Outpost by Ann Aguirre

317 pages

"Deuce's whole world has changed since reader's first met her in Enclave. Now living topside in a community called Salvation, she has a new set of problems. Down below, she was considered an adult and she contributed to the enclave. Now above ground, she's viewed as a brat in need of training by the people of Salvation. She doesn't fit in with the other girls: She hates cooking, sewing, and school. Deuce only knows how to fight.

To make matters worse, her Hunter partner Fade, keeps Deuce at a distance. Her feelings for Fade haven't changed, but he seems not to want her around anymore. Confused and lonely, she starts looking for a way out.

Deuce pursues a chance to serve in the summer patrols--those responsible for making sure the growers and planters can work the fields without danger of Freak attack. It should be routine, but things have been changing on the surface, just as they did below ground. The Freaks are smarter. They're watching. Waiting. Planning. The monsters don't intend to let Salvation survive, and it may take a girl like Deuce to turn the tide." -Dust Jacket

I loved how Deuce's world gets turned upside down once she's topside and she has to learn how the new world works. I thought it was so smart to have her go from being considered an adult in the enclave, sure of her purpose and skills, to a child in Salvation who is forced to learn menial tasks and go to school. It created an interesting dynamic throughout the first part of the story. Deuce knows her place in Salvation isn't secure. She has to adapt to the new rules or risk being cast out. But she knows who she is: She's a Huntress who's survived and done more than most of the adults in Salvation. I loved how Deuce learned about love and emotional connection in this sequel. Edmund and Mamma Oakes are great foster parents. They take her in and care about her, showing her what it's like to have a family. Longshot, the man who rescued Deuce and her friends in the forest, also becomes like a father to her. He respects her skills and values her opinion. Deuce has never known what it feels like to have so many people love and care about her and she has to explore those new feelings. She also has to explore her new feelings for Fade. She learns that she's more than just a Huntress, she's also a girl, and she has to figure out how those two sides of her fit together. She is no longer the same girl she was in Enclave and I was glad for that. I like seeing her with more compassion, feeling, and more reason to fight than just an obligation to. She has people to fight for and she learns that love makes you stronger not weaker.

I love the Freaks in this book. In Enclave they had gotten smarter, but it's nothing compared with what Salvation faces topside. The Freaks are not zombies, they are mutants, and they prove that they are capable of thought and planning. That is disastrous on more than one occasion for Salvation.  Deuce's skills become invaluable to Salvation, but at the same time create problems for her. The town was founded on some religious tenants, one of which includes the idea that women should do women's work and if they don't the town will face punishment from heaven. Deuce is not a typical woman obviously. She fights better than most of the men and does so over and over. Some of the more superstitious townspeople blame her for the town's problems.

There was so much more character development in this novel. In the first book you don't like Stalker much. He doesn't have many redeeming qualities but that is just a result of his life to that point. He's had to be tough in order to survive. He's capable of a lot more and his true character comes out in this book. It creates an interesting love triangle. You can't hate someone who is willing to change and be better.

{SPOILERS}

A love triangle plus a trilogy equals conflict and no real resolution until the end. The romantic reader keeps reading when there's the "will they?" or "won't they?"/"who will she choose?" reason to keep reading. I like Stalker. He's in love with Deuce because she's unlike any girl he's ever met, she's strong. That love makes him dependable. He's hoping that Deuce will choose him and being available whenever she needs him. He even tells Deuce that Fade is "soft in ways that you and I aren't. Ultimately, you're going to break him." Of course when something like that is said/written it's a foreshadowing of things to come.

I like Fade better. He has a goodness about him that not even Deuce has...yet. (I think she'll get there by the end.) Stalker and Deuce are very similar in terms of doing whatever it takes to survive. Their experience has taught them to kill or be killed basically. Fade is tough and will fight and kill when he needs to, but that's not all life is for him. You can tell that his life with his parents before the enclave made him who he is and not what he has to become in order to survive. He loves Deuce and he sacrifices a lot for her. It's a lot like the Gale-Katniss-Peeta love triangle. Ann Aguirre gives us a few moments of respite for Deuce and Fade before totally pulling the rug out from under us. What happens was completely unexpected (for me anyway) and heartbreaking. I think she's set things up for a great ending to the series. It will be interesting to see how the group that has set out for help will fare with their physical and mental injuries. Dang that year-long wait.

This series reminds me a lot of a PG-13 version of The Passage by Justin Cronin. The worlds are very similar, only instead of vampires this series has mutants and no language.*


*This is a PG-13 series. There is quite a bit of blood and gore but it's not in your face or tasteless. It's just enough to get the point across as to how violent this world is and what the Freaks are capable of. There are also some references to sex and rape. Underground and in the ruins of the city, women are used mostly as breeders. Underground it is their job, topside it's forced upon them. Younger readers might miss these references. The author does an appropriate job of not being graphic with it, but this is not a series for younger readers. It's more for older teenagers and young adults.