Outwalkers is the most recent novel by Fiona Shaw.  In this novel, readers are transported to the near future England and a country that has attempted complete control over its population.

Jake is an orphan.  When his parents die, he is sent to a Home Academy which is like an orphanage.  But it isn’t a great place to grow up and so he escapes and attempts to make his way to Scotland.  Jake meets up with a group of other children and teens trying to do the same thing and he is off on an adventure that will have all sorts of loops, trips and turns.

This is an action-packed book and as such is a great option for those middle grade boys who need some action to keep them turning pages.  The characters take a bit of getting used to.  They aren’t called by their first names, but by nicknames which take a few chapters to keep everyone straight.  There isn’t a ton of backstory on the other members of the gang which I think would have been interesting to learn.  There was a minimum of time spent on these other characters, but the book is set up well for a sequel in which you could learn more about each.

There is a lot of back and forth dialogue in this book, but it was marked in a somewhat odd way.  Instead of using quotes, the dialogue of each individual is prefaced with a dash (-).  I found this a little distracting and confusing.  There were a couple of instances where I had to go back and re-read a section of dialogue to determine which speaker was communicating.  You do get accustomed to this usage over time, but I think the dialogue would have better served in a more traditional format.

Overall, this is a decent read especially for the male crowds.  Both middle grade and high school readers will find the book exciting and time well spent in adventuring.

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by David Fickling Press

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  6 religious exclamations; 4 mild obscenities; 4 scatological words.

Violence/Gore:  Dog bite; multiple cuts/scrapes/bruises/minor injuries; club to head and knocked unconscious; chip cut out of neck; pushing and verbal threat; recall of committing suicide by jumping from bridge; tasered to death; people drown; two punches to head; two threats with a knife; one threat with a gun; man falls to death; adult harshly grabs child; person killed in train accident; recall of people being killed by government with minimal detail; recall of suicide bomber; dogs fight until death of one with graphic blood; description of people used as experimental test subjects resulting in death; three verbal threats; adults fire weapons on children; helicopter crashes killing all aboard; building bombed resulting in death of some without detail.

Sex/Nudity:  None

Mature Subject Matter:

Stealing; death; suicide; war; deportation; terrorism; ethics; socioeconomic conflict.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Teen gets drunk on wine and beer; various drugs consumed at rave-style party.