Outcast by Louise Carey
TRUTH.
LIES.
IT CAN BE HARD TO TELL THEM APART.
Tanta is tasked with getting to the bottom of the attack before violence and unrest overtake the city. But even though the evidence points towards rival corporation Thoughtfront, Tanta can't shake the feeling that she's missing something.
There's a dark secret at the heart of the case, one that will reveal more about her own corporation than Tanta would like. And the closer Tanta gets to the mystery, the more she comes to realise something terrible:
Sometimes facing the truth can be the hardest thing of all.
You all know much I loved Inscape right?
Well, if you don’t, let me give you a little recap!
It was one of my favourite books of last year.
What can we say about the second one that is going to match that – I dunno!
Inscape came along at the beginning of 2021 and blew my socks right off! And now at the beginning of 2022 we have Outcast, the second one in the series. And guess what, that blew my socks off too.
Now with the second one, we are all re - introduced to the characters of Tanta & Cole, we all know how they rock and roll. Right? Well not quite! You see things are a bit different now.
Tanta is irrevocably changed from the results of the last book (I would like to tell you dear reader about the incident that I was referring to, but for your own good , no can do! Spoilers and all that! And you never know you might want to read it and what would be the point of that if old Billy big britches ‘ere had gone and spoilt it for you?) Now, both Tanta and Cole have to live with the results.
Cole has forcibly been made to work for the company that he thought was so bad, he had wiped his own memory to forget about it – I mean that is really good for company morale isn’t it? Whilst Tanta has a new boss, who hates her, wants to get rid of her and sends her off into the procedural wilderness. And on top of that, there’s a new threat to Intech, the war is still on with Thoughtfront and now, they have launched an attack right at the heart of Intech.
Tanta is tasked to find out how and why this has occurred (much to the chagrin of her new boss).
Outcast does a fantastic job of continuing the story of Tanta and Cole, and also expands the world too, showing us what it is like outside the city. In addition to that, we get the introduction of some new characters, with the most notable being Fliss, the leader of a scavenging group in the Unaffiliated Zone who gets embroiled in the fight against Intech and used as a pawn in the enemy’s games.
As usual, Louise Carey’s writing is top notch and she immerses the reader in the world of Outcast. This time though, it’s a little bit easier to become immersed in this world as we are used to it and technology that is an integral part of the story.
Tanta and Cole are as brilliant as ever, however, they both have the extra burden of the changes that have happened. It is like looking behind the curtain and finding the bloke that pulls the wire to make the swan fly. Tanta struggles with this and it has in impact in places that she does not expect. And similarly with Cole. As the creator of a certain insidious programs which was designed to bring the Corporation and their Corps Wards together, he now finds that his past has come back to haunt him and will be used in an even more insidious way.
Outcast is a brilliant second outing for the pair and I enjoyed every page of it.
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