get invested in their relationship.

[extrapenguin]

Yeah, I definitely wasn't reading the book for anyone's relationships with anyone, except maybe Akavi being a decent boss to his underlings. The plot was what engrossed me. And the way Yasira talked about Tiv bothered me, too, in addition to Tiv not existing beyond a very flat Love Interest archetype.