Inside "The Outside" By Ada Hoffman - A Review

The AI’s of Asher’s Polity and Banks’ Minds may run everything, but at least they don’t demand to be worshipped as actual gods. In Ada Hoffman’s “The Outside,” (https://www.amazon.com/Outside-Ada-Hoffmann-ebook/dp/B07H71QF2C) the quantum supercomputers humanity built became super-intelligent, seized control of the Galaxy and now rule humanity as literal Gods. The Gods provide humanity with advanced technology, protect it from alien enemies and rogue godlets, and apparently reap their actual souls upon death (!) (a feature sadly not explained). The world-building of “The Outside” was excellent. I wanted to read more about the Gods, the Angels, humans and aliens of Hoffman’s galaxy. What I had to read, however, was an uninteresting bildungsroman of the least-compelling main character I have dealt with in a while. Dr. Yasira Shien is a physicist, who was a child prodigy and a student of the brilliant but odd genius Ev Tallir. Shien helps put together a major applied engineering project drawn from her and Dr. TAllir’s work, since the enigmatic Tallir has disappeared. Unfortunately, the “Shien-Tallir Reactor” causes a tear in the space-time continuum, destroying the space station and killing hundreds of people. Shien is immediately sequestered by Angels, the cybernetic superhuman enforcers of Nemesis, the God of Vengeance. They reveal to her that there is a whole realm outside our space and time (the titular “Outside”), where there are angles that drive men mad and intelligences, cool and unsympathetic. Yes - Lovecraft was right and the real nature of the world is madness-inducing chaos. Also, her mentor Tallir is a heretic (an interesting word in this context) who has used advanced mathematics and outre science to contact the Outside and bring chunks of it into our spacetime, causing disasters like the destruction of Shien’s space station. She has contaminated Shien with heretical beliefs, which makes Shien “the most dangerous person in the galaxy” (an Angel actually says this to her!). The Angels want Shien to help them chase down Tallir and neutralize her. Shien is whisked off into intergalactic space where the Angels ask her to act as a mole, getting into Tallir’s confidences and bringing her down from the inside. This plan to infiltrate Tallir is important, because it comes at the 47% point in the book (I read this on kindle) and it is the first time Shien makes a decision! Up to this point she is simply swept along by events or directed by others into actions. Even worse, in my opinion Shien returns to this passivity and by the end of the book only makes two (2) more decisions - and frankly I’m not sure what the last decision even was. This huge problem with Shien as a character turns the last half of the book into a slog. There are some fascinating questions presented by the world of the Gods. Nemesis’ methods are as terrible as her name suggests, but from a purely utilitarian perspective are justified by the “greater good.” Ev Tallir goals seem to be very Randian - she is looking for fellow geniuses and the deaths of lesser persons are acceptable costs - but are driven by her twisted childhood; does this excuse her actions? Sadly, the book’s ability to explore any of these questions are hampered by Shien’s passivity. Shien is by turns outraged by the Gods cold-bloodedness, and Ev's carelessness, but she never seems to *do* anything about it. Two other issues leaped out at me. What exactly is Ev Tallir’s evil plan? To overthrow the Gods? To what end? Also, the ending is muddled and unclear. Shien foils the Angels’ evil plan to kill a large segment of the population of planet (to cauterize a massive incursion of the OUtside) by...taming the Outside’s malignancy and only driving a third of the population crazy? Is Shien troubled by her acceptance of the lesser of two evils? Not that she expresses clearly. Shien makes arrangements to send her love interest off to safety - but can’t follow through with it and love interest decides to stay with her. Once again, Shien simply fails to act and someone else takes the initiative. Hoffman’s writing style is clear and descriptive. Her world-building is fascinating. Sadly, her characters, especially her protagonist, are passive cardboard cut-outs that are swept along by the plot and react as required by the needs of the story. I look forward to reading her next book, if she can write more compelling characters than here.