Synopsis
“Those in power will do whatever they can to get away with everything they can.”
Every citizen in Atlas, the last city on the planet, is born with a unique, special ability, and no one sleeps past the age of two.
Except for Wick Lesser who, at seventeen, still sleeps. Hiding this rare ability from the world, his father, who can calculate futures, trains him in self-defense and combat while his healing-gifted mother works an unglamorous job in the muds and keeps his secret safe with the help of Wick’s older brothers. The Lesser family of the ninth ward slums manages to keep afloat, suffering under the corrupt, greed-driven Kingship of the Lifted City.
But not for long.
In the first installment of the Outlier series, Wick’s unassuming slumborn life soon explodes into a full-speed adventure of danger, betrayal, and self-discovery when he secretly joins an underground rebel movement working to take down the oppressive ruling power. But the task is far from easy, and there are more adversaries than Wick can count. Not to mention the complication of an intense, unplanned attraction ... to someone on the wrong side of the rebellion.
Powerful forces are gathering to put an end to the uprising, including the city’s elite crew of law-enforcers called Guardian, of which Wick’s own two eldest brothers are sworn members, and all corners of the slums grow ever restless: a lustful boy with blackened eyes leads a violent street gang, with Wick’s younger brother as his newest recruit. A cunning orphaned girl whose ability is to be unseen, sees everything. And high up in the Lifted City, a privileged and wealthy boy yearns for an exciting new life in the slums.
Their world is at a precipice of great change. No one is safe. The rebellion has begun.
*** Contains adult themes, M/F and M/M sexuality, and violence.
Every citizen in Atlas, the last city on the planet, is born with a unique, special ability, and no one sleeps past the age of two.
Except for Wick Lesser who, at seventeen, still sleeps. Hiding this rare ability from the world, his father, who can calculate futures, trains him in self-defense and combat while his healing-gifted mother works an unglamorous job in the muds and keeps his secret safe with the help of Wick’s older brothers. The Lesser family of the ninth ward slums manages to keep afloat, suffering under the corrupt, greed-driven Kingship of the Lifted City.
But not for long.
In the first installment of the Outlier series, Wick’s unassuming slumborn life soon explodes into a full-speed adventure of danger, betrayal, and self-discovery when he secretly joins an underground rebel movement working to take down the oppressive ruling power. But the task is far from easy, and there are more adversaries than Wick can count. Not to mention the complication of an intense, unplanned attraction ... to someone on the wrong side of the rebellion.
Powerful forces are gathering to put an end to the uprising, including the city’s elite crew of law-enforcers called Guardian, of which Wick’s own two eldest brothers are sworn members, and all corners of the slums grow ever restless: a lustful boy with blackened eyes leads a violent street gang, with Wick’s younger brother as his newest recruit. A cunning orphaned girl whose ability is to be unseen, sees everything. And high up in the Lifted City, a privileged and wealthy boy yearns for an exciting new life in the slums.
Their world is at a precipice of great change. No one is safe. The rebellion has begun.
*** Contains adult themes, M/F and M/M sexuality, and violence.
4 - 4.5 Stars!
This book was pretty sweet! I am a HUGE fan of Daryl's writing. The first book I read by him was The Beautiful Dead, which is one of my favorite books. It was so unique and different from anything I had ever read before. While completely different from The Beautiful Dead, Outlier: Rebellion was just as unique and left me wanting more. Seriously, I was pretty bummed out when I hit the last page. So many things, for me, were left unanswered and I am DYING to know what will happen next in this series.
Outlier: Rebellion was an urban fantasy/dystopian novel told from various POV's. The prologue itself gripped you and had you itching for more of what was to come. I will admit that in the beginning, I was a little thrown off with just how many characters POV's there were, and was finding it a tad difficult to remember who was who. The more I read, the more I got to know the characters and I really ended up loving getting to hear the voices of every single one of them. While each and every one of the characters had their own storyline going on, the book was structured so that they were all linked together in one way or another which I thought to be very creative (and not easy to do in my opinion). This was one of the major plusses for me while reading this book. Nothing was just randomly thrown in to fill up space… every person and event had a specific purpose in the story giving you a smaller, more detailed look into what made up the whole.
A few parts were a bit slow moving for me, however they were vital to the story, and things would not have made as much sense if they had been omitted. The only negative for me overall was that the story felt like it was building up to a BIG occurrence…one that would have a huge bang just like the prologue, but for me there was not that big wow factor after the buildup. The story itself was great, but I would have liked to of seen a stronger ending. However, that being said, there are so many things that can happen in book two with the way things were left off, that I am very excited to see which way the story will go from here, and am hoping to get the big WOW that I was hoping for.
The story revolves around the people in the slums (the poor and the workers) and the people of the lifted city (the wealthy and privileged). These two groups of people do not like each other, and this causes much tension and drama. People in the slums are beginning to rebel, and some want to see the lifted city fall. But rebellion comes with a price that not all may be willing to pay.
Each and every person in the slums & the Lifted City have what is called a Legacy (which is basically a special ability). Some are more powerful and intense than others. Walking through walls, becoming invisible, calculating the future through numbers… these are some examples of the Legacies we encounter throughout the story. I thought this was a very cool concept and love the importance of how these Legacies played into the story. The one legacy which I did not fully understand was that of Anwick's father. He could calculate the future through numbers. I am really hoping to hear more about how this works because I am still a little confused about this.
One of my favorite things in this book was the relationship that formed between Anwick (a slumborn who is the ONLY person over the age of two which still sleeps) and Athan (a boy from the lifted city who dreams about living in the slums). This was the first time I read a M/M relationship and I really loved these two characters together. I am DYING to know what is going to become of these two. Will they find a way to be together, or will their different lives tear them apart?
So many questions, so many directions which this story can go from here. To say that I am excited for book two would be quite an understatement. Daryl has a way of capturing the readers mind from page one in his books. He has the ability to take a concept that has been done in the past, twisting it and adding to it and turning it into a completely unique idea. He comes up with some of the most creative story lines I have ever encountered, and I cannot wait to see what he has in store for us readers in the future.
Buy Links
