L'Extern

The Outside #1

by Ada Hoffmann, Anna Llisterri (Translator), Marina Vidal (Illustrator)

El reactor Talirr-Shien és una gran fita tecnològica per als humans i suposarà la fi de la dependència de la tecnologia divina, un llast que s’arrossega des de la Guerra dels Morlocks; pels Déus, en canvi, és d’una mena d’heretgia. La destrucció de l’Orgull de Jai a causa d’un accident farà que la Yasira Shien s’aventuri a la recerca de la doctora Talirr, la seva tutora. El desastre també posarà de manifest els poders de l’Extern, una força temuda fins i tot pels mateixos Déus.

L’Extern és la porta d’entrada a una trilogia que barreja space opera i horror còsmic, una història de superació que ens obrirà la ment a altres realitats. L’autora va més enllà de la temàtica de ciència-ficció i LGTBI i incorpora un protagonista no-normativa, la Yasira Shien, que és autista. Coneixerem de primera mà quins són els conflictes que pateixen les persones neurodivergents en el seu dia a dia i ens adonarem que fins i tot el gest més petit pot tenir múltiples conseqüències i interpretacions.

Genres: Science Fiction, Horror, Queer, Fiction, LGBT, Lesbian, Space Opera

576 pages, Paperback

First published June 11, 2019

Reviews

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read 6/7/21:

I just had to revisit the story before diving into the sequel, and it was as good as I remembered. I'm a very big fan of reality modification, dreams, and quantum physics LIES. :)



Original Review:

You know those times when you're super anxious about new (to you) authors you request on Netgalley just by the looks of the cover?

Yeah, well, I think I've just found my second squeeworthy book for the year and I'm going to say just this one thing:

If there's any justice in the world, this book is going to get nominated and rise to the very top of the hopefuls for 2020's Hugo Awards for best novel.

Wow, right? Like, WHY?

It tickled ALL my hot buttons. I'm a superfan of good science, Hard-SF beautiful explorations, quantum computer AIs ascended to gods, and Outsider coolness that quacks like a Cthuhlu duck, walks like a Cthuhlu duck, and chatters with insanity in your ears with hundreds of tentacles and eyes as you just fall down the hole of imaginary numbers made real.

Oh, it has a great autistic scientist female in the lead, engaging in a cat-and-mouse chase with her old advisor who is guilty of unconscionable crimes against humanity and is a heretic of the AI gods.

Who is good and who is bad? Can she trust anyone? Is reality even what it seems?

Oh, yeah. This is the cat's meow. It has all the best features of Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of Empire with a very different kind of story and flavor. Tentacles, madness, living alien spacecraft, altered reality, timey-wimey stuff... you name it, this has it. :)

AND I JUST EAT THIS STUFF UP. This is easily one of the two most squeeworthy SF's of the year and now I'm a life-long fan of this author.

*Squeedance* *Squeedance*

Let's get this one READ and talked about, folks!!!

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Space opera with a Lovecraftian edge and a neuro-diverse cast.

Humanity has spread to the stars thanks to the Gods, entities far-evolved from human-created quantum super computers. Scientist Yasira Shien leads an effort about a space station orbiting the planet of Jai to create something special with only the technology that the Gods allow humans. But soon after Yasira's experimental reactor comes online a terrible disaster destroys the station, bringing Yasira the direct attention of an Angel of the Gods and his efforts to track down Yasira's mentor, Dr Evianna Talirr.

This was brilliant. Both the angel Akavi and the mad scientist Ev are wonderful characters, deeply flawed and both representing terrible choices and outcomes for Yasira, who really just wants to go home and cuddle with her lover Tiv (another character who's awesome, but who we don't get enough about until right at the end). The conception of the Outside itself is fantastic as well, which I won't spoil here, but owes much to Lovecraft. The whole universe and ideas behind the powers in it actually feel a little like the Warhammer 40,000 universe, with a terrible and hungry force of order standing against a ruthless and uncaring source of chaos.

It's also great how the two autistic characters are presented here, both being shown as brilliant and insecure, but with extremely different personalities and motivations, and showing the contrast between them rather than focusing on the label.

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 stars
This was such a fantastic science fiction debut that was even better on reread. I loved the complex worldbuilding that felt reminiscent of The Machineries of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee.

I first read this when I was still getting into the science fiction genre and I will admit that this book was a lot. It's complex, weird and does not hold the reader's hand. This made the book confusing at first. This time around, I loved those aspects to the story.

The characters in this book were fantastically well developed. The main character is a beautiful portrayal of a woman with Autism but she is shown to be a multifaceted queer women who is incredibly smart and creative. I can be hit or miss with relationships with books but this one really worked for me.

The second half leading up to the climax is a lot and, even on reread, I found it a lot to digest. I'm excited to reread The Fallen next because this series just gets even stronger in book two.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher. 

[Allison Hurd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was going to be epic, given how it started. The beginning made excellent use of classic Lovecraftian style horror to the point I got a delightful shiver down my spine. However, I don't think it quite lived up to its promise.

CONTENT WARNING: Torture, able-ism, loss of loved ones, religion, genocide, body horror.

Things that were great:

-The horror. When it was horrific, it was very very horrific, but when it was bad it was meh. If you like horror based on dread, contagious dreams, madness and the like, there will be parts in this you will applaud.

-The world. I really liked the idea that we had literally turned technology into our gods. That was a cool supposition. I also like everything around what this divide would cause in the universe.

-Inclusion as reality. So many times, people who are not of the majority are thrown into books to have their differences propped up in some way. There was very little of that here. What did her autism have to do with the story? The same thing her womanhood or her sexuality did. It was a large part of her as a character, but not the plot.

Things that let me down:

-The pacing. We go from this taut, dark, creepy sense of dread and the horrible to just a boat load of exposition and hand wringing. I really wanted to keep the energy we had to start through the rest of the book and we just didn't.

-The explanations. We spend so much time trying to pin things down, but all it does is highlight how hand-wavy it gets.

-The non-horror prose. It got a little clunky when it wasn't eviscerating my psyche. Editing errors, tangents, extraneous info, dialogue...it wasn't even close to the same level of the writing employed during the spooky parts.

It was a really interesting concept with a lot of promise. I wish it had delivered the book I had expected! 2.5 stars rounded up because nothing ever gives me chills like that, so I'll tip my hat where it's due.

[Bogi Takács]

I was asked to blurb this book, and this is what I wrote:

"THE OUTSIDE combines science and magic into a terrifyingly coherent whole. Yasira’s quest reaches beyond the limits of human minds, and Hoffmann takes us all the way there, with paradoxical precision. THE OUTSIDE tackles themes of neuroatypicality, teacher-student relationships and artificial intelligence with subtlety and grace, expanding the boundaries of cosmic horror. THE OUTSIDE is a powerful, striking debut, and Ada Hoffmann is an author to watch – especially if you enjoy the boundaries of your reality insistently chewed by insectile shapes."

This was a high note on which to finish my 2018 reading :)

Update: Reread the published book in preparation for the sequel and really enjoyed it for the second time around too. (Source of the book: Sent by the publisher a while back)

[Lata · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was wonderful! I don't have anything particularly intelligent to say about this book otherwise as I'm still in the "I love it!" phase. I loved main character Yasira Shien, with her love of science, her difficulties relating to others because of her sensitivities (autism-related), and how that was handled through the story, her love of Tiv, her partner, and how Tiv understood what Yasira needed to function in a demanding environment. And just how great Tiv is, in general.
And the Lovecraftian horrors, referred to as The Outside, that were loosed on the world by Yasira's graduate studies mentor Evianna Talirr; there is something so awesome and terrifying about a force that you can't reason with. (And there's also the many tentacles and eyes.) Then there are the gods: quantum artificial intelligences that are in control of tech, and parcel out and police what humans can access and create. The gods that Yasira interacts with once her engineering project lets in the Outside creatures are fascinating, and their culture is scary. And Yasira's conversations with Evianna are a nice example of different degrees of ability and sensitivity, coupled with great intelligence.
==> All in all, I loved this book.

[Chris Berko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything I love about fiction is found in here. You can tell who the author's influences are, no shocker there look at the front cover and read the back cover, but this story is totally its own thing and remains fresh and unique throughout. If you plan on reading this and I recommend you do, try not to do too much research into what it is about and go in with as little knowledge as possible. All will be explained and it is a seriously kick ass ride.

[Hélène Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very excited by the premises of this book ; its beginning (aside from one point, see below) was really good. In fact I read with pleasure most of the book before losing patience and interest.
Why, it's rather difficult to say, probably because the story in itself didn't manage to be good enough to make up for the points which annoyed me...

The story is original for its setting which was the reason why I read eagerly for a while. The idea of overpowering IA which have became gods was great and well defined. I like the organisation of it all, the hierarchy, all had a real potential (even if the mix between ruthlessness and cuteness - the relation between the angel and its sbires, which could have fit a romance - wasn't completely convincing). Some aspects were a bit botched, as the various references to things that exist in our daily lives but couldn't possibly exist in this kind of faraway diasporic futur (some details, but the kind that always grates on me, as it snatches me from the story), but still, a satisfying reading.

The enfolding of the story was good, if a bit repetitive, especially as repetitions didn't manage to explain anything clearly about the Outside (mind you, it's possible that the problem was because I didn't understood it, couldn't understood it, but the result was the same for me). The spooky part was also good, strongly reminding me of the Stranger Thinks's series.

What I didn't like since the very beginning and what bored me in the long run was the heroine. As a classical heroine she would have be convincing, nice, decent and courageous. But as a supposedly genius, in the autistic spectrum, she sounded completely wrong to me.

To begin with, what are the chances that these distinctions and terminologies for neurotypes would be in use in such a distant futur? Absolutely none to my point of view, especially to be exactly as we consider them now, in our interested but not specialised kind of way. Well, I may be wrong, maybe the author knows much more about the question as I do, but still, the manner to insert autistic particularities in the book had for me a strong flavour of "autism for the dummies". Not bad, but basic and incomplete. For instance a lot of efforts are made to explain about the manner autistic person view the world via their senses (which is easily uncomfortable even insufferable because of an extreme hyper sensibility to sensations, to begin with). But between each scene, it seemed that it was forgotten, Yasira seemed pretty neurotypical for me. Another point irked me: speaking about autism being a pathology. Most (and maybe all) high functional autistic persons absolutely don't think about their autism as a handicap but as a difference, and are quite happy to be as they are, just wanting to be considered as a normal, if different, person (see the excellent book of Alexandra Reynaud, "Asperger et fière de l'être: Voyage au coeur d'un autisme pas comme les autres").

Another annoying fact is that she's supposed to be a genius. Alas, apart from an excellent memory and a capacity to analyse and synthesise, skills often found in gifted persons, she didn't seemed exceptionnel to me. Clever, yes, but a genius? No. She was quite your random strong and sensitive random female character (no disdain here, I love these characters!). 

So, the repetitions about Yasira being a genius, and autistic, and a genius, and autistic, etc., annoyed me more and more. Enough that I lost interest for her, and for the story, before the end.

To finish with my recriminations, a last point. Yasira has a lover, Tiv, a nice young woman. No allusion is made about sexuality in the whole book, her choice is exposed as natural and accepted, the world seems - at least ! - accepting and just, which I liked fr its natural and simplicity. But I didn't care for the (very probably unintentional, at least I hope!) less-intelligent-than-me-shaming. Each time Yasira's lover is evoked, it's with the two words: "good girl". A good girl, good with gods (which the heroine isn't, as she repeats over and over). I don't know if it's the automatic French translation which makes is so wrong and dismissive to me ("brave fille", "gentille fille"), but I couldn't help reading between the lines : "Of course she's so much less clever than I am, because of me being a genius and her being a normally clever person but, she's nice ; yes quite nice ; a good girl ; really, a good girl"). What didn't help was that their interactions were very basic, very mundane, with no insightful and personal conversations, just basic-fits-all exchanges. Their relation wasn't touching, except for the dramatic situation.

So I stopped reading at 78 %, after having read: "While Tiv waited, patiently, the way good girls waited": enough was enough! I understood that Yasira was supposed to be touched be Tiv kindness and goodness, but this emphase about Tiv being (just?) a "good girl" finished me off. A shame...

(I thank Netgalley and Angry Robot for sending me the ARC in exchange for my honest review)

[Justine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A mind bender, but not so much so that I couldn't follow what was going on. There were some great ideas, such as the Gods and minion angels being ascended from quantum computers that achieved sentience and essentially took over shepherding humanity in a way that suits their interests, most notably by limiting human advances in science and technology.

The writing was quite good, and the characters had a lot of potential. I'm not sure I would have necessarily picked up that the main character, Yasira Shien, was neuroatypical without being specifically told. The author self identifies on the spectrum, but I think one of the challenges of writing a very high functioning autistic character is that sometimes the differences that mark the person's experiences aren't as obvious when the story is written in the third person. So much of the differences of experience are just not apparent to an outside observer. That said, first person narration, while possibly opening the narrator's internal processes up to closer examination by the reader, has its own challenges in terms of structuring the story.

Overall though, this is a reasonably interesting book with a unique feel that makes it worth a second look.

[Gabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 3 star rating is for the time being, because I have to re-read large passages of the novel.

I liked the take on the neural atypical characters. I could readily identify with them.
Yet I had a hard time concentrating on the story per se. This happened to me once before, when I was reading "Ninefox Gambit", and I still don't know what or why this is. There were parts I had to repeat 5 times, because my mind started wandering at the same spot each time.

So for now I go with the middle rating and come back after the re-read.

[Sarah]

I said I wasn’t done with this, but it turns out I am. I just don’t want to continue.

The making of AI into gods just sort of made me bonkers. The science is way above my head, and after reading the comments in the group-finished-thread I don’t anticipate liking it any better in the future.

Sorry friends! I’m really not this grumpy in real life I swear!

[Skye Kilaen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely satisfying sci-fi + cosmic horror with a queer autistic gal scientist lead. I especially loved the backstory for the world, with godlike AIs setting strict limits for human technological progress. If you have this on your TBR, I highly recommend moving it up. :)

[Dirk Grobbelaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

LIES

Certainly a memorable book, and a notable entry to the canon of Science Fiction in the twenty first century.

While the book relies on some fairly old conventions, namely that of Lovecraftian or cosmic horror as envisioned by H.P. Lovecraft almost a century ago, it still reads like a breath of fresh air. Well played!

The corners of the walls began to move, curling in ways that geometry shouldn’t have allowed.

The extrapolation of Lovecraftion themes to a futuristic, space faring setting (the 28th century or so) is very well done. The author manages to instill equal amounts of cosmic dread and sense of wonder and the story takes place over a surprisingly large canvass (even going outside the galaxy).

The idea of sentient AIs being revered as gods is interesting as well. Imagine the Culture novels by Iain M. Banks, but with the Minds ruling over humanity as bona fide gods. Or at least, that is one direction my mind went.

Just stars, and not even stars in the patterns she was used to. The thick wheel of the galaxy in one direction and almost nothing in the other. They were already at the edge of human space.

In all honesty, this should have been a 5-star book. It is really good, and manages to distinguish itself from the pack. My single gripe: I like the idea of this novel as a stand-alone. After the big reveals of the nature of reality and the universe here, it feels like my expectations have been met and that the law of diminishing returns will start applying as soon as more entries are added.

As such, the denouement lacks a bit of punch. The storyline of at least one character is not wrapped up, and the novel sets itself up for a sequel that I am not sure I will read (time will tell).

As a single novel, with a tighter conclusion, this will have been an easy 5 for me.
As the first in a series, it still gets 4 stars.

[K.J. Charles]

AI gods and Lovecraftian Other collide as an autistic scientist attempts to save the worlds from tyranny exercised by technologically enhanced thugs known as angels. It's a terrific premise which takes a while to get your head round but is well developed, and the neurodivergence aspect is really well explored IMO, showing the effects of societies and well as situations on individuals. Highly engaging once I'd got into it. Also entirely queer in a low key way. I liked this a lot.

[jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

“the stars open wide. there’s nothing inside.”

when looking for a cool and clever way to start this review with (and not using the words “new and fresh” like i’ve been doing for the past 500 sci-fi reviews i’ve written, which says infinitely more about me than the genre), i came across how author ada hoffmann described their own novel on twitter:

“MY DEBUT QUEER AUTISTIC COSMIC HORROR SPACE OPERA NOVEL”, as stated here.

like, let’s be real. i couldn’t top this description even if i tried.

it also perfectly encapsulates a lot of the things i love about this book. i’ve always been a big fan of the cosmic horror angle -- something from deep space (or in this case, Outside of the cosmos entirely) that’s so utterly incomprehensible to our mortal minds that we could go mad just by looking at it.

anyway, in a world where quantum computers ascended to godhood and now try to ensure humans’ safety by keeping them away from Dangerous Technology™, autistic scientist yasira shien has created an energy drive from the research she did with dr. evianna talirr. who mysteriously disappeared three years ago.

then, just as mysteriously, the energy drive starts disobeying the laws of physics, collapses in on itself while Something Dark And Creepy eats it, and this of course GREATLY disturbs both yashira and the gods. however... evianna might hold all the answers.

so a bunch of cybernetic angels rope yasira into tracking down talirr before the entire known galaxy goes mad and/or gets eaten by Something Dark And Creepy in much the same way. and that’s when yasira starts to realize that ‘god’ isn’t always synonymous with ‘good’.

the themes of this book are so lovingly interwoven that i don’t even know how to properly disentangle them. mental health plays a huge, nuanced leading role in this.

there’s plenty of thoughtful observations on how yasira and evianna are considered brilliant scientists, in part due to their autism and thought patterns -- and whether that’s a legitimate conclusion to draw. but their way of approaching things also poses a big problem for the gods, who feel that their neurotype is too sensitive to what they consider heretical -- understanding the patterns of the ominous Outside, entities existing beyond the regular laws of the galaxy.

it’s honestly such a refreshing take on the whole “cosmic horror drives you mad” spiel, and draws plenty of parallels with how our current society views mental health (or should i say, mental illness?) and neurotypes that differ from the accepted norm.

“universal acceptance can exist, i think, only as a failure of the imagination.”

and the world this book takes place in is just so interesting. the hierarchy and recruitment process of angels, different gods, various races with varying outlooks on religion, and even aliens that the gods have been keeping away from humanity -- it’s cool, and it’s so immersive.

a lot of the more worldbuild-y info is presented through short snippets of personal logs, diaries, litanies, research papers, and other forms of media at the start of every chapter. it never gets too dense because of that.

the point of view swaps mostly between yasira, the protag, and akavi, an inquisitorial angel of one of the more vengeance-bent quantum gods. he’s the one who oversees yasira’s investigation. their initially opposing viewpoints intermingle, providing an interesting outlook at the central conflict -- yasira starts to drift away from the concept of the gods more and more, while still fearful of what the influence of the Outside might do to her.

while akavi, originally a shapeshifting alien before he became a cybernetically enhanced angel, isn’t necessarily a religious fanatic either. he’s just looking for power while trying to stay alive in the religious pecking order -- and protect his subordinates, one who has trouble communicating and another who can’t stamp out their emotions.

and don’t get me started on evianna talirr, whose worldviews and morality are even more topsy-turvy -- and yet she still manages to make a few really good points about how to stage a revolution and fighting gods when you’re just a puny little mortal.

grey morality, y’all! my favorite kind, as long as it isn’t fifty shades.

in conclusion: i loved this book. it was weird as hell, dark, layered, and it had beautiful explorations of what it means to be different. i just kind of want to hug the author for pushing almost all of my buttons.

so, were there any weak points?

the characterization of some of the side characters, as well as elianna and yashira, could’ve been stronger. the science gets glossed over a lot, especially during the climax. the elusive Outside, those eldritch beings lurking in the distance, remain vague and undefined (though one could argue that it’s kind of the point). and somewhere in the second act, the story halts in its pace and direction.

but this was an absolutely AMAZING debut with fantastic representation and genuine exploration of said representation, rather than only including it for brownie points.

so if you like cosmic horror space operas… why are you still reading this review??

✎ 4.0 stars.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ummmm....whaaaaaaa...???

That was my general feeling over the last quarter of this otherwise very interesting, unusual, quirky novel. I couldn’t begin to tell you why the climax occurred the way that it did.

Other than that, I’m pleased to read a novel written by an openly-autistic author that features an autistic protagonist. And that protagonist is a wonderfully unique individual, brilliant and flinty and sensitive and strange. I admire Ada Hoffman’s efforts to spin a yarn that attempts to reckon with bizarre and otherworldly and mystical forces and how those forces might affect the universe, and the people who populate that universe. But those efforts devolve into nonsense in the end, which is a shame.

I also want to mention the presence of a very satisfyingly creepy and manipulative and smarmy villain, and some wonderfully inventive world building involving evolved AI who have become Gods.

So it’s a mixture of compelling ideas and enjoyable characters, and a hot mess of a latter quarter of a plot. Ultimately an interesting, weird failure.

[YouKneeK · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another one of my series-sampling audio listens, to see if I might want to pursue it in print someday. The verdict: Maybe. I had mixed feelings about the story.

Audio Narration
The narrator is Nancy Wu. I mostly liked her narration. I thought she fit well with the main character and did ok with maintaining consistent character voices for the secondary characters, although I thought she occasionally slipped in that regard. I thought she did particularly well with somehow conveying to the reader when a character’s words were spoken out loud versus internally, which could have gotten confusing otherwise. I imagine the print book has internal thoughts differentiated with italics or some such, but there weren’t always many clues in the actual words written, so it was really up to the narrator to convey that in the audio and she did well with it.

If I have any complaint in regard to the narration, it would be that the volume could be inconsistent. As a chapter went on, the narration tended to get softer and/or more whispery, and I would find myself straining more to hear, or else I’d give in and turn up the volume. Then the next chapter would begin and I’d jump at how loud it was.

Story
The story is set in the far future. There are multiple POV characters, but the main focus is on Yasira, a young autistic scientist who’s built a promising new engine thing that everybody is excited about. The story starts just before she activates it on the space station where she’s been working. Soon after she activates it, things start getting weird, and then they get worse than weird.

One concept introduced at the beginning of the book is that, a very long time ago, humanity built computers with artificial intelligence to serve as their gods. Yasira gets mixed up with angels who serve the most punitive of the gods, Nemesis. I really enjoyed that aspect of the world building and wouldn’t have minded seeing more of it.

“The Outside”, on the other hand, was the aspect of the world building that never made much sense to me. Maybe I missed some key descriptions during my audio listen, but the “explanations” for the Outside seemed vague and full of metaphysical mumbo jumbo. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the story more than I would normally enjoy a story that relies so heavily on abstract concepts.

The story itself held my interest well, and I really liked Yasira and her motivations. The other characters were mostly interesting to read about, but I didn’t become attached to any of them. I’m rating this at 3.5 stars and rounding down to 3 for Goodreads.

[Carlex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three and half stars

(sorry for my English)

I agree with the comments from another Goodreads users: this is a half science fiction/half cosmic horror novel

Mrs. Hoffmann develops an interesting and very promising story. “Outside” has good ideas and most are well developed. It occurs to me that the author has not the writing skills that Peter Watts (my previous reading) or has the H. P. Lovecraft's (father of the horror cosmic subgenre) ability to captivate and transmit feelings, but maybe she will in the future because I think she has talent to do it.

The strong points of "Outside" are the well planned and well developed plot, some great “sciencefictional” ideas and an use of the language as another element of sense of wonder, adding the honorable mention to the character names which are always an issue in science fiction.

This novel a pleasant surprise (if you have not done so, do not read the summary: it is excessively spoilerous). So, I have the author on my radar for forthcoming novels.

[Mitticus · Rating 4 out of 5]

+e-ARC gently provided by Netgalley and publishers in exchange for an honest review+

3.5 the truth is not always there stars

Yasira Shien is a scientist working in a new human tech in a spacial station in 2791 when all goes terrible wrong. Now the gods and angels give her another assignment.

It is not a bad book, but in my case it made me go uphill to finish reading it. It is probably because my neurons were not on par with the pseudoscience that appears here, but in large part it was because I could not connect at any time with the protagonist: Yasira. It didn't matter to me what happened to her. What would have interested me to know more about me was about the computer system and the angels.

Supercomputers as gods is not something new in the world of science fiction. Asimov employed several of them in stories of the 50s managing Humanity. These AIs took humans to the stars to poblate other planets. They still need humans.

The Gods rewarded people when they died; that was part of the point of Gods. They collected souls and sorted them. Souls were somewhat diffuse, and even Gods couldn’t data-mine all the specific details of a single life. But souls took on patterns, and the Gods’ technology could recognize those patterns. They could discern the deepest passions that had driven a person through their life. And when the Gods chose souls to become part of Themselves, to keep Themselves running, they chose by matching the soul’s pattern to the most appropriate God. Hence Aletheia, who took the people driven by a thirst for knowledge. Techne, who took engineers and artists, people devoted to creation in its every form. And so on down the list, from Gods like Arete who took brave heroes, to Gods who took the worst of the worst.

Here the 'Angels' are the gods little helpers.

Angels themselves were another thing entirely. More than half of an angel’s brain was God-built, the old neurons burned away in favor of something immortal and impartial. To become an angel, a human abandoned everything. Went off into the sky and lived out that long life doing only and entirely the Gods’ bidding.


The Outside menace all.

Like any other aspect of the universe, the idea of Outside appears in many non-human cultures. Often this is not apparent at first glance: the requisite concepts are frequently taboo, esoteric, or situated in the guise of myth and fiction. However, any culture studied in sufficient detail will yield up a word, and often a fairly sophisticated system of safeguards and protections, for the things in this universe which are inherently incomprehensible to sentient minds. The semantics of the word chosen can be culturally informative. My favorite, of course, is the spider term: Îsîrinin-neri-înik, or that which eats reality.

-About Yasira: I agree with other reviewers that the fact that Yasira was autistic is not consistent with how she faces the events in the plot of the story, although perhaps it is intended to demonstrate on the other hand that this makes her more able to think differently from the rest or more susceptible to the Outside. Besides, it grate on that Yasira kept referring to her partner -Tiv- all the time as a 'good girl'. It's been a while since I've been mad that the media insists that all good people are idiots.

In another hand, Akavi (the angel of Nemesis) is very interesting, as well as his interactions with the oversees, Elu, and Enga (whom stole the plot a couple of times).

And the Outside, well, the mumble grumble about warped reality, and the apatic monsters in the deep, and all depends of perception were interesting too, but sort of repetitive at the end.

At the end, I sort of wished that they eliminate the evil scientist but maybe it will be a next book, I don't know.

Not bad, not bad at all.

(Review in progress)

[Oleksandr Zholud · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a SF (fantasy?) novel with elements of horror. Minor spoilers about the setting are present.

The world building is quite interesting – the mankind spread across the galaxy, there is a broad variety of tech – humans are limited to something like middle XX century tech (lamp computers!) with higher tech owned and supplied by gods. Gods are sentient ultra smart AI, which communicates with humans chiefly through angels – heavily cybernetically augmented (post-) humans. There is a place for souls – after death gods examine one’s soul and data-mine it for patterns, which can be incorporated to god’s code.

The protagonist – Yasira Shien is an autistic female physicist. She was trained by another autistic scientist, who currently gone heretic and hides from the gods. Her teacher thinks that reality and order is a lie, a thin veneer over true chaos or the Outside (hence the title). When exotic matter reactor, created by Yasira malfunctions and kills a lot of people, she is arrested by angels of Nemesis (a god that deals with criminals and heretics), in order to track down her former teacher.

The ideas and setup sound fascinating but the execution is lacking – I was unable to start rooting for any character, their actions and reactions often annoyed me. While the story pays homage to Lovecraft and Dune, I haven’t felt ‘an existential horror’ or a palpable world. It can be due to the fact that the author is autistic as well.

An interesting read in terms of ideas, but for ideas alone it could have been shorter.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s damned refreshing to read a book where the central character struggles with being genuinely different.

And I don’t mean different in the sense of being a little weird, or quirky, the drinks-tea-in-a-coffee-culture eccentricities commonly used in novels to set a character outside his or her norm. I mean having trouble understanding other’s emotions, inappropriate outbursts directed at authority figures and full-blown-foetal-position-on-the-floor sensory meltdowns.

This troubled and very different character is Yasira Shien, the central protagonist of The Outside. Shien is a brilliant scientist, a genius of physics whose work with her since vanished supervising professor has led to the creation of a brand new power reactor. The underlying principles of this new power core are so complex and arcane that Shien is the only person who can even partly understand them, something she does as much via feel as she does via intellect.

For Shien is autistic. She has trouble with other people’s feelings. She has trouble with sensory overload. She struggles with crowds and sometimes to regulate her own emotions, and as a prominent, brilliant scientist responsible for a unique project, she is under great strain. Following her as she journeys through The Outside and deals with situations that would stress a non-autistic person is fascinating.

As the story opens Shien is on a space station orbiting her home world, ready to test the experimental reactor at the station’s centre that she has designed. Using clunky computers reliant on vacuum tube technolo.. what? Did I just write vacuum tubes? Yes. Vacuum tubes.

Shien’s society is in some ways technology advanced, and in others, laughably backward. This backwardness is by design – the human universe that Hoffman has created exisits under the silicon fist (or perhaps the fibre-optic boot) of a group of god-like AIs.

Evolved from long-ago human computers these AIs exist in a strange symbiotic relationship with humanity, where they watch over and protect humans at the same time as they deliberately limit human research in areas that might threaten their power. As part of this rule, they forbid the development of any computer that could coenceiable become sentience, sentencing humanity to life in the computational dark ages ( the room-sized computers of the 1960s).

In a strange bio-silicon synthesis the reigning AIs harvest human souls, absorbing them into themselves in a process that maintains each AI’s unique intelligence – without the souls they take each would eventually lose its sentience.

Humanity worships the AIs as gods, and selected men and women are taken up to be augmented and serve as priests with direct cerebral links to their gods. The most special among humans are elevated even further, becoming immortal ‘angels’; cybernetic agents endowed with super-human abilities and the all the resources that the godlike AIs can supply them.

Naturally the research that Shien is carrying out is on the bleeding edge of what is acceptable to the ‘gods’, and when something goes wrong she is drawn into the service of Nemesis - the terrifying and cruel AI tasked with rooting out ‘heretics’ and anything that might threaten AI dominance.

Shien will have to help hunt down her old teacher, and while doing so will begin to understand the epoch-shattering science she and her old mentor have been dabbling in, and the nature of the strange nearby unverse this knowledge has been tapping into – The Outside.

The Outside’s scenario reminds me of Charles Stross’ Singularity Sky universe, where AI has evolved to a godlike state, and humanity lives under their neon god’s watchful (and occasionally interventionalist) gaze. Like Stross, Hoffman has built a universe governed by human built AIs that have grown into deities, but unlike Stross her AIs are deeply involved in human society, which makes for some fascinating cultural quirks.

Some of the science is a little hokey – The titular ‘outside’ verges on a scientific justification for magic and pretty much allows people to do anything – but the atmosphere, the pace, and the interesting characters more than make up for it. The Outside itself has a taste of Lovecraft about it – dark tentacles spew forth to drive witnesses to madness on a number of occasions – which gives it a nice sense of menace that I rather enjoyed.

Hoffman spins a compelling story, with a unique and interesting central character. Hoffman herself is autistic, which perhaps explains how she can so deftly present a story from the point of view of a non-neurotypical person. I loved it, and if you love SF I think you will too.

The Outside is Hoffman’s first novel and it’s a hell of a debut – I’ve added her name to my mental list of authors to watch along with Ada Palmer, Kameron Hurley, and Adrian Tchaikovsky. I’m very interested in reading Hoffman’s next work, and seeing where this exciting new voice in SF plans to take us next.


Four tentacles from the inconceivable horror dimension out of five.

[Hank · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up because I always like weird. This was a solid 4 star book right up until the end. I loved the idea of the Outside and I never had a good idea where the story was going which, for me, is also fun.

I thought the AI "angels" were well done. Omnipotent in a very AI way, crunching vast amount of data yet ultimately not being able to fully predict human behavior. I didn't fully believe Yasira was on the spectrum but it did not really matter much to the story or my enjoyment of the book.

My one criticism is that Hoffmann could have done much more with the Outside. I was continually hoping that we would get a bit more insight into what the Outside was, other than an antagonist and something not inside, but I suppose that was the point, the Outside could be anything. The ending with the whole human connection thing was a bit too YA for me. I did like the political maneuvering that situation created but I would have like something more tangible.

A worthy read and I would absolutely read another book set in this universe.

[Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved that fact that the main character was austitic, as I got autism as well I love seeing characters have it in books. But the story overall wasn't able to fully grab me even if I liked the premise. It wasn't a bad book by any means but unfortunately it wasn't as emersive as I had hoped. 3.5 stars.

[Bertie (LuminosityLibrary) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Outside is a superb debut novel that combines cosmic horror and space opera to create an intricate, original world filled with multifaceted characters. With a strong focus on neurodivergence and its complexities, this book is a shining example of what science fiction desperately needs more of. Yasira Shien is an autistic scientist who has created a groundbreaking new reactor for the first human-built space station. The AI Gods who rule the galaxy have held technology tightly in their grip, but her invention could change that. Then disaster strikes and the reactor not only destroys the station but disrupts reality itself. Yasira is kidnapped by angels, humans who serve the gods and are implanted with their technology, and given one chance to fix her mistake. She must help them track down her graduate supervisor, Dr. Talirr, who is using this reality-disrupting technology for heretical means. As the energy, known as Outside, slowly drives her mad Yasira must ask herself who is worth saving. The complexity of this novel can not be overstated; its themes, characters, and worldbuilding are captivating and nuanced. Yasira is a brilliant character and a rare depiction of a sapphic autistic woman in speculative fiction. Her neurodivergence is deeply and thoughtfully embedded into her characterisation. The way she was starkly different to other neurodivergent characters (yes, this book has multiple neurodivergent characters!) was delightful in a world that often depicts us as a flat stereotype. This is a book about disability. It's a book that examines how the world treats people it deems as 'insane', how even in more accepting societies the need to conform is always there. The Outside is filled with darkness, but there's a continuous undercurrent of hope that things could be better, and that's worth fighting for. This book is utterly fantastic and one I'd recommend all sci-fi lovers read.

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[Mili · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how this starts on a space station, scientists are doing their job. Almost mundane for that setting while working on a human made energy drive which will be a breakthrough. Because everything is pretty much made by AI Gods, they rule the galaxy. Normal is thrown out the window when the generator is switched on. The space station is destroyed and many people die. From here on weirdddd things start to happen, I will not go into it too much as it is a fun concept to explore. And also hard to explain, but it would take the fun away if you knew too much. I enjoyed how mysterious this change is made, and you slowly get answers by following the MC Yasira. She is blamed for the destruction by the AI Gods. And taken to help them undo this change, she is forced to find her old mentor who is key to the threat. This all unfolds quit slow paced, there is technical talk and research that went a bit over my head. Some things were hard to picture cause of their weirdness but I simply went with the flow and kinda got the overall idea. Also a lot of focus on how Yasira reacts to all these changes, her feelings and coping. She isn't allowed to contact her girlfriend and parents and goes through this alone. She has autism and the way the author put this in writing was very engrossing and emotional. The explanation of the AI Gods and their Angels is very intriguing, didn't care much for the religious load it got but the idea how intimidating they are and all knowing and their needs creates this ominous atmosphere. Although the pace could be slow at times it didn't get me out of the story, the writing is enjoyable and a lot of interesting details and weird scenarios that kept me going and piqued my interest. If you love scifi, def pick this one up! I am looking forward to the sequel.

[〰️Beth〰️ · Rating 1 out of 5]

The gods torture...

The synopsis had such promise. If this was not part of a group read I would have stopped at about the half way mark.

There are many reworkings of Lovecraft, but I did not feel this was one. The only character that seemed developed with a back story was Ev. The rest felt disconnected and incomplete. Tiv was a wasted plot device.

I am glad others seemed to enjoy the book, but I found it slow, wading through detritus to get to the unsatisfied ending. This unfortunately leaves enough characters alive for a part two.

[Sarah B · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not often I run across something totally unique and different as I've read so many novels over the decades but this one certainly IS unique and different! And even more amazing is the fact that all of the characters are actually interesting. I mean that just never happens. In most books you might have a few interesting characters if you're lucky but I was intrigued by all of them, right from the leads down to the many legged spider-like alien and the weird living spaceship. Don't ask me why but I often like spiders...maybe because I had a few as pets years ago...

Two of the main characters in here are on the spectrum. They are both women scientists. And since the author is on the spectrum too they are written very accurately. And yes I found that fascinating. Not to mention I could relate to both of them. Both Yasira and Ev find themselves in a difficult position for different reasons but it relates to the thing called Outside. At first I didn't understand Ev's motives but near the end of the book when she explained herself suddenly it all became clear. And then I could relate to her very well.

The thing I loved the most about this book is the cross between science fiction and horror. It definitely has vibes of Lovecraft in here. I think the author must have been heavily influenced by his writings? Either it's that or possibly the idea of other realities? Quantum mechanics? Either way I've certainly never read anything like this before and so it was a guilty pleasure to enjoy something totally new. Better yet the story kept moving at a decent pace too. There's nothing sleepy in here at all. Plus the danger is coming at you from different quarters too. Who can you trust? And what do you do when you can't trust the very ground you depend on? There's no easy solution yet somehow Yasira has to save her planet! And the scenes of what was happening on the planet's surface...never read or imagined anything like that before. I sure am eager to find out how Yasira is going to deal with that in the sequel. Because I just can't imagine what is going to happen because the idea is just so out there. It's like Twilight Zone type weirdness in the very best of ways.

And since Yasira is autistic she has to handle her anxiety throughout the story and during very frightening, dangerous situations. She uses what coping skills she has. And another thing I love about her is her very strong morals. I think this goes with the rule thing all autistics follow - I have problems with it too every so often...you just feel compelled to follow it and breaking it is not an option. Neurotypicals just don't understand how strong these rules can be. I just read the other day the part of the brain responsible for it is the Insula. So I greatly appreciate a lead character who's on the spectrum and in a leadership role that I can relate to. And yes, it's even better since it's in a sci-fi book as I love sci-fi!

The world building in here is just fantastic! So much details! Everything from the Gods to the technology and to the laws the society live by.. it's phenomenal. It's clear the author spent a lot of time creating this world - which isn't really a surprise as people on the spectrum are known for hyper focus.

The copy I've just read was from the library but I'm definitely going to buy my own copy of this and order the sequel when it becomes available. Because I sure want to know what happens next.

And it was the cover image that first attracted me to this book! Fantastic! I just wish I knew what to call that thing on the cover. Tentacles?? Coils?? Unsure but it's just perfect. Dark, bizarre and creepy and the size difference compared to the tiny little human. It points out how immense the danger looms in the story.

[Sara Norja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclosure: I received an ebook ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.

THE OUTSIDE is a space opera with Lovecraftian influence, dealing with mechanical Gods and angels, the very nature of reality, and complex psychological and moral dilemmas. It also features a wonderful queer couple.

I fell in love with this weird, twisty book from the very start. Such a complex journey. I especially enjoyed how the main character Yasira's personal arc goes in directions that are unusual for a protagonist. Unusual, and fascinating. Also, Yasira's autism is dealt with in excellent ways (this book is ownvoices), and what's more, she's not the only neuroatypical character.

There are so many awesome twists and turns of reality and loyalties. A very satisfying and addictive read. There was some pronoun stuff that felt a little weird to me (a whiff of bio-essentialism as regards angels' bodies and pronouns), but apart from that, this was pure love. Weird, terrifying love. I don't even like Lovecraft, but I appear to be really enjoying all of the subversive Lovecraft-inspired stuff that's currently being published.

In conclusion: Reviews are lies, but please buy this book when it comes out.

[Kristenelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really waffled on how to rate this. The world is really interesting and what ultimately hooked me. I wanted to understand it. It was truly intriguing and unique. And these are all things that for me have maybe the highest priority in a book.

Sometimes the story felt a little slow and it was told from a single perspective which felt narrow at times. A lot of the story took place in the main character’s thoughts.

So I can’t decide if I should rate this 4 or 5 stars. Let’s just say 4.5 because it wasn’t perfect, but I really enjoyed it.

There are themes of neurodivergence and loss of faith. Who gets to say what is crazy or sane? Can authority and tradition be trusted?

The story is kind of trippy and I found at times that I had to read slowly in order to be able process. It was fun to think about though and the world is really cool. AI gods and augmented humans and stuff.

[rachel, x · Rating 4 out of 5]

#2) The Fallen ★★★☆☆

➸ Trigger warnings for ableism, child abuse recounted, panic attacks (on-page), dissociation, self-injury (on-page), graphic torture (on-page), genocide, murder & attempted murder, gun violence, kidnapping & captivity, hostage situation, and blackmail.

▷ Representation: Yasira (mc) is an ausitic lesbian; Tiv (li) is a lesbian.

ATY #5 • A book by an author with two sets of double letters in their name

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