Outpost

Title: Outpost
Author: Ann Aquirre
Year: 2012
Series?: Razorland #2
Format: Hardcover (Library checkout)
Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopia, Young Adult, Zombies, Adventure, Romance

What's it about?: Deuce, Fade, Stalker and Tegan have all found a safe place in the town of Salvation. Deuce now lives with a foster family who seem to genuinely like her and she continues to spar with Stalker in her free time. But now Fade and Tegan have kept their distance and not only does this hurt Deuce, it confuses her. The town considers Deuce a child and not the Huntress she is, and she is expected to conform to the traditional female roles that the town expects. But despite the safety of the town, the Freaks roaming outside the walls continue to become a looming threat, and it's up to Deuce, Fade, Stalker and a few guards to ensure the survival of the whole town.

My opinion: Outpost was a great follow up novel to Enclave. I didn't inhale this book as I did the first one, the pacing was much slower and less action packed. This book was more about Deuce learning about herself and who she wanted to be. Deuce had a couple of months to get used to the way of life in the town, and when the reader comes into the story, it becomes clear that Deuce wants to be herself and be useful by fighting and protecting, not by being domestic. It astounded me that Fade and Stalker do not seem to comprehend the fact that Deuce grew up differently from the both of them and does not understand their intentions toward her. The fact that Fade had seemed to give up on a relationship with Deuce before she approached him made me think a bit less of him, but then I became happy when Deuce gave him "exclusive kissing rights". While I am very much Team Fade, I do feel really bad for Stalker and his feelings not being reciprocated. I can see why he likes Deuce, she is the one girl he's met who is his equal, maybe even more skilled than him and he has no desire to give up on fighting for her. I liked the development of Tegan, how she was able to move past the horrors of her past and to choose to move on and be happy in her new place. Deuce's foster mom was my favorite new character; Momma Oaks is proof that not all mothers give birth to their children, it's the person who unconditionally loves and cares for a child that makes them a true parent. The same goes for Deuce's foster dad Edmund and for Longshot.

The concept that people reverted to almost Amish ways in the post-apocalypse was interesting and believable; most people turn to religious answers when they cannot get real answers as to what is happening around them. In most scenarios like this one in literature and film, there is always one fanatic that seems to rally other people into faith and belief that a higher power made things happen to them due to happenstance around them. While I didn't get the fanatic feel from the town, I have the feeling that it may develop into one in the future. It also makes sense that people would have to revert to these ways without electricity, but you think by this point they'd actively work towards that, but the book does explain why not. This book liked the first reminded me of The Walking Dead, but this second book being more like the third season, in setting, not in actual plot.

Enclave was very much an action/adventure book while Outpost to me was pure horror. I was so skeeved out by the "freaks" aka zombies and how they were evolving and becoming smarter. There was one part about 70% into the book where I was like "where are they going with this?" and then "oh my god, do I really want to know?". Despite loving zombie books, humans being eaten is something that creeps me out; I have a hard time watching Spielberg's War of the Worlds and nearly had a meltdown when I saw bits and pieces from Soylent Green (this is an issue that comes from being traumatized as a child from that episode of The Twilight Zone 'To Serve Man'). So while I really liked this book, it was exponentially creeper and more ominous than the first.

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. I cannot wait until the third book is released next month!