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The Outrage
"You know, when you live in a time of progress, it seems that progress is the only possible way. The idea that everything we'd gained, all of those hard-won rights, could be taken away from us, and that open minds could be closed again? But then the Outrage happened."
Welcome to England, where the Protectorate enforces the Public Good. Here, there are rules for everything - what to eat, what to wear, what to do, what to say, what to read, what to think, who to obey, who to hate, who to love. Your safety is assured, so long as you follow the rules.
Gabriel is a natural born rule-breaker. And his biggest crime of all? Being gay.
Gabriel knows his sexuality must be kept secret from all but his closest friends, not only to protect himself, but to protect his boyfriend. Because Eric isn't just the boy who has stolen Gabriel's heart. He's the son of the chief inspector at Degenerate Investigations - the man who poses the single biggest threat to Gabriel's life.
And the Protectorate are experts at exposing secrets.
Welcome to England, where the Protectorate enforces the Public Good. Here, there are rules for everything - what to eat, what to wear, what to do, what to say, what to read, what to think, who to obey, who to hate, who to love. Your safety is assured, so long as you follow the rules.
Gabriel is a natural born rule-breaker. And his biggest crime of all? Being gay.
Gabriel knows his sexuality must be kept secret from all but his closest friends, not only to protect himself, but to protect his boyfriend. Because Eric isn't just the boy who has stolen Gabriel's heart. He's the son of the chief inspector at Degenerate Investigations - the man who poses the single biggest threat to Gabriel's life.
And the Protectorate are experts at exposing secrets.
416 pages, Paperback
First published May 13, 2021
85 people are currently reading
2231 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 318 reviews
January 30, 2022
So important and relevant!!
Think of threats out there now:
extreme patriotism, upcoming right-wing parties, LGBT-free zones in Poland.
Imagine England about 30 years after the Brexit:
isolated, hyperinflation, little food.
The Public Good Party is in charge and the Protectorate rules. Gabe is gay and that’s forbidden ...
Degens, that’s how they define us. Degenerate. Disgusting. Twisted and inferior and rotten and ugly. The Outrage is chest tightening and incredibly scary. William Hussey shows us a world that we can end up with if we continue like this. A world we never want to enter again. But what if we indeed continue as we do now? While I’m writing this, there’s a commercial for the upcoming elections on the radio: ‘Vote for the Netherlands’. I cringe and don’t want this to be my country, which has always been seen as progressive. I don’t want youth to vote on this right-wing party, but sadly, I know they do. Because fear and dissatisfaction can turn into hatred:
People started looking around for something to blame...It really is amazing how people will surrender their minds, just to feel secure. Gabe is sensitive and caring, hot-headed, raised by a progressive father, and so in love with Eric. I love you Eric. And I think you love me, though you never once said it back. And Eric, oh Eric. This fragile boy who lost his mum and who I wanted to hug sometimes, and who was so gentle to insects and other animals. ”I’m like him,” he says, nodding to the scarecrow far below. “Stitched together from a hundred broken bits.” Then sweet Albert, who has been Gabe’s friend for so long and helps him whenever he can. Who seems to have a secret, though.
And last but not least, Alice. She only appears in the last 20% of the story, but girl, you’re strong and I’m so proud of you! I don’t think The Outrage is perfect, the references to our present time and to all those movies sometimes felt a bit forced and could be more subtle ... BUT ... this story is so freaking important! It’s one that I’ll be rereading and reflecting on. A story that can be used by teachers to discuss in class. And therefore, I give it 5 important ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!
If you want to read more by William Hussey, check out Hideous Beauty, one of my most favorite young adults ever, or check his alias: Will Harker, if you love dark and twisted thrillers as well.
I received an ARC from Usborne Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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Think of threats out there now:
extreme patriotism, upcoming right-wing parties, LGBT-free zones in Poland.
Imagine England about 30 years after the Brexit:
isolated, hyperinflation, little food.
The Public Good Party is in charge and the Protectorate rules. Gabe is gay and that’s forbidden ...
Degens, that’s how they define us. Degenerate. Disgusting. Twisted and inferior and rotten and ugly. The Outrage is chest tightening and incredibly scary. William Hussey shows us a world that we can end up with if we continue like this. A world we never want to enter again. But what if we indeed continue as we do now? While I’m writing this, there’s a commercial for the upcoming elections on the radio: ‘Vote for the Netherlands’. I cringe and don’t want this to be my country, which has always been seen as progressive. I don’t want youth to vote on this right-wing party, but sadly, I know they do. Because fear and dissatisfaction can turn into hatred:
People started looking around for something to blame...It really is amazing how people will surrender their minds, just to feel secure. Gabe is sensitive and caring, hot-headed, raised by a progressive father, and so in love with Eric. I love you Eric. And I think you love me, though you never once said it back. And Eric, oh Eric. This fragile boy who lost his mum and who I wanted to hug sometimes, and who was so gentle to insects and other animals. ”I’m like him,” he says, nodding to the scarecrow far below. “Stitched together from a hundred broken bits.” Then sweet Albert, who has been Gabe’s friend for so long and helps him whenever he can. Who seems to have a secret, though.
And last but not least, Alice. She only appears in the last 20% of the story, but girl, you’re strong and I’m so proud of you! I don’t think The Outrage is perfect, the references to our present time and to all those movies sometimes felt a bit forced and could be more subtle ... BUT ... this story is so freaking important! It’s one that I’ll be rereading and reflecting on. A story that can be used by teachers to discuss in class. And therefore, I give it 5 important ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!
If you want to read more by William Hussey, check out Hideous Beauty, one of my most favorite young adults ever, or check his alias: Will Harker, if you love dark and twisted thrillers as well.
I received an ARC from Usborne Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Follow me on Instagram
July 13, 2021
1,5 stars. Pushed up to two for representation.
Me, witnessing my high hopes for this book being unceremoniously trampled on:
Seriously, it is inconceivable to me that this book has so many five-star reviews.
I can only gather it is due to the desperate desire for more LGBTQIA-representation in dystopian literature.
Which is understandable, given that said representation is sorely lacking in that genre.
Anyway, quick recap:
"The Outrage" takes us one hundred or so years into England's future, where the Protectorate rules all with an iron fist. It is a world where being LGBTQIA is the gravest of crimes, and Gabriel must navigate this world, hiding his true identity as a gay man. As if this weren't already sufficiently stressful, his boyfriend is the son of the chief inspector at Degenerate Investigations - the organisation that hunts down people like him.
The premise was very intriguing, and the blurb that promised that this was "The Handmaid's Tale for LGBTQ+ YA" made me very hopeful that "The Outrage" would be a worthy addition to the dystopian ouvre.
Sadly, this book has many problems, the most critical of which is a painfully unoriginal and underdeveloped plot.
Before I continue my review, let me warn you that it's going to be rather difficult to completely avoid spoilers, so if you don't want to know anything, stop here!
(Major spoilers will, of course, be hidden.)
Plot
I'm just going to start here because, as mentioned, the plot is this book's chief problem.
Desperately unoriginal, the plot meanders through one cliché after another until you're so bored and uninspired you just want to throw the book in a lake.
Additionally, any and all tension is drained from the book because everything just always magically works itself out.
Need to get into a locked mansion? No problem! The code is the most obvious thing you could possibly imagine!
Need to make a getaway? No problem! There just happens to be a conveniently unlocked car right where you are!
Bad guys after you? No problem! Your friend (who has no idea where you are, and no logical way to find you) just happens to show up exactly where you are at the exact moment you need him to!
I could go on, but I think I lost track of how many times Hussey uses the word "luckily", followed by something unlikely which lets the characters avoid trouble.
Additionally, the bad guys are all completely incompetent idiots, easily outsmarted by inexperienced seventeen year-olds.
If you want to create a truly disturbing dystopian society, you need a good, dystopian villain - which, in the type of dystopia "The Outrage" attempts to be, tends to be the government and its allies.
As I mentioned earlier in my review, "The Outrage" has been compared to "The Handmaid's Tale", so I'm going to make a few comparisons to that story (which happens to be one of the best dystopian novels I've read).
Starting off, comparing this mess of a novel to "The Handmaid's Tale" is like comparing "Fifty Shades of Grey" to "Romeo and Juliet". Yes, they share certain themes, but they diverge dramatically in terms of quality.
So, why does THT work?
Because it has a wonderfully devised plot that constantly keeps you on your toes, an engaging main character, a believable dystopian world, and, crucially, an enemy that is disturbing, inventive, and as brilliant as it is awful.
TO has none of these things. Additionally, because everything always works itself out, you never fear for the characters' lives. In THT, you get the sense that anything could happen at any time, and you also have a serious fear that the bad guys might actually win. In TO, you're just waiting for the good guys to win, and the only (miniscule) interest lies in how it happens.
The thing is, TO is obviously more of a political poster for LGBTQIA rights than it is an actual story. Hussey spends an inordinate amount of time on painfully preachy passages (forgive my alliteration) that, for one, make little sense within the world he's created (characters would have little to no knowledge of politically correct terminology in a world that not only denies LGBTQIA people basic human rights, but also prohibits any education on subjects to do with human sexuality and gender identity), and secondly, actually end up being somewhat annoying.
Because here's the thing: I completely and utterly agree with Hussey's message, I really, really do. I think the dangers he warns us of are real, that the rights that have been hard won, and that are still denied this group in far too many parts of the world, might be taken away again. One just needs to look at the disturbing resurgence of right-wing extremism to know that one cannot be complacent.
But no one likes being preached to. Even if they agree with the preaching. It feels somehow ... belittling?
And in any case, a message written in a novel is always better received when that novel has a plot that goes beyond political campaigning.
Characters
Characterisation is another serious problem in TO.
First of all, the MC is, like many of his counterparts in YA literature, underdeveloped. I've complained about this in many of my other reviews, so I'll be brief here: we need MCs that are more than just vessels into which the author can put whatever traits he/she needs in any given moment.
And, ok, Gabriel isn't as bad as some of the other MCs I've encountered lately, he does actually have some personality, but he's still fairly bland.
The other characters seem to be mostly poster children for their respective genders and sexualities. They are given som character traits that are mentioned a couple of times, but other than that, they seem to be there chiefly to provide diversity.
And diversity is awesome. More diversity please.
But flesh out your characters, people! Seriously.
Also, in terms of diversity, Hussey makes some odd choices concerning certain characters. The characters' instant acceptance of everything is also unlikely given the world they live in and the upbringing they've been given. It's a lovely dream that everyone would just accept every identity at face value, but it's not the reality. And Hussey could actually make a greater impact if he lent his characters a touch more realism in this respect, if he made them more flawed. Because we all are! None of us manage to be politically correct all the time, no matter how hard we try. We all make mistakes, and reading about perfectly politically correct characters isn't only unrealistic (as mentioned), it's also boring.
As for the bad guys, they're not only idiots, but often described as physically unappealing. Honestly, they're like cartoons, and they're about as frightening as Wile E. Coyote.
They're also completely, blandly evil. Instead of giving them a shred of humanity, of personality (which will actually make an evil character all the more frightening), Hussey uses them as mindless mouthpieces for anti-gay propaganda. Again, this just makes them seem cartoonish and ridiculous.
Writing
The writing is mostly fine. It also suffers from a lack of originality, but it's decent, and easy enough to read, for the most part. Certain action sequences are difficult to follow because Hussey appears to skip some steps in the describing of them. "Skipping some steps" could actually be a tagline for this entire book.
Hussey has chosen to intersperse his present-day story with snippets of the past that show the start of Gabriel and Eric's relationship. In some cases this kind of storytelling can work very well, but it doesn't here. Because you know Gabriel and Eric are going to end up in a relationship, their past story loses most of its mystique. Additionally, Hussey chooses to place some of these forays into the past directly after cliffhangers in the present. This is simply a recipe for impatient reading. In other words, TO would have worked better if the scenes had been presented in chronological order. However, this would have demanded more time and more development, something of which this entire book is in dire need.
There are also plenty of factual errors and inaccuracies that prove Hussey has done very little research in his work with this book. As an example, he claims that the lack of antibiotics would mean that any minor cut or graze could be a death sentence. This is entirely incorrect. Even hundreds of years ago, before people knew that one needed to disinfect a wound (not to mention wash one's hands), minor cuts and scrapes rarely caused severe illness or death. Disinfecting a wound properly will, in the grand majority of cases, be quite sufficient to keep infection away (in fact, one of the reasons we have seen a dramatic increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria is precisely that we constantly use antibiotics where they aren't necessary). This is really basic medical science, and Hussey's lack of knowledge is just another symptom of his half-assed writing.
Okay, this review is getting way too long, so I'll round off by saying that we desperately need more good dystopian fiction centering on LGBTQIA people.
"The Outrage" just isn't it.
Me, witnessing my high hopes for this book being unceremoniously trampled on:
Seriously, it is inconceivable to me that this book has so many five-star reviews.
I can only gather it is due to the desperate desire for more LGBTQIA-representation in dystopian literature.
Which is understandable, given that said representation is sorely lacking in that genre.
Anyway, quick recap:
"The Outrage" takes us one hundred or so years into England's future, where the Protectorate rules all with an iron fist. It is a world where being LGBTQIA is the gravest of crimes, and Gabriel must navigate this world, hiding his true identity as a gay man. As if this weren't already sufficiently stressful, his boyfriend is the son of the chief inspector at Degenerate Investigations - the organisation that hunts down people like him.
The premise was very intriguing, and the blurb that promised that this was "The Handmaid's Tale for LGBTQ+ YA" made me very hopeful that "The Outrage" would be a worthy addition to the dystopian ouvre.
Sadly, this book has many problems, the most critical of which is a painfully unoriginal and underdeveloped plot.
Before I continue my review, let me warn you that it's going to be rather difficult to completely avoid spoilers, so if you don't want to know anything, stop here!
(Major spoilers will, of course, be hidden.)
Plot
I'm just going to start here because, as mentioned, the plot is this book's chief problem.
Desperately unoriginal, the plot meanders through one cliché after another until you're so bored and uninspired you just want to throw the book in a lake.
Additionally, any and all tension is drained from the book because everything just always magically works itself out.
Need to get into a locked mansion? No problem! The code is the most obvious thing you could possibly imagine!
Need to make a getaway? No problem! There just happens to be a conveniently unlocked car right where you are!
Bad guys after you? No problem! Your friend (who has no idea where you are, and no logical way to find you) just happens to show up exactly where you are at the exact moment you need him to!
I could go on, but I think I lost track of how many times Hussey uses the word "luckily", followed by something unlikely which lets the characters avoid trouble.
Additionally, the bad guys are all completely incompetent idiots, easily outsmarted by inexperienced seventeen year-olds.
If you want to create a truly disturbing dystopian society, you need a good, dystopian villain - which, in the type of dystopia "The Outrage" attempts to be, tends to be the government and its allies.
As I mentioned earlier in my review, "The Outrage" has been compared to "The Handmaid's Tale", so I'm going to make a few comparisons to that story (which happens to be one of the best dystopian novels I've read).
Starting off, comparing this mess of a novel to "The Handmaid's Tale" is like comparing "Fifty Shades of Grey" to "Romeo and Juliet". Yes, they share certain themes, but they diverge dramatically in terms of quality.
So, why does THT work?
Because it has a wonderfully devised plot that constantly keeps you on your toes, an engaging main character, a believable dystopian world, and, crucially, an enemy that is disturbing, inventive, and as brilliant as it is awful.
TO has none of these things. Additionally, because everything always works itself out, you never fear for the characters' lives. In THT, you get the sense that anything could happen at any time, and you also have a serious fear that the bad guys might actually win. In TO, you're just waiting for the good guys to win, and the only (miniscule) interest lies in how it happens.
The thing is, TO is obviously more of a political poster for LGBTQIA rights than it is an actual story. Hussey spends an inordinate amount of time on painfully preachy passages (forgive my alliteration) that, for one, make little sense within the world he's created (characters would have little to no knowledge of politically correct terminology in a world that not only denies LGBTQIA people basic human rights, but also prohibits any education on subjects to do with human sexuality and gender identity), and secondly, actually end up being somewhat annoying.
Because here's the thing: I completely and utterly agree with Hussey's message, I really, really do. I think the dangers he warns us of are real, that the rights that have been hard won, and that are still denied this group in far too many parts of the world, might be taken away again. One just needs to look at the disturbing resurgence of right-wing extremism to know that one cannot be complacent.
But no one likes being preached to. Even if they agree with the preaching. It feels somehow ... belittling?
And in any case, a message written in a novel is always better received when that novel has a plot that goes beyond political campaigning.
Characters
Characterisation is another serious problem in TO.
First of all, the MC is, like many of his counterparts in YA literature, underdeveloped. I've complained about this in many of my other reviews, so I'll be brief here: we need MCs that are more than just vessels into which the author can put whatever traits he/she needs in any given moment.
And, ok, Gabriel isn't as bad as some of the other MCs I've encountered lately, he does actually have some personality, but he's still fairly bland.
The other characters seem to be mostly poster children for their respective genders and sexualities. They are given som character traits that are mentioned a couple of times, but other than that, they seem to be there chiefly to provide diversity.
And diversity is awesome. More diversity please.
But flesh out your characters, people! Seriously.
Also, in terms of diversity, Hussey makes some odd choices concerning certain characters. The characters' instant acceptance of everything is also unlikely given the world they live in and the upbringing they've been given. It's a lovely dream that everyone would just accept every identity at face value, but it's not the reality. And Hussey could actually make a greater impact if he lent his characters a touch more realism in this respect, if he made them more flawed. Because we all are! None of us manage to be politically correct all the time, no matter how hard we try. We all make mistakes, and reading about perfectly politically correct characters isn't only unrealistic (as mentioned), it's also boring.
As for the bad guys, they're not only idiots, but often described as physically unappealing. Honestly, they're like cartoons, and they're about as frightening as Wile E. Coyote.
They're also completely, blandly evil. Instead of giving them a shred of humanity, of personality (which will actually make an evil character all the more frightening), Hussey uses them as mindless mouthpieces for anti-gay propaganda. Again, this just makes them seem cartoonish and ridiculous.
Writing
The writing is mostly fine. It also suffers from a lack of originality, but it's decent, and easy enough to read, for the most part. Certain action sequences are difficult to follow because Hussey appears to skip some steps in the describing of them. "Skipping some steps" could actually be a tagline for this entire book.
Hussey has chosen to intersperse his present-day story with snippets of the past that show the start of Gabriel and Eric's relationship. In some cases this kind of storytelling can work very well, but it doesn't here. Because you know Gabriel and Eric are going to end up in a relationship, their past story loses most of its mystique. Additionally, Hussey chooses to place some of these forays into the past directly after cliffhangers in the present. This is simply a recipe for impatient reading. In other words, TO would have worked better if the scenes had been presented in chronological order. However, this would have demanded more time and more development, something of which this entire book is in dire need.
There are also plenty of factual errors and inaccuracies that prove Hussey has done very little research in his work with this book. As an example, he claims that the lack of antibiotics would mean that any minor cut or graze could be a death sentence. This is entirely incorrect. Even hundreds of years ago, before people knew that one needed to disinfect a wound (not to mention wash one's hands), minor cuts and scrapes rarely caused severe illness or death. Disinfecting a wound properly will, in the grand majority of cases, be quite sufficient to keep infection away (in fact, one of the reasons we have seen a dramatic increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria is precisely that we constantly use antibiotics where they aren't necessary). This is really basic medical science, and Hussey's lack of knowledge is just another symptom of his half-assed writing.
Okay, this review is getting way too long, so I'll round off by saying that we desperately need more good dystopian fiction centering on LGBTQIA people.
"The Outrage" just isn't it.
July 8, 2022
cudowna historia o wielkiej przyjaźni, współpracy, odkrywaniu siebie💛
bohaterowie byli naprawdę świetni, a fabuła tak mnie wkręciła, że przeczytałam tą książkę dosłownie jednym tchem!
to historia o tym, że miłość potrafi przezwyciężyć każde zło<3
bohaterowie byli naprawdę świetni, a fabuła tak mnie wkręciła, że przeczytałam tą książkę dosłownie jednym tchem!
to historia o tym, że miłość potrafi przezwyciężyć każde zło<3
July 4, 2021
How this book has such high ratings is a mystery to me. Not only was the concept pitifully unoriginal, it was also painfully underdeveloped. The fact that this book has been compared to The Handmaid’s Tale is quite frankly an insult to Margaret Atwood…
April 22, 2021
Imagine a world where to be gay or trans is a crime. You’re a degenerate and treated as sub-human by members of The Protectorate, the leaders of this new world charged with keeping order and keeping everyone safe. This is the awful world in which Gabe lives.
Our main character is forthright, angry and prone to making some really stupid choices. But he’s also loyal and loving, and determined to stick up for what he believes is right - no matter the cost.
Gabe and his friends - who charmingly call themselves The Rebels - know they are different, and that people are threatened by them. They want nothing more than to be themselves, to be proud of who they are and to live their lives.
Unfortunately, Gabe is also in love with Eric Dufresne, the son of someone high in the ranks of The Protectorate. When they are caught trying to remove a banned disc, showing that dangerous movie ‘Love, Simon’, things quickly escalate and what became an idealistic aim becomes a fight for survival.
Hussey creates a truly shocking environment-strangely not at all incredible given some of the situations and events we see happening around us. While the representation may not please everyone, it’s an evolving process to encourage people to consider their place, their personal beliefs and their role in history.
I’m looking forward to seeing what people make of this, and I’m so grateful to NetGalley for granting me early access.
Our main character is forthright, angry and prone to making some really stupid choices. But he’s also loyal and loving, and determined to stick up for what he believes is right - no matter the cost.
Gabe and his friends - who charmingly call themselves The Rebels - know they are different, and that people are threatened by them. They want nothing more than to be themselves, to be proud of who they are and to live their lives.
Unfortunately, Gabe is also in love with Eric Dufresne, the son of someone high in the ranks of The Protectorate. When they are caught trying to remove a banned disc, showing that dangerous movie ‘Love, Simon’, things quickly escalate and what became an idealistic aim becomes a fight for survival.
Hussey creates a truly shocking environment-strangely not at all incredible given some of the situations and events we see happening around us. While the representation may not please everyone, it’s an evolving process to encourage people to consider their place, their personal beliefs and their role in history.
I’m looking forward to seeing what people make of this, and I’m so grateful to NetGalley for granting me early access.
May 11, 2021
My word. I have so many emotions. Full review once I’m not a mess.
-
UPDATE - 12th May 2021
I have been a fan of William's work for a very long time now, since 2010's Witchfinder: Dawn of the Demontide was released and I have loved seeing his career and talents flourish year after year. Last years Hideous Beauty was a stunning read and at some points I wondered how Will could ever top himself, but with The Outrage, he goes above and beyond and I couldn't be happier to have been able to read this book! Right from the start I was sucked into the world of a Britain where we have regressed far further than many could ever imagine possible. A totalitarian state where people are in a constant state of suspicion, looking out for those who may be different.
I fell in love with the characters. Gabe himself is boyfriend goals and I loved him right from the very start. He isn't perfect and he doesn't pretend to be. He has anger issues, but he loves so fiercely and so protectively regardless of what people do to him in return and I loved this about him. I'm glad he was the narrator because he was a my favourite of the lot and I really enjoyed getting into his head and seeing how he saw the world. I also liked Eric because he is flawed too. He wants to be open and honest, he wants to live the life he knows that he truly desires, but also doesn't want to do anything to upset his father, a high ranking officer within the Protectorate itself.
I've seen first hand a lot of unwarranted abuse thrown at Will online because of the premise of this book. Telling him that he is too privileged to have written a book like this. Being gay isn't illegal in Britain anymore. It used to be. Yeah, we have progressed, we have made leaps and strides that just seem natural. Why shouldn't LGBTQ+ people have the same rights that straight people do? Yes, we are lucky in that sense, lucky in ways that some can only dream of, where their sexuality can get them imprisoned, or worse, killed. But given things going on within the country today, the governments lack of action against conversion therapy, constant backpedaling now saying that they won't condemn religious groups. As it says in the book, sometimes we take this progress for granted and stop fighting for it. That is what the book is about. It isn't about how horrible it is that you can be persecuted for who you love in some parts of the world. It is about the fact that we all deserve complete and total equality, regardless of which country you come from, what religion you are. We should not be deemed lesser just because some people think that we are. This book is about keeping the fight alive. Not being complacent and allowing those who would seek to take our rights away from us win. We need to keep fighting to be equal and we need to fight for that equality to spread all the way around the world and stay there!
I am so proud of Will for this book and know that a book like this would have made 14 year old me swell with self-worth and it would definitely have helped me in ways that I hope it will teens today! I am so glad that today, teens around the world have access to so much more representation than there was when I was a gay teen struggling to accept who I was!
So beautifully written, The Outrage was a page turner of epic proportions. I just had to keep going! There are books that stay with you long after you have read the last page and closed the book for the last time. Characters and words that merge with you and stay with you forever, and The Outrage is one of those books. Moving, thought provoking and enthralling, I cannot wait for people to read it!
-
UPDATE - 12th May 2021
I have been a fan of William's work for a very long time now, since 2010's Witchfinder: Dawn of the Demontide was released and I have loved seeing his career and talents flourish year after year. Last years Hideous Beauty was a stunning read and at some points I wondered how Will could ever top himself, but with The Outrage, he goes above and beyond and I couldn't be happier to have been able to read this book! Right from the start I was sucked into the world of a Britain where we have regressed far further than many could ever imagine possible. A totalitarian state where people are in a constant state of suspicion, looking out for those who may be different.
I fell in love with the characters. Gabe himself is boyfriend goals and I loved him right from the very start. He isn't perfect and he doesn't pretend to be. He has anger issues, but he loves so fiercely and so protectively regardless of what people do to him in return and I loved this about him. I'm glad he was the narrator because he was a my favourite of the lot and I really enjoyed getting into his head and seeing how he saw the world. I also liked Eric because he is flawed too. He wants to be open and honest, he wants to live the life he knows that he truly desires, but also doesn't want to do anything to upset his father, a high ranking officer within the Protectorate itself.
I've seen first hand a lot of unwarranted abuse thrown at Will online because of the premise of this book. Telling him that he is too privileged to have written a book like this. Being gay isn't illegal in Britain anymore. It used to be. Yeah, we have progressed, we have made leaps and strides that just seem natural. Why shouldn't LGBTQ+ people have the same rights that straight people do? Yes, we are lucky in that sense, lucky in ways that some can only dream of, where their sexuality can get them imprisoned, or worse, killed. But given things going on within the country today, the governments lack of action against conversion therapy, constant backpedaling now saying that they won't condemn religious groups. As it says in the book, sometimes we take this progress for granted and stop fighting for it. That is what the book is about. It isn't about how horrible it is that you can be persecuted for who you love in some parts of the world. It is about the fact that we all deserve complete and total equality, regardless of which country you come from, what religion you are. We should not be deemed lesser just because some people think that we are. This book is about keeping the fight alive. Not being complacent and allowing those who would seek to take our rights away from us win. We need to keep fighting to be equal and we need to fight for that equality to spread all the way around the world and stay there!
I am so proud of Will for this book and know that a book like this would have made 14 year old me swell with self-worth and it would definitely have helped me in ways that I hope it will teens today! I am so glad that today, teens around the world have access to so much more representation than there was when I was a gay teen struggling to accept who I was!
So beautifully written, The Outrage was a page turner of epic proportions. I just had to keep going! There are books that stay with you long after you have read the last page and closed the book for the last time. Characters and words that merge with you and stay with you forever, and The Outrage is one of those books. Moving, thought provoking and enthralling, I cannot wait for people to read it!
maybe
February 27, 2021I'm honestly pretty skeptical of a book with a premise that's like "in a world where being gay is a crime..." like...yeah, this one. There are many countries where being gay is still a crime; it's a real and present danger to queer people around the world. Currently, it's not sitting well with me that from the synopsis, it seems like we're setting this up as some dystopian idea, but I'm willing to give it a chance and not condemn it until I've read it, especially since I've seen some good reviews so far.
November 28, 2022
Słyszałam trochę dobrego o powieści oraz słyszałam trochę niedobrego, i choć zgadzam się chociażby z zarzutem niegroźnej naiwności czy niewykorzystania pełni potencjału, to jednak bliżej mi do głosów zadowolonych. Bo czułam tę historię. Mocno na mnie wpływała i silnie bawiła się moimi emocjami. Polubiłam bohaterów, a narracja była przyjemna. Tyle wystarczy, bym miło o niej myślała i by na odrobinę dłużej posiedziała w mojej głowie. Bym wkładała ją w dłonie ludziom, którzy zapragną antyutopijną młodzieżówkę z reprezentacją LGBTQ+.
February 12, 2023
Tak, popłakałam się na końcówce.
September 5, 2021
This started with so much potential. Like the whole world post Outrage was gritty and dark and fascinating. Don't get me wrong it's absolutely disgusting because you know there are people out there that would agree with this. And as a gay dude I 100% appreciate the representation and the struggle and it's cool to see us represented in dystopia. But after the strong start and pulling these characters together and giving us a nice look at the friendships it all suddenly takes a turn. We then get torture and graphic violence which is fine but it heralds the turning point for a very fast downward slope.
Dystopian's have a way of being incredibly predictable. Somehow this was intensely predictable and also made no sense. Eric becoming a Green Jacket for example, somehow predictable (reminded me of threatened Peeta in the capitol) but also made no sense given these people are honestly much worse than the Capitol. Eric wouldn't switch sides because that is what we've seen, he is meek and he is soft and a nerd and he is not going to join the Filth Finders no matter what his father says. Gabe's vastly wavering anger was almost untenable and all over the place really. But he is also super humanly strong apparently because he swims so he can carry a person like its nothing. Like I'm just at a loss.
The minute they took the fucking dog I was like well that's got a tracker in it. It will find them when they reach the ally and they'll have to abandon them to get away. And low and behold it's exactly what happened. The revelation that the Outrage was faked to rile people up, called it. Don't get me started on that beach scene because oh my god no was is Dufresne Senior saving his son. The son he literally has given no indication of his care about. Also the whole thing with Eric's mum was a piss take, she committed suicide but the way they talk about it as this big mystery felt borderline disrespectful? And that being the catalyst for all of Eric's self-harm was a bit of a yikes as well. I understand grief and depression are complicated but not sure that this book really did either justice. Let's ignore the drunk mum that has severe issues after being abandoned to the psychotic Farmer. Now I come to think of it most female characters in this book are incredibly under-developed and one note. June is a lesbian who doesn't like hugs, Liz is a lesbian who likes sewing, Marsha is probably a lesbian but she's old and compared to Harriet Tubman.
And then there is Albert/Alice. Now having a trans character come out midbook and instantly switch pronouns and name is commendable, it is how it should be dealt with. I just don't think the moment that Hussey chose to do it was right? Like we're in the throes of the final act and this character revelation feels very out of the left field. But we move because we stan representation.
Can I also just point out the entire Now/Then thing? Absolutely unneeded like don't spend the time establishing Gabe and Eric's relationship in the present if you're then going to show us it all anyway. I didn't need to see them meet and fall in love because I believed it in the present. The explanation for the scars was put in them but that's the only like big thing that came out of it? Because the rest all happened in the present? It felt like fan-service for something that is in the same book.... Also they have sex on a dusty old stage, like where is the hygiene.
Frustrating, because representation is so fucking important. And this book does have heaps of it. But it fails to stray from generic dystopian plots and walks the same path that many other dystopians have done. But it's gay. That is the only difference.
Dystopian's have a way of being incredibly predictable. Somehow this was intensely predictable and also made no sense. Eric becoming a Green Jacket for example, somehow predictable (reminded me of threatened Peeta in the capitol) but also made no sense given these people are honestly much worse than the Capitol. Eric wouldn't switch sides because that is what we've seen, he is meek and he is soft and a nerd and he is not going to join the Filth Finders no matter what his father says. Gabe's vastly wavering anger was almost untenable and all over the place really. But he is also super humanly strong apparently because he swims so he can carry a person like its nothing. Like I'm just at a loss.
The minute they took the fucking dog I was like well that's got a tracker in it. It will find them when they reach the ally and they'll have to abandon them to get away. And low and behold it's exactly what happened. The revelation that the Outrage was faked to rile people up, called it. Don't get me started on that beach scene because oh my god no was is Dufresne Senior saving his son. The son he literally has given no indication of his care about. Also the whole thing with Eric's mum was a piss take, she committed suicide but the way they talk about it as this big mystery felt borderline disrespectful? And that being the catalyst for all of Eric's self-harm was a bit of a yikes as well. I understand grief and depression are complicated but not sure that this book really did either justice. Let's ignore the drunk mum that has severe issues after being abandoned to the psychotic Farmer. Now I come to think of it most female characters in this book are incredibly under-developed and one note. June is a lesbian who doesn't like hugs, Liz is a lesbian who likes sewing, Marsha is probably a lesbian but she's old and compared to Harriet Tubman.
And then there is Albert/Alice. Now having a trans character come out midbook and instantly switch pronouns and name is commendable, it is how it should be dealt with. I just don't think the moment that Hussey chose to do it was right? Like we're in the throes of the final act and this character revelation feels very out of the left field. But we move because we stan representation.
Can I also just point out the entire Now/Then thing? Absolutely unneeded like don't spend the time establishing Gabe and Eric's relationship in the present if you're then going to show us it all anyway. I didn't need to see them meet and fall in love because I believed it in the present. The explanation for the scars was put in them but that's the only like big thing that came out of it? Because the rest all happened in the present? It felt like fan-service for something that is in the same book.... Also they have sex on a dusty old stage, like where is the hygiene.
Frustrating, because representation is so fucking important. And this book does have heaps of it. But it fails to stray from generic dystopian plots and walks the same path that many other dystopians have done. But it's gay. That is the only difference.
March 1, 2021
There are some books that come and go from your head, the ones that you enjoy but that don't stick with you, and your only reminder is looking back through your Goodreads reading challenge. Then there are the books that you never want to end, the ones that stay with you, change how you think about the world, about writing and its power to affect you. The Outrage is one of the latter, a book so brilliant I wish I had written it, or at least that we were publishing it.
Prepare yourself to be heartbroken but also uplifted by this incredible story about queer protagonists just wanting to be themselves in a world that wants to eradicate them entirely. The author, Bill, touches on how close we are from our world becoming like that in The Outrage. We think we are safe now, that our newly given queer equality rights are ours now forever, but all it takes is a few events and the world could come crashing down around us. We've seen tremors of this in Trump's USA, and we're seeing it today in the transphobia of the UK. This book is just a few bad weeks away from being closer to non-fiction.
Buy The Outrage, read The Outrage, despair at the protagonists' pain, and then move on, uplifted. I will be buying this incredible novel for all my LGBTQ allies, but more importantly, for my LGBTQ+ friends, who need to remember how hard we've fought and must continue to fight to express ourselves, and love who we want to love.
Prepare yourself to be heartbroken but also uplifted by this incredible story about queer protagonists just wanting to be themselves in a world that wants to eradicate them entirely. The author, Bill, touches on how close we are from our world becoming like that in The Outrage. We think we are safe now, that our newly given queer equality rights are ours now forever, but all it takes is a few events and the world could come crashing down around us. We've seen tremors of this in Trump's USA, and we're seeing it today in the transphobia of the UK. This book is just a few bad weeks away from being closer to non-fiction.
Buy The Outrage, read The Outrage, despair at the protagonists' pain, and then move on, uplifted. I will be buying this incredible novel for all my LGBTQ allies, but more importantly, for my LGBTQ+ friends, who need to remember how hard we've fought and must continue to fight to express ourselves, and love who we want to love.
August 4, 2021
i think it could be 3.5
i did enjoy this book but it just felt like so much was lacking? i would have loved the characters (especially the side characters) to be more distinguished and developed and i thought a lot of the time, the plot was too simple and quite predictable?
the whole premise is super interesting as a whole though and really does give you a new perspective about how much work still needs to be done to ensure a safe world for future generations. it was really well written and super easy to follow. even though the characters could have been more fleshed out, i think they were quite realistic and easy to sympathise with.
i listened to the audiobook and thought the story was wonderfully told
i did enjoy this book but it just felt like so much was lacking? i would have loved the characters (especially the side characters) to be more distinguished and developed and i thought a lot of the time, the plot was too simple and quite predictable?
the whole premise is super interesting as a whole though and really does give you a new perspective about how much work still needs to be done to ensure a safe world for future generations. it was really well written and super easy to follow. even though the characters could have been more fleshed out, i think they were quite realistic and easy to sympathise with.
i listened to the audiobook and thought the story was wonderfully told
June 18, 2021
Wow!! This book is amazing. It’s inmensely important in the times that we are living and one that everyone should read.
The world that William Hussey created felt scarily real. Maybe because we hear many queer people around the world living in a life or death situation much like in the Protectorate. That’s why represantation and knowledge is so important for the queer youth. It’s empowering to se yourself reflected on screen and in books and to have the tools to help you understand yourself. I’m extremely happy to see shows on tv like Love, Víctor, Pose, and Veneno that are creating a platform for so many in the queer comunity to be seen and celebrated.
The world that William Hussey created felt scarily real. Maybe because we hear many queer people around the world living in a life or death situation much like in the Protectorate. That’s why represantation and knowledge is so important for the queer youth. It’s empowering to se yourself reflected on screen and in books and to have the tools to help you understand yourself. I’m extremely happy to see shows on tv like Love, Víctor, Pose, and Veneno that are creating a platform for so many in the queer comunity to be seen and celebrated.
August 31, 2021
“It’s easy to be complacent when you think history is on your side. But things we didn’t realize had any connection to us were already laying the seeds. Terrorist attacks, economies crashing, environmental catastrophes, global pandemics, families going hungry.
People started looking around for something to blame, but most of them weren’t interested in the true complex answers to their questions. […]
In the beginning everyone thought the Public Good Party was a joke. That’s how these people always start out. Just a bunch of paranoid idiots no one takes seriously. Then they start a whisper here, play on a fear there, and soon enough the joke isn’t funny anymore. One day we wake up and realize that our friends and neighbours – good, decent people – are starting to listen. And then this happens.“
“In a gay bar in London during Pride 2019, I was asked by a group of very polite young men what my Stonewall Inn anniversary T-shirt was all about. […] For them, Pride was just a party, it’s hardscrabble political roots unknown.
Complacency is our enemy and ignorance of our past means we might well be doomed to repeat it.
Already within Europe and beyond, debates we thought were settled are being opened up again. Have no doubt, our very right to exist – and to love who we choose – is under attack.
And so let’s always remain vigilant and, if necessary, be ready to wage battles, old and new.
At the very least, we owe that to our history.“
I think those two quotes (the first one from the book, the second one from the afterword of the author) say it all.
The Outrage is a story about an England where being LGBTQ+ is illegal. They’ve banned movies, books and even hugging your same sex friend gets you investigated.
If you’re caught breaking the rules of „decency“, you get send to a camp to be „re-educated“, castrated and if you don’t come to your senses – well, no-one can prove that it was the government that killed you.
In the comfortable safe space you probably built for yourself on the internet, where it seems like everyone is either LGBTQ+ or an ally, this sounds like a very dystopian scenario.
But it’s easy to forget that being gay is criminalized in 71 countries, being a lesbian is a criminal offense in 43, being transgender gets you in trouble with the law in 15 countries (with many more countries targeting transpeople with more „subtle“ laws) and in 11 countries same-sex activity is punishable by death. (x)
While a lot of this book is just following typical YA story telling conventions (which I don’t like), doesn’t go into depth much and has a very rushed ending, I still think that William Hussey is telling an important story, and the parts that matter the most, he also tells well.
The Outrage serves as an important reminder to not forget where we came from, how much we have achieved and how easily we could loose everything again if we let ourselves be silenced and underestimate those who wish us harm. 4 stars.
August 28, 2025
A cute little YA which raises some very important matters, but sometimes gets a bit preachy while doing so. It's clear the author is sending a message about why representation is important, but I would've liked more show and less tell. The story itself was sort of predictable, but nevertheless enjoyable. It's scary how close we are nowadays to systems like the one portrayed in the book. I also would've liked a different ending - it seems like this kind of books end at the moment where life is changed and you're left to fantasize about that change; but at least Hussey could've shone a light on how it would change (this is also probably me thinking that the "solution" in the book would not be enough to change the world, taking in mind how, in our world, certain right-wing leaders somehow are still in power even with everything the world knows about them).
Still, a good book to encourage young readers to reflect and empathize.
Still, a good book to encourage young readers to reflect and empathize.
May 9, 2021
"Representation was important. Is important. To see yourself reflected as a human being, with worth and dignity? I really think that has the power to change minds. Even save lives."
The blurb of The Outrage names it as The Handmaid's Tale for the LGBTQ+ youth, and I unequivocally agree. Incredibly powerful, The Outrage details a world in which it's become illegal to be gay once more and serves as a stark reminder that whilst things may be more equal nowadays, we still have a long way to go before we have full equality. William Hussey's second YA far eclipses his (brilliant) first! 🏳️🌈
The blurb of The Outrage names it as The Handmaid's Tale for the LGBTQ+ youth, and I unequivocally agree. Incredibly powerful, The Outrage details a world in which it's become illegal to be gay once more and serves as a stark reminder that whilst things may be more equal nowadays, we still have a long way to go before we have full equality. William Hussey's second YA far eclipses his (brilliant) first! 🏳️🌈
May 20, 2021
I've had to take a day to process my thoughts about this book.
To put it simply, it is wonderful and scary.
Set in the not too distant future the UK have banned LGBTQ people and also anyone not from the UK. It is scary because it could happen. When you look at the political landscape now, fear over immigrants, that fear leading to hate and the growth of the right wing, this could happen here all too easily.
The story is engaging from the very beginning, the characters are all likeable or hateable depending on which one your talking about and the action keeps you gripped.
This really is a masterpiece of a novel and should be read by everyone and taught in schools to show how far we have come, how far we have left to go and what can happen if we let things regress.
To put it simply, it is wonderful and scary.
Set in the not too distant future the UK have banned LGBTQ people and also anyone not from the UK. It is scary because it could happen. When you look at the political landscape now, fear over immigrants, that fear leading to hate and the growth of the right wing, this could happen here all too easily.
The story is engaging from the very beginning, the characters are all likeable or hateable depending on which one your talking about and the action keeps you gripped.
This really is a masterpiece of a novel and should be read by everyone and taught in schools to show how far we have come, how far we have left to go and what can happen if we let things regress.
February 21, 2021
The Outrage is a powerful read. Set in a dystopian future it's not hard to imagine the world William Hussey has created being something that sadly could happen.
An all-consuming read, you laugh, you ache and cry for the characters in the book. Their joy, pain and fear feel like it's yours.
The Outrage is a book that will stand the test of time and will become vital reading on school reading lists worldwide as it makes you ask questions about the world we live in and how as a society we perceive people.
It's a fantastic book that I cannot recommend enough.
An all-consuming read, you laugh, you ache and cry for the characters in the book. Their joy, pain and fear feel like it's yours.
The Outrage is a book that will stand the test of time and will become vital reading on school reading lists worldwide as it makes you ask questions about the world we live in and how as a society we perceive people.
It's a fantastic book that I cannot recommend enough.
May 4, 2021
DRC provided by Usborne Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Representation: gay protagonist, gay secondary character, lesbian secondary characters, trans secondary character, lesbian tertiary character, disabled tertiary character who uses a wheelchair.
Content Warning: homophobia, violence, slurs, racism, torture, drug and alcohol abuse, self-harm, coercion, sadism, suicide.
The Outrage by William Hussey is a nightmarish uchronic novel about not taking anything for granted and keeping on fighting for one’s rights.
After “The Outrage”, a terrorist attack that killed members of a conservative political party and civilians, England and Wales succumbed to the weight of fear and hatred and became the Protectorate, an oppressive regime where only being born straight and white assure you a safe life. Gabriel Sawyer is a gay and brave young boy, with a great sense of justice, who sets his eyes on traumatised newcomer Eric Dufresne, son of the commander of the Filth-Finders, a group of vicious constables tasked with finding and arresting queer people within the Protectorate. Is their clandestine love affair going to be a death sentence?
As much as I liked The Outrage, I could not avoid the comparison to Hussey’s “Hideous Beauty”, which devastated me completely. I found it lacking in that sense and it also did not manage to compel my attention from the very first chapters as Hideous Beauty did.
That aside, I still really liked reading The Outrage and I loved its powerful message and extremely lovable cast of characters. As we all well know, being freely queer is not a worldwide-accepted fact; there are still several countries where people are killed because of their gender identity or their sexual orientation. And even in the countries where queer people retain some rights, there are always people who antagonise us every step of the way for one reason or the other. Most people consider the West as a queer-friendly place because some countries legalised same-sex marriage and every year there is a Pride parade, but how many of those countries allow same-sex couples to adopt? How many allow gay and bisexual men to donate blood? How many have laws that protect us from discrimination and hate crimes? For example, Italy only has laws to protect us from discrimination in employment and allows the recognition of civil unions, but we are still fighting for other rights on a daily basis; and although gay and bisexual men can donate their blood, the donation is accepted only if the blood transfusion centre and the doctor who interviews you allow it.
To conclude, The Outrage is a quick read, but an important one.
Representation: gay protagonist, gay secondary character, lesbian secondary characters, trans secondary character, lesbian tertiary character, disabled tertiary character who uses a wheelchair.
Content Warning: homophobia, violence, slurs, racism, torture, drug and alcohol abuse, self-harm, coercion, sadism, suicide.
The Outrage by William Hussey is a nightmarish uchronic novel about not taking anything for granted and keeping on fighting for one’s rights.
After “The Outrage”, a terrorist attack that killed members of a conservative political party and civilians, England and Wales succumbed to the weight of fear and hatred and became the Protectorate, an oppressive regime where only being born straight and white assure you a safe life. Gabriel Sawyer is a gay and brave young boy, with a great sense of justice, who sets his eyes on traumatised newcomer Eric Dufresne, son of the commander of the Filth-Finders, a group of vicious constables tasked with finding and arresting queer people within the Protectorate. Is their clandestine love affair going to be a death sentence?
As much as I liked The Outrage, I could not avoid the comparison to Hussey’s “Hideous Beauty”, which devastated me completely. I found it lacking in that sense and it also did not manage to compel my attention from the very first chapters as Hideous Beauty did.
That aside, I still really liked reading The Outrage and I loved its powerful message and extremely lovable cast of characters. As we all well know, being freely queer is not a worldwide-accepted fact; there are still several countries where people are killed because of their gender identity or their sexual orientation. And even in the countries where queer people retain some rights, there are always people who antagonise us every step of the way for one reason or the other. Most people consider the West as a queer-friendly place because some countries legalised same-sex marriage and every year there is a Pride parade, but how many of those countries allow same-sex couples to adopt? How many allow gay and bisexual men to donate blood? How many have laws that protect us from discrimination and hate crimes? For example, Italy only has laws to protect us from discrimination in employment and allows the recognition of civil unions, but we are still fighting for other rights on a daily basis; and although gay and bisexual men can donate their blood, the donation is accepted only if the blood transfusion centre and the doctor who interviews you allow it.
To conclude, The Outrage is a quick read, but an important one.
February 23, 2021
4.5 rounded up!
I would like to say a thank you to the author and the publisher for giving me the ARC of this book in return for an honest review!
Oh how this book broke my heart which is something I should have known going by Hideous Beauty, I should have been prepared and yet I wasn't.
You follow Gabriel who has always known he was gay but has had to grow up under the rules of the Protectorate which was made to protect the public good which meant being gay was against the law, the worst crime to commit. So he hides himself away from everyone apart from his small group of school friends, what he didn't expect is to fall for the son of the chief inspector of degenerate behaviour, who would have Gabriel sent to a re-pure camp or worse to the noose.
There are so many secrets, more than even Gabriel knew about but in the end secrets always find there way of coming out...
I loved this, the world building was good and the characters were brilliant. Gab's group of friends were perfectly written and the queer rep was on point! The scary thing about it all was that it seemed so..plausible, even now in the year 2021 there are countries were it is illegal to be part of the LGBT+ community, there are still places where you can't be seen walking down the street hand in hand with the person you love. This book is the reason we need to keep fighting, we need to keep heading in the right direction. Pushing to be seen and heard.
Honestly this is probably one of my best reads of the year even though it is only February. I really can not wait to have the physical book in my hands!
Marked down .5 stars because the ending was a little flat for me, though it ended how I wanted it to, or that I hoped it would end actually I still think it was a little rushed. I would have preferred another few chapters just to end the story with a little more information but that is the only thing I could mark this book down for.
It's released on April 1st and I encourage anyone reading this no matter who you are or who you love to pick this up and give it a read! Just prepare to be heartbroken!
I would like to say a thank you to the author and the publisher for giving me the ARC of this book in return for an honest review!
Oh how this book broke my heart which is something I should have known going by Hideous Beauty, I should have been prepared and yet I wasn't.
You follow Gabriel who has always known he was gay but has had to grow up under the rules of the Protectorate which was made to protect the public good which meant being gay was against the law, the worst crime to commit. So he hides himself away from everyone apart from his small group of school friends, what he didn't expect is to fall for the son of the chief inspector of degenerate behaviour, who would have Gabriel sent to a re-pure camp or worse to the noose.
There are so many secrets, more than even Gabriel knew about but in the end secrets always find there way of coming out...
I loved this, the world building was good and the characters were brilliant. Gab's group of friends were perfectly written and the queer rep was on point! The scary thing about it all was that it seemed so..plausible, even now in the year 2021 there are countries were it is illegal to be part of the LGBT+ community, there are still places where you can't be seen walking down the street hand in hand with the person you love. This book is the reason we need to keep fighting, we need to keep heading in the right direction. Pushing to be seen and heard.
Honestly this is probably one of my best reads of the year even though it is only February. I really can not wait to have the physical book in my hands!
Marked down .5 stars because the ending was a little flat for me, though it ended how I wanted it to, or that I hoped it would end actually I still think it was a little rushed. I would have preferred another few chapters just to end the story with a little more information but that is the only thing I could mark this book down for.
It's released on April 1st and I encourage anyone reading this no matter who you are or who you love to pick this up and give it a read! Just prepare to be heartbroken!
January 3, 2022
I read this as part of a book club and I’m very glad I had the opportunity to do so, as this was a great book!
The story revolves around Gabriel and his boyfriend Eric as they struggle to be themselves under the harsh, totalitarian regime of the Protectorate. I really liked Gabe from the offset, and I admire his bravery and the way he stood up for himself and his rights. I also really admired Alice. I didn’t like Eric so much, but I did appreciate how complex his character was and the struggles his character has to overcome during the course of the book really showed the reader how hard life in England under the governance of the Protectorate was, especially for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
I loved how William Hussey linked this futuristic plot into the present era, and this really conveyed to the reader how quickly things are able to change and how we should continue to strive for equality.
This book deals with some difficult topics, but overall it was done well. I have given it 4 stars, because I felt the dialogue at points was a little immature and didn’t feel realistic as to how 18 year olds talk to each other, and I thought the nicknames were slightly childish. I would also liked to have seen a little more about the Protectorate and the political system, although I can appreciate Hussey centred his book mainly around the characters.
However, despite this, I would strongly encourage others to read this, as it conveys such an important message, and the ideas presented in The Outrage
The story revolves around Gabriel and his boyfriend Eric as they struggle to be themselves under the harsh, totalitarian regime of the Protectorate. I really liked Gabe from the offset, and I admire his bravery and the way he stood up for himself and his rights. I also really admired Alice. I didn’t like Eric so much, but I did appreciate how complex his character was and the struggles his character has to overcome during the course of the book really showed the reader how hard life in England under the governance of the Protectorate was, especially for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
I loved how William Hussey linked this futuristic plot into the present era, and this really conveyed to the reader how quickly things are able to change and how we should continue to strive for equality.
This book deals with some difficult topics, but overall it was done well. I have given it 4 stars, because I felt the dialogue at points was a little immature and didn’t feel realistic as to how 18 year olds talk to each other, and I thought the nicknames were slightly childish. I would also liked to have seen a little more about the Protectorate and the political system, although I can appreciate Hussey centred his book mainly around the characters.
However, despite this, I would strongly encourage others to read this, as it conveys such an important message, and the ideas presented in The Outrage
October 15, 2022
Oof. This was an emotional, captivating, and often distressing read that I won't be forgetting any time soon.
Reading this on the wave of increased right wing radicalism, queerphobic, and anti-trans rhetoric in the UK (and world) and surge of hate crimes is a real gut punch. I didn't intend this to be one of my 'spooky-season reads' but it definitely ended up feeling like an all too possible to actually occur horror story.
The writing and story itself are incredibly smooth and fluid, feeling almost familiar as you skate through the chilling events and terrible dystopian setting of the protectorate and degens. It ends up feeling something like and anti LGBTQ+ 'Children of Men', bleak and harrowing as the flashes of rainbow bright spirit from the MC and supporting cast rise to challenge it. It was very easy to become attached to the heroes, as for queer people (or indeed any marginalised group) we can see ourself echoed in the oppressive hate, fear, and cruelty they are forced to experience.
I hope this, and books like it, are being read in schools everywhere. This kind of thing is where hate and weaponisation of diverse identities will lead us, and is something everyone needs to fight against.
Easy to read, hard to put down, difficult to stomach, haunting, upsetting, and hopeful. A really great book.
CW for horrific themes of queerphobia, transphobia, homophobia, racism, ableism, multiple slurs around marginalised identities, anxiety, self harm, alcoholism, torture, violence, and abuse.
Reading this on the wave of increased right wing radicalism, queerphobic, and anti-trans rhetoric in the UK (and world) and surge of hate crimes is a real gut punch. I didn't intend this to be one of my 'spooky-season reads' but it definitely ended up feeling like an all too possible to actually occur horror story.
The writing and story itself are incredibly smooth and fluid, feeling almost familiar as you skate through the chilling events and terrible dystopian setting of the protectorate and degens. It ends up feeling something like and anti LGBTQ+ 'Children of Men', bleak and harrowing as the flashes of rainbow bright spirit from the MC and supporting cast rise to challenge it. It was very easy to become attached to the heroes, as for queer people (or indeed any marginalised group) we can see ourself echoed in the oppressive hate, fear, and cruelty they are forced to experience.
I hope this, and books like it, are being read in schools everywhere. This kind of thing is where hate and weaponisation of diverse identities will lead us, and is something everyone needs to fight against.
Easy to read, hard to put down, difficult to stomach, haunting, upsetting, and hopeful. A really great book.
CW for horrific themes of queerphobia, transphobia, homophobia, racism, ableism, multiple slurs around marginalised identities, anxiety, self harm, alcoholism, torture, violence, and abuse.
February 27, 2021
This is a book about hope, fear, love, loss, and resistance. Taking place in the UK, in a future that has been tarnished by hate, homosexuality has been deemed illegal once more, and people have been empowered to hate openly. The country has cut itself off from the rest of the world, claiming that racial purification is for the good of the people, that filth - as they see it - should be dealt with via re-education, torture, and death for the greater good.
Obviously, this book is filled with terrifying rhetoric, and shows that the fight for equality is not over, as rights can be slowly and methodically striped if there's no one to stand up and fight for them. Through hidden illegal films, this group of rebels comes to strengthen what they know in their hearts - they are fine and good, and society that seeks to deny them their humanity needs to be fought.
Keep fighting, keep loving, keep hoping for a better tomorrow.
Obviously, this book is filled with terrifying rhetoric, and shows that the fight for equality is not over, as rights can be slowly and methodically striped if there's no one to stand up and fight for them. Through hidden illegal films, this group of rebels comes to strengthen what they know in their hearts - they are fine and good, and society that seeks to deny them their humanity needs to be fought.
Keep fighting, keep loving, keep hoping for a better tomorrow.
May 16, 2021
The Outrage is a must-read — the kind of dystopian that chills you because of how plausible it feels. And beyond that, the central characters were so wonderfully drawn I had my heart in my mouth waiting to see how things would work out for them all, especially Gabe and Eric. Just brilliant!
May 26, 2021
I deleted my review of the ARC that I received because it doesn't reflect my feeling of the final book and some of the points I made are no longer needed, so here's a whole new review :)
This book is incredible, important, and scarily realistic. The way the UK is going, this whole idea of certain people not being accepted within society is not that far fetched.
I loved the facts and history in the foreword and afterword, that help teens to understand that it's not been that long since LGBTQ+ people have had rights in the UK, and elsewhere it's still illegal to be LGBTQ+. I love the discussion points at the end
🌈 'It's easy to be complacent when you think history is on your side.' 🌈
This story is gripping from the very start. The characters are very well written and you find yourself invested in them. The list of films and documentaries are brilliant, there are some I'm familiar with, and others that I am yet to watch, so I will be checking them out.
Once again, I love Alice, she is perfect and yeah, I don't want to give spoilers but I would kill for her.
I feel like I loved this book so much more (and I loved the ARC) when reading this the second time.
This is the perfect book for pride month and all year round. It's a reminder of not only how far we've come, but how much more we still have to fight for.
This book is incredible, important, and scarily realistic. The way the UK is going, this whole idea of certain people not being accepted within society is not that far fetched.
I loved the facts and history in the foreword and afterword, that help teens to understand that it's not been that long since LGBTQ+ people have had rights in the UK, and elsewhere it's still illegal to be LGBTQ+. I love the discussion points at the end
🌈 'It's easy to be complacent when you think history is on your side.' 🌈
This story is gripping from the very start. The characters are very well written and you find yourself invested in them. The list of films and documentaries are brilliant, there are some I'm familiar with, and others that I am yet to watch, so I will be checking them out.
Once again, I love Alice, she is perfect and yeah, I don't want to give spoilers but I would kill for her.
I feel like I loved this book so much more (and I loved the ARC) when reading this the second time.
This is the perfect book for pride month and all year round. It's a reminder of not only how far we've come, but how much more we still have to fight for.
May 12, 2021
Another amazing LGBT+ read from William Hussey. Yet again he has managed to artfully weave multiple hard hitting themes together in a masterful way. From grief and self harm to hiding who you are and coming to accept yourself all on a dystopian backdrop of persecution. With current events in various countries this is a must read and very much a cautionary tale. So scary in how easily we could fall into this situation.
The friendships and relationships were beautiful to read, as was Gabe’s relationship with his father and the references to pop culture were little happy moments for me. I will promise to be that librarian that rebels and hides treasures for the next generation to find.
The friendships and relationships were beautiful to read, as was Gabe’s relationship with his father and the references to pop culture were little happy moments for me. I will promise to be that librarian that rebels and hides treasures for the next generation to find.
December 17, 2024
Nie wiem co o tym myśleć w sumie
October 18, 2022
I’m so happy to have finally got my hands on this book as it seemingly did not get an American release. I acquired my copy on a recent trip to London at Gay’s The Word, which is both an important Gay History site and one of my favorite bookstores. You should definitely check it out if you’re in the area!
I will basically read any what if or ten minutes into the future fascist dystopia novel, so to be completely honest this book felt a bit paint by numbers. Reading it I couldn’t help but compare it to The Big Lie by Julie Mayhew, as both books feature a gay protagonist in a fascist England who’s technology is stuck in the 1940’s. However The Big Lie benefits from being able to pull from an actual historical regime i.e. the Nazis whereas The Outrage has to build it’s own universe. I would argue that The Big Lie has some critical research failures and extrapolations I don’t necessarily agree with, but it can pull on actual accounts of women who were imprisoned by the Nazis when depicting what it was like to be arrested for political crimes which means it can use details that make it feel more visceral. I question if the author of the Outrage did research when depicting his world as similar sequences in both books are less evocative in The Outrage.
It often feels as though certain aspects of the world exist solely because the author thinks they ought to, i.e. there needs to be a fascist youth wing but no exploration on what that means or how our leads, some of the only kids in the village to be permitted to attend secondary school are also permitted to opt out of membership.
I will say however that I absolutely love that the main characters find the movie, Love, Simon to be totally radical because of the positive depiction of a young gay man but also because of the sheer amount of food. I understand this is probably meant as a take that to people who complained about the movie being too bland but I just think having kids living in a fascist regime being radicalized by Love, Simon is similar to the bit in Severance where all the main characters are radicalized by a poorly written self help books. It’s also realistic based on what I’ve heard about K-dramas in North Korea. If anything I wish the book had more of this instead of the characters watching all of the greats in cinema, just have them be obsessed with Shrek or something really out there like a random Adam Sandler movie.
Instead the characters spend their movie nights lecturing the reader about the importance of representation. Which don’t get me wrong representation is super important but multiple times in the book the plot or character moments have to screech to a halt, for a lecture about the importance of protecting queer rights and art. Again, super important cause, would die for it, but it doesn’t make for a compelling novel when the book has stop every little bit for an author’s tract.
Outside of our main character we don’t get much characterization. Like his friend group is seven people and we know next to nothing about two of them, (Grace’s entire character is Ben’s Girlfriend) and even Gabe’s love interest, arguably the second or third most important character in the novel gets very little characterization despite the romance being the secondary plot of the novel. Because both the characters and the world feel underdeveloped, the book ends up feeling very flat.
I do like Gabe’s character and that he already thinks the regime is bullshit when the book starts and that even his love interest who recites the party lines can see the cracks. I just find it more realistic than thinking everyone’s a true believer.
The back cover describes as an LGBT take on the Handmaid’s Tale but it honestly feels more reminiscent of Children of Men as far as the plot and the ending very much so except it has a definite ending which I think hurts the entire story but Your Mileage May Vary.
I will basically read any what if or ten minutes into the future fascist dystopia novel, so to be completely honest this book felt a bit paint by numbers. Reading it I couldn’t help but compare it to The Big Lie by Julie Mayhew, as both books feature a gay protagonist in a fascist England who’s technology is stuck in the 1940’s. However The Big Lie benefits from being able to pull from an actual historical regime i.e. the Nazis whereas The Outrage has to build it’s own universe. I would argue that The Big Lie has some critical research failures and extrapolations I don’t necessarily agree with, but it can pull on actual accounts of women who were imprisoned by the Nazis when depicting what it was like to be arrested for political crimes which means it can use details that make it feel more visceral. I question if the author of the Outrage did research when depicting his world as similar sequences in both books are less evocative in The Outrage.
It often feels as though certain aspects of the world exist solely because the author thinks they ought to, i.e. there needs to be a fascist youth wing but no exploration on what that means or how our leads, some of the only kids in the village to be permitted to attend secondary school are also permitted to opt out of membership.
I will say however that I absolutely love that the main characters find the movie, Love, Simon to be totally radical because of the positive depiction of a young gay man but also because of the sheer amount of food. I understand this is probably meant as a take that to people who complained about the movie being too bland but I just think having kids living in a fascist regime being radicalized by Love, Simon is similar to the bit in Severance where all the main characters are radicalized by a poorly written self help books. It’s also realistic based on what I’ve heard about K-dramas in North Korea. If anything I wish the book had more of this instead of the characters watching all of the greats in cinema, just have them be obsessed with Shrek or something really out there like a random Adam Sandler movie.
Instead the characters spend their movie nights lecturing the reader about the importance of representation. Which don’t get me wrong representation is super important but multiple times in the book the plot or character moments have to screech to a halt, for a lecture about the importance of protecting queer rights and art. Again, super important cause, would die for it, but it doesn’t make for a compelling novel when the book has stop every little bit for an author’s tract.
Outside of our main character we don’t get much characterization. Like his friend group is seven people and we know next to nothing about two of them, (Grace’s entire character is Ben’s Girlfriend) and even Gabe’s love interest, arguably the second or third most important character in the novel gets very little characterization despite the romance being the secondary plot of the novel. Because both the characters and the world feel underdeveloped, the book ends up feeling very flat.
I do like Gabe’s character and that he already thinks the regime is bullshit when the book starts and that even his love interest who recites the party lines can see the cracks. I just find it more realistic than thinking everyone’s a true believer.
The back cover describes as an LGBT take on the Handmaid’s Tale but it honestly feels more reminiscent of Children of Men as far as the plot and the ending very much so except it has a definite ending which I think hurts the entire story but Your Mileage May Vary.
February 7, 2022
I really liked the idea of this, but the execution is just... Not good.
I found the first half especially trying. There really was no character building, no plot, just a juddering collection of scenes being set followed by shallow polemics. It felt like the idea was there for a moral instruction story but then the actual story part didn't happen - ironically, not dissimilar to the flaws found in the "culture" envisioned under the Protectorate, if not quite as stunted. I was shocked when I realised this is by the author of Hideous Beauty - I DNFd Hideous Beauty at page 8 because I was sobbing so much. This was the complete opposite; I barely felt a single emotion through the whole book, although I did manage to finish it. It's a shame, because I do like what is being done and I absolutely understand where the author is coming from - the afterword at the end is quite nice - but nothing in this book spoke to me or connected or made me feel anything, really, which is saying something because as a bi person who remembers being at school under Section 28 and immediately after normally the mere mention is enough for me to dredge up quite a lot of feelings. I think it was the set up that made the rest suffer, because during chapters that should have been building that relationship with the characters, instead we just saw fragments leading to these mini-speeches and world-building that a. Was exactly the same for each character, so none of them had a voice or personality you could get attached to and b. Was totally empty, parroting an absolutely tip of the iceberg understanding of rights and representation but using modern language that sometimes didn't even make sense within the world of the characters. Once I got about halfway through it picked up a bit, albeit with a plot that at times was truly ridiculous and downright impossible, but because I didn't have that emotional connection to anything it still felt like a chore to finish.
Plot, polemic and painfully cardboard characters aside, I personally found the structure was also infuriating. In general, this book hits a lot of my writing pet peeves - first person narration where third person might have worked better, or at least as well (and saved some of the extreme reaches for Gabe essentially narrating things he could have no idea of); dodgy grammar where it wasn't necessary (ironically somewhat negated by the first person narration, which allows for a multitude of bad writing sins and I suspect is why it's become so common); but most of all, time split narrative. I would recommend you drink every time the phrase "seven months ago" is mentioned and by a few chapters in you'll be drunk enough to carry you enjoyably through the rest of the book, but I don't want to be accused of encouraging liver poisoning in minors. However, the flickering back and forth here is not only personally irksome, it makes no sense and harms the narrative, in my very biased opinion. It's not like we're waiting to discover some big secret, the repercussions of which will explain the rest of the book. In fact, the scattering of the narrative serves 2 functions here, neither great. The first is to ruin the single narrative of what could have been a love story build up of two boys fighting for some personal freedom within an oppressive society and then raging against the evil consequences into a weirdly hodgepodge story. We go back and forth, meaning neither the "now" or the "then" can build. The "then" provides a story we already kinda know, becoming less and less relevant, and is almost forgotten at the end, where if it was chronological we could've enjoyed that build up and maybe actually got some character investment in the first half of the story. The second thing is to interrupt the reading experience. At the beginning it seems there must be something you're missing from the "then;" it quickly becomes apparent this isn't the case and the "then" becomes an obstacle to the "now." Every time something actually happens in the "now," another "then" chapter pops up, which makes for infuriating reading. I can't enjoy the languorous slow build of stolen fragments of a love story (and it is fragments, jumping about a lot) if I'm trying to find out what's about to happen in the middle of a plot point, and I can't focus on the tenuous plot if I was in the middle of something quiet and sweet happening with our characters in their gentle forays into love. This should have been a linear story with a focus on the forbidden relationship and rebel formation in the first half(/at all, I have serious questions and doubts about how most young people brainwashed with severe indoctrination seem to still be aware of their own identity and accepting of others by 17, unless they... Have broad shoulders or live in Bristol?) followed by the now section.
The cover compares it to The Handmaid's Tale, because it's a book set in a vaguely dystopian restrictive society and therefore must legally be compared to The Handmaid's Tale (I personally think it's a poor teens version of V for Vendetta, but what do I know.) Clichéd as the comparison is, I actually think it highlights my problems with the book. The Handmaid's Tale doesn't do world building. It doesn't do polemics. In fact, I don't know that I can remember Offred ever really passing explicit judgement on the society in the way Gabe does. One of the reasons the TV show was such a big deal is that it could expand on the world of The Handmaid's Tale, because the book really gives us very little detail at all. Instead we just see through the eyes of one alienated woman who often doesn't even spell out what she knows, and so we become drawn in to her story by attachment to her character and the desire to know what's going on and how she will live with it. This is where The Outrage totally misses the mark - it's so keen to tell us everything, to make sure we understand exactly what happened from every angle and that it is Very Bad (which I really don't think people reading this could possibly miss), to write in big neon letters THIS IS HAPPENING AND HAS HAPPENED AND COULD HAPPEN, that it forgets we came here for a story. I also think this type of writing suffers as a teen book, because it becomes so incredibly patronising. Perhaps as an adult book, with more mature exposition, if Hussey was allowed to really pass judgement as an adult and dig into the complexities of the issues at more than absolute surface level, this may have been more successful.
Unfortunately, it's yet another teen book with a warning that it isn't for younger readers on the cover (which, granted, is an excellent marketing tactic to attract younger readers) but which seems squarely aimed in writing and plot at 12 year olds yet still somehow misses the mark - perhaps because todays teens are far more aware of these issues than we ever were, having not grown up under the shadow of Section 28. I appreciate what Hussey was trying to do here, I really do, but for me it just failed at every turn.
I found the first half especially trying. There really was no character building, no plot, just a juddering collection of scenes being set followed by shallow polemics. It felt like the idea was there for a moral instruction story but then the actual story part didn't happen - ironically, not dissimilar to the flaws found in the "culture" envisioned under the Protectorate, if not quite as stunted. I was shocked when I realised this is by the author of Hideous Beauty - I DNFd Hideous Beauty at page 8 because I was sobbing so much. This was the complete opposite; I barely felt a single emotion through the whole book, although I did manage to finish it. It's a shame, because I do like what is being done and I absolutely understand where the author is coming from - the afterword at the end is quite nice - but nothing in this book spoke to me or connected or made me feel anything, really, which is saying something because as a bi person who remembers being at school under Section 28 and immediately after normally the mere mention is enough for me to dredge up quite a lot of feelings. I think it was the set up that made the rest suffer, because during chapters that should have been building that relationship with the characters, instead we just saw fragments leading to these mini-speeches and world-building that a. Was exactly the same for each character, so none of them had a voice or personality you could get attached to and b. Was totally empty, parroting an absolutely tip of the iceberg understanding of rights and representation but using modern language that sometimes didn't even make sense within the world of the characters. Once I got about halfway through it picked up a bit, albeit with a plot that at times was truly ridiculous and downright impossible, but because I didn't have that emotional connection to anything it still felt like a chore to finish.
Plot, polemic and painfully cardboard characters aside, I personally found the structure was also infuriating. In general, this book hits a lot of my writing pet peeves - first person narration where third person might have worked better, or at least as well (and saved some of the extreme reaches for Gabe essentially narrating things he could have no idea of); dodgy grammar where it wasn't necessary (ironically somewhat negated by the first person narration, which allows for a multitude of bad writing sins and I suspect is why it's become so common); but most of all, time split narrative. I would recommend you drink every time the phrase "seven months ago" is mentioned and by a few chapters in you'll be drunk enough to carry you enjoyably through the rest of the book, but I don't want to be accused of encouraging liver poisoning in minors. However, the flickering back and forth here is not only personally irksome, it makes no sense and harms the narrative, in my very biased opinion. It's not like we're waiting to discover some big secret, the repercussions of which will explain the rest of the book. In fact, the scattering of the narrative serves 2 functions here, neither great. The first is to ruin the single narrative of what could have been a love story build up of two boys fighting for some personal freedom within an oppressive society and then raging against the evil consequences into a weirdly hodgepodge story. We go back and forth, meaning neither the "now" or the "then" can build. The "then" provides a story we already kinda know, becoming less and less relevant, and is almost forgotten at the end, where if it was chronological we could've enjoyed that build up and maybe actually got some character investment in the first half of the story. The second thing is to interrupt the reading experience. At the beginning it seems there must be something you're missing from the "then;" it quickly becomes apparent this isn't the case and the "then" becomes an obstacle to the "now." Every time something actually happens in the "now," another "then" chapter pops up, which makes for infuriating reading. I can't enjoy the languorous slow build of stolen fragments of a love story (and it is fragments, jumping about a lot) if I'm trying to find out what's about to happen in the middle of a plot point, and I can't focus on the tenuous plot if I was in the middle of something quiet and sweet happening with our characters in their gentle forays into love. This should have been a linear story with a focus on the forbidden relationship and rebel formation in the first half(/at all, I have serious questions and doubts about how most young people brainwashed with severe indoctrination seem to still be aware of their own identity and accepting of others by 17, unless they... Have broad shoulders or live in Bristol?) followed by the now section.
The cover compares it to The Handmaid's Tale, because it's a book set in a vaguely dystopian restrictive society and therefore must legally be compared to The Handmaid's Tale (I personally think it's a poor teens version of V for Vendetta, but what do I know.) Clichéd as the comparison is, I actually think it highlights my problems with the book. The Handmaid's Tale doesn't do world building. It doesn't do polemics. In fact, I don't know that I can remember Offred ever really passing explicit judgement on the society in the way Gabe does. One of the reasons the TV show was such a big deal is that it could expand on the world of The Handmaid's Tale, because the book really gives us very little detail at all. Instead we just see through the eyes of one alienated woman who often doesn't even spell out what she knows, and so we become drawn in to her story by attachment to her character and the desire to know what's going on and how she will live with it. This is where The Outrage totally misses the mark - it's so keen to tell us everything, to make sure we understand exactly what happened from every angle and that it is Very Bad (which I really don't think people reading this could possibly miss), to write in big neon letters THIS IS HAPPENING AND HAS HAPPENED AND COULD HAPPEN, that it forgets we came here for a story. I also think this type of writing suffers as a teen book, because it becomes so incredibly patronising. Perhaps as an adult book, with more mature exposition, if Hussey was allowed to really pass judgement as an adult and dig into the complexities of the issues at more than absolute surface level, this may have been more successful.
Unfortunately, it's yet another teen book with a warning that it isn't for younger readers on the cover (which, granted, is an excellent marketing tactic to attract younger readers) but which seems squarely aimed in writing and plot at 12 year olds yet still somehow misses the mark - perhaps because todays teens are far more aware of these issues than we ever were, having not grown up under the shadow of Section 28. I appreciate what Hussey was trying to do here, I really do, but for me it just failed at every turn.
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