Ada Hoffman

Super-intelligent AI Gods rule the galaxy. Their algorithms determine the rewards you reap before and after death. But the Gods give and the Gods take away. And Yasira has never been good at Gods... Autistic scientist Yasira Shien has developed a radical new energy drive on board The Pride of Jai that could change the future of humanity. But when she activates it, reality warps, destroying the space station and everyone left inside. The Gods declare her work heretical, and Yasira is abducted by their agents. Instead of simply executing her, they offer mercy _ if sheÍll help them hunt down a bigger target: her mysterious, vanished mentor. With her homeworldÍs 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, literally, inside out. File Under: Science Fiction [ False Gods | Angel Inside | Autistic in Space | Here be Monsters ]

The Outside

Janice Hopper

Usually described as space opera meets Lovecraft. There are OTHERS who are OUTSIDE (our normal universe.) Contact with them generally drives normal humans mad. The contact also involves disruption of the physical environment. 

The protagonist is an autistic woman named Yasira, who also had an autistic mentor, who is now public enemy #1. The mentor is being hunted by Angels. Angels are the minions of the powerful AI gods who rule human space. And these gods naturally see other powerful beings as A Problem.

God vs. god with humans as pawns is a different perspective. 

It was fine.

Logan Keith

I really liked this book, way more than I was expecting too. The characters were well formed, but it was the world that really sucked me in. It felt very exciting and I just wanted to keep finding out more about it.

Sunyi Dean

I received an ARC of this Angry Robot book via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. My opinions are my own :-)

Autistic writers are severely underrepresented in SFF, despite the fact that we make up a huge proportion of the fanbase. One could make a case for autistic people being absolutely foundational in SFF--we are often the super-fans, in this genre. And yet, as far as I am aware, no autistic SFF writers are published by the Big 5. (I would absolutely love to be corrected on this--let me know if I've overlooked somebody.) 

We seem to find better representation with independent presses, and Angry Robot in particular have a pretty good track record for publishing neurodiverse writers. I'm always keen to see more ownvoices autistic novels out there, though, and when I heard that Angry Robot were putting out a Lovecraft-influenced space opera featuring an #ownvoices autistic protagonist, I jumped straight on it. 

Please note, this review contains minor spoilers, especially towards the end of the review. 

###

"The Outside" follows Dr. Yasira Shein, an autistic scientist existing in a far-future space faring society. The setting is a good one, bordering on science-fantasy: humanity created powerful AI, who "ascended" to godhood and decided to take over. Y'know, for humanity's own good, and all that. With a rather Machiavellian flair, they legitimised their control by building a religion around it, one which draws heavily on Judeo-Christian terms (eg, angels) aspects but isn't shy of borrowing from a myriad of other influence. 

It's an odd juxtaposition, especially considering the hard scifi feel to much of the narrative, but works well for both obscuring certain technological explanations, and gives a believable framework for why the general population put up with such a disadvantageous situation. 

Feeding into the concept of angels, religion, and technological prayers is the darker concept of heresy (a word that invariably gives me 40k flashbacks, but that's no bad thing.) Much of the book centres on the efforts of various characters to contain the spread of heresy, in this case referring to psychological and metaphysical influences from a force that exists "outside" of known time and space (where the novel draws its title from.) 

To shortcut for the sake of review, the concept of Outside is very similar to Lovecraftian lore: an existence or understanding beyond human ken, that defies the laws of physics and nature. It's tied into the idea that reality is mostly illusion and perspective, and interacting with this force has a tendency to drive people insane. Even when it doesn't, the AI gods are not keen on its subversive nature, and do their best to stomp out anything remotely heretical. Suffice to say, the setting was a huge plus for me. I have a quiet fondness for religion of any kind in a scifi setting, and a lasting fondness for all things Lovecraft inspired. 

Back to Yasira, before you forget about her! I don't want to go in-depth with plot spoilers, as that's not the sort of review I tend to write. The main thrust of the conflict is that Yasira unintentionally kicks off a heretical "incident" and rather than put to death, they put her to use: she therefore becomes caught up in the gods' efforts to stomp out certain Outside influences, which they've been struggling to contain. The person at the heart of this heretical contamination is none other than Yasira's former academic mentor, Dr. Talirr. 

Naturally, the gods are far from completely honest, and it quickly becomes apparent that they are more concerned with maintaining control, even at the expense of human life. The more Yasira is drawn into their schemes, the more disillusioned she becomes. On the other side, Dr. Talirr is attempting to wield the forces of the Outside to fight the gods, who are responsible for abuse she suffered as a child, and who quietly oppress the population they rule. She spends much of her time trying to recruit or influence Yasira from afar, though she has ways and means to be "present" in the novel (I'll refrain from saying too much here.)

There's an underlying nod here to the abuse experienced by autistic children who are forced to undergo ABA, which is a type of "therapy" designed to train autistic traits away in the name of making us seem more neurotypical. (If you're not familiar with this history, a quick google search on ABA and PTSD will bring you up to speed.)

Against that backdrop, you might expect Dr. Talirr to be the obvious good guy character, a sort of Han Solo esque figure who shows Yasira the "truth" about the proverbial evil empire. But in fact, Talirr is a secondary antagonist--and I think this is one of the strengths of the novel. Her history and experiences have warped her worldview, shaping her into a person who is as dangerous and twisted as the angels she is fighting, and as indifferent to the lives of other humans. Although she does have truths to reveal and lessons to teach, her cause isn't just, and her goals are unpleasant.

Because both Yasira and Talirr are on the spectrum, the novel offers an interesting and nuanced examination of a particular spectrum trait--the tendency to see issues in black and white. Talirr's tendency has been exacerbated because of her experiences, and people are either on her side or against her; right, or wrong; useful, or expendable. Challenging the gods is valid, as is Talirr's pain, but her methods and motivations are fundamentally selfish, and she lacks--or rather, has lost--the ability to consider the situation in shades of grey. 

I don't really want to make this about me, but I do feel compelled to mention that learning to see situations in shades of grey has been one of the biggest challenges of my adult life re autism. It's a point of view that affects every discussion, argument, conversation, relationship, political stance, life goals, on and on. I found Hoffman's exploration thoughtful and interesting. 

Yasira therefore ends up in a situation where she is offered two extremes to a very serious problem, and neither are the correct option. There are no good choices. This is on top of the other issues she faces in the novel--loss of friends, livelihood, girlfriend, and the enormous stress the situation puts her in, all of that exacerbated for someone who is autistic.

SOME SPOILERS AHEAD. 

In brief summary: The Outside's influence is spreading across a certain planet. Not everyone dies, and sometimes the effects are bordering on beneficial, but Yasira believes very strongly that it isn't fair to inflict such changes on people without their consent, and her argument for that is persuasive. Besides, the loss of life and madness experienced by others is inarguably problematic. 

The gods/angels want to squash the problem in any way possible, even if that means killing thousands of people. Talirr wants to bring the gods down, even if it means ruining the lives of thousands of people. 

Yasira's solution is to reject both of the extremes offered, and cobble together her own half-way point. I don't want to give explicit spoilers (leave SOMEthing for those who have read this far!) but the underlying premise of her solution is communication and connection. Allowing empathy to shape the Outside, and using communication to break gods' stranglehold. When people connect, talk, and share, they are stronger for it in a myriad different ways; not only as individuals, but politically and socially. This is a reoccurring theme in the novel (especially with the 'gone' people, who I won't get into here--talking with people who communicate in different ways from us.) 

There is something fundamentally brilliant about an ownvoices autistic character choosing connection and communication as her solution, in both a literal and metaphorical sense. Much of autistic life is spent trying to connect and communicate with other people, and perhaps more than many allistics, we are acutely aware of the painful need to make ourselves heard and understood. And what an empowering experience it can be to finally wield your voice. Connection is powerful--literally for Yasira, but all people everywhere, too. 


WRAP UP 

I did enjoy the book very much but--and here is where we get into subjectivity--my science education and understanding is pretty poor, so there was some stuff which went way over my head, especially early on. Talirr was the most interesting character to me, and I would have liked to see more of her and less of Akavi, but that's again a subjective preference. Still, the novel is overall a very strong read, especially in a sub-genre I don't often feel gripped by (space opera) and I would very much recommend it to SF fans, and especially for any autistic SFF fans who might enjoy a bit of well-deserved (and well written) representation.

Alexia Cambaling

I received an e-arc of this book for free for free in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to NetGalley and Angry Robot Books.

I have no idea how to start this review. It had so much promise in the beginning and I was so excited about it, but by the end, it left me feeling a little cold. I enjoyed roughly about the first forty or so percent of this book but for me, it kind of went downhill from there.

Don’t get me wrong: there are things I genuinely enjoyed about this book. I loved how the main character is a queer autistic woman scientist in a loving relationship. The representation was there and the book is very diverse. It’s also an #OwnVoices book for queer and autistic representation. The societies in this book were presented to be effortlessly diverse and there are even gender-fluid angels. I think that the reasons why I didn’t fully enjoy it are my own and not everyone would agree. In the end, it’s all up to personal taste and I can see why others might enjoy it.

The writing was a little too hit or miss for me. The science can get a little too technical and I’m personally someone who prefers the science on her science fiction on the soft side. For the parts I did understand, I wasn’t too convinced. More on this later. For another, there was a bit too much telling and not showing. For example, it tells you a lot why a thing is this way but doesn’t actually show it. I don’t know how to explain it well, and I’m sorry but I personally prefer it if it was shown a little bit better. Also, it can get so repetitive about the whole ‘everything is a lie’ thing. I just felt like it was so repetitive and pretentious that I stopped caring about it and it got to the point that I’d roll my eyes every time I see it.

I also didn’t like how the book tended to switch between POVs so often. It feels sloppy, awkward, and unnecessary. I’d prefer it if the book just stayed in Yasira’s point of view as it’s in her perspective for the vast majority of the story anyway.

Let’s talk about the world-building. The Lovecraftian aspect was a hit for me- the idea of the Outside was interesting and fresh and I really liked the way it was handled. The cosmic horror really worked well and I enjoyed that part a lot. The insanity present in a lot of cosmic horror was described in The Outside and it fits the mythos well while also presenting a fresh spin to it.

But the AI gods however…this was so promising and it’s what made me interested at first but I wasn’t a huge fan of the execution. By the end of this book, I wasn’t sold on the idea of humans worshipping them. Like, okay so humans built them with their own two hands, programmed them, and then worshipped them? Okay…but how did it get to that point and why did humans start worshipping what were essentially their own creations- things that they created with, built from the computer to the programming. Wouldn’t that be a dangerous and odd thing to do given that you can destroy what you yourself made?

As for the societies present, I wish they were explored more. Like how are these societies governed? Do they have one-world governments or are the AI gods in charge of governance? How does it all work and what keeps the balance. What is Earth creole? Is it just English? An amalgation of Earth languages?

I don’t know- maybe I’m overthinking the worldbuilding and looking at it through the lens of a debater. And maybe I am being unfair dissecting this way too much. Still, as a reader, it doesn’t work as well for me as I hoped it would have and I was left feeling a little cold. Maybe, this all comes from me being a religious person so I was naturally resistant to the idea of AI gods. Maybe I’d like this more if it wasn’t for my background, I don’t know. I didn’t want to be too unnecessarily critical because I did want to like this book.

I did like Yasira’s character a lot. I love her character, her journey, the relationships she have, and the cat-and-mouse games she plays with her former teacher and mentor. Those were the high points of the novel for me. She’s a wonderfully complex character and while she’s definitely on the side of not hurting or killing anybody, she still has some shades of gray to her. I also liked the angels a lot, their interactions, their ruthlessness, and their intrigue. They’re very fascinating and it’s a shame I wasn’t a bigger fan of how it was executed. I would say I’d probably enjoy it more if it was more soft than hard sci-fi and focused more on character relationships.

If I were being honest, it feels lackluster. The plot focuses on a heresy that could tear apart everything they know about their world/universe and it just doesn’t stick its landing for me. I was more invested in the character side than the plot. Maybe I was just too stupid to understand how everything’s a lie when the characters are there and see these horrific things happening. I don’t know. I liked the angel Akavi’s character but they don’t really feel so threatening, not when they have superiors who don’t feel threatening either. Don’t get me wrong- Akavi is a fascinating and complex character but ultimately felt like an angel bureaucrat, also a cog in the machine.

Overall, I didn’t really enjoy The Outside that much, due in large part to my own personal preferences. I’d imagine this book would work for others and if the story and premise interests you, as well as the diversity in this book and queer and autistic representation, please don’t let my review discourage you. If you like hard science fiction and don’t mind how technical it is, then consider giving this a go.

Ada Hoffmann

Super-intelligent AI Gods rule the galaxy. Their algorithms determine the rewards you reap before and after death. But the Gods gif and the Gods take away. And Yasira has never been good at Gods... Autistic scientist Yasira Shien has developed a radical new energy drive on board The Pride of Jai that could change the future of humanity. But when she activates it, reality warps, destroying the space station and everyone left inside. The Gods declare her work heretical, and Yasira is abducted by their agents. Instead of simply executing her, the offer mercy - if she'll help them hunt down a bigger target: her mysterious, vanished mentor. With her homeworld's fae 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, literally, inside out.

The Outside

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