This definitely picks up where Yours for the Taking leaves off - I would not recommend dipping into the story without having read that first since there is almost no recap. This was a great insight into the backstory of the Inside and touched on a lot of interesting ideas about capitalism, climate change, and social issues. The combination of climate migration with the epistolatory background of the years leading up to Yours creates a layered and thought provoking narrative that would be great for book clubs.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

This book and its prequel/companion are definitely among the most engaging stories I've read recently. The characters felt real, the stakes were high, and I was riveted the whole time I was reading. This dystopian world with all its climate change horrors felt a little too possible. The books were not light or happy, but they were kind of strangely hopeful.

This book can be read on its own, but I think it works best if you read Yours for the Taking first. This book tied up most of the loose ends from that one and the ending felt pretty definite. I wouldn't mind reading more about the characters though. I've definitely grown attached to them and their world. It's the kind of world that I found fascinating to read about but would never, ever want to live in.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

DNF’d at 54%. This book is not pitched or marketed as a sequel to this author’s previous book, Yours for the Taking, but I’d argue that it should be. This near-future dystopian book follows a few characters that were introduced in that previous book and definitely spoils some plot points and reveals that I personally wouldn’t want to read out of order. I’m glad I had read Yours for the Taking so I could identify that information as a reviewer, but I wasn’t interested in a sequel and am not invested in the characters we follow in this second book enough to stick it out to the end.

This might have worked better as a separate standalone. It's quite different from the first (as must happen with setting) but I felt like that led to some missed opportunities for character development. I had totally forgotten the characters as it'd been too long, so I felt confused about some motivations and relationships. Korn writes in an engaging fashion though and I was psyched to be reading this, although I also found it to be incredibly dark and had to put it aside to handle my own dark feelings about the world at points.

The time jumps were jarring for me and while I loved the last book, the writing style in this one felt different.

Really struggled to get through this one as I was really traumatised as a stay at home mom with babies during the pandemic. It was just not my cup of tea due to my own personal journey but the concept is incredibly fresh and exciting and I know for a fact it will find a die hard audience that will eat it up entirely and want more.

Thank you for the opportunity.

The Shutouts is a delightful mix of thriller, science fiction, horror, and queer feminist story telling. Per usual, Gabrielle Korn creates masterful worlds that reflect our current condition and make us question how different her stories are from reality.

"The Shutouts" by Gabrielle Korn, was a wonderful, well thought out futuristic experience, with wonderful characters and different timelines weaved together. Second book in this series, was nice to follow through the story as well as zoom in to the lives and outcomes of the characters presented in the past, reflecting forward and backwards through the generations. Strong women prevailing through a very difficult existence. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

In 2041, the world is falling apart due to rapidly accelerating climate change. The cities are being destroyed by storms, fires, and viruses. So many climate refugees find themselves without homes. Kelly, a hacker and activist, is traveling across the United States. Seven years ago, Kelly joined a group she believed would save the world. In 2078, a group of queer characters seeks out new ways of surviving in a world that is unimaginable and nearly uninhabitable. Survivalist Orchid sets out to save her ex-girlfriend Ava from the Inside Project, a highly selective, government-funded climate protection program. Meanwhile, Ava and her daughter, Brook, have escaped the Inside Project. I am not disclosing more as I want you to read the novel to discover what characters do in this dystopian world.

The author tells the story of those who have been shut out from Inside, and their fight to survive. There is an interconnectedness larger than all of them. The novel is a page turning queer, feminist dystopia. I enjoyed it immensely after learning what the Inside Project was.

I didn’t realize this was another book in a series that had already started when I requested this, but I honestly think it still made sense even without reading the first one in the series!! I really enjoyed the actual idea behind the story- super unique :)

Author Gabrielle Korn returns to her dystopian world, and follows six different women in two different time periods, 2041 and 2078:

-Max: Born into a cult, the Winter Liberation Army, which started as a group of activists attempting to live totally independently of everyone and everything then devolved into the men holding all the power, in 2078 Max attempts to escape with their crush, but gets hurt and abandoned. They eventually encounter Camilla, who had been living with her father, Orchid and others.

-Orchid: In 2078, she left her settlement to find Ava (they were lovers in book one years earlier) in New York City. She finds Ava and Brook outside of their Inside Project compound, and they begin travelling back to Orchid's home together, encountering difficulties and some dangers.

-Kelly: She left her young daughter Orchid behind to join a group of people, the Winter Liberation Army. She becomes disenchanted with their behaviour and changed aims eventually, and attempts to return home in 2041. We learn about her through a series of letters she sent to young Orchid.

-Camilla: Shelby's (from book one) sister, cares for Max, and waits alone for Orchid to return, with the intention of them all reuniting with the others, who have moved to a safer location to settle after storms made it too difficult to stay.

-Ava: Back in the world, and finding it hard to adapt, but is also glad Orchid is with them. The three women travel the long, hard road back to reunite with Camilla.

-Brook: Eager to find a way to reconnect with July, who is living in New Zealand after the shuttle carrying the wealthy landed there.

The writing is compelling, fleshing out our understanding of Orchid, Ava, Brook and Camilla, and introducing new characters, who are equally well drawn.
-Orchid's independence and behaviours (in book one)become clearer with information about Kelly, and how Orchid manages the trip back to her home with a struggling Ava and naïve Brook.
-Kelly's letters are a combination of exciting revelations as she works with the activists, and gradually show a woman full of regret whose choices took her far from the daughter she loves.
-Max must learn to overcome the prejudices of her cult and open themselves to new experiences, ideas and relationships.
-Camilla has become incredibly resourceful, and it's great to see Shelby's younger sister come into her own.

Korn shifts perspectives repeatedly, and each person's section is full of drama, intimacy, pain, and wonderfully brought to life as we see the climate continuing to devolve over the thirty year timespan of the novel. Korn does a wonderful job of making us care about each character, and we see the importance of connection and community in a hard, unforgiving world.

I switched back and forth between the prose and the audiobook, and enjoyed both. Gail Shalan does a great job voicing all the different characters, so that I always knew whose perspective I was listening to. Shalan conveys each person's emotions beautifully, while also bringing the damaged world to life as they make their way through it.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for these ARCs in exchange for my review.

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the arc. This was so so good. I loved it so much. I was hooked right from the beginning and could not put it down. This sequel can definetly be read as a standalone, I ended up reading the first one after I finished this, and I wasn't confused when reading it. Gabrielle Korn is now an autobuy author for me. This was so creative and all the characters were rich and vibrant. It was set in such an interesting world, and the world building was so well done. I loved that nearly everyone was queer, and seeing how the different stories all came together. I highly recommend this, one of my best reads of the year.

Gabrielle Korn has crafted an incredible duology of queer speculative fiction. Because every great work of SpecFic builds on reality and asks "what if?", the effect in Your For the Taking and The Shutouts is often chilling. The reader is reminded that the very near future could be well reflected in this work of fiction. I feel that is what makes a strong piece of SpecFic - not the fabulous outlandishness of the future, but the plausible reality of a fictional outcome.

Each character these two books follows is a masterpiece. At once a hero and villain, showing that humanity lives within the shades of gray. On one page, you love Ava and another you hate her. You understand Jacqueline's motivations in one chapter and in another find her methods abhorrent. In the first book, we empathize with Ava in her struggle with her relationship with Orchid and in the second book, we are given the gift of Orchid's history even if she never knows it for herself.

The first book sometimes felt rushed, as though some elements of the story were skipped over but in reflection on the two books as one story, I see that sometimes a lived experience is felt the same way. As though the details of the day to day are unimportant and what matters are the punctuations of significant events. The second book is a dual timeline, the "past" told in letters written to Orchid by her mother and the "present" in third person limited omniscient POV from multiple perspectives. This allows the story to feel like it's unfolding at a sufficiently progressive pace.

By the second book's conclusion, the reader is left with a fairly clear image of most of the factors that led the story to its end and we're left with a beautifully reflective final passage that gives the reader the opportunity to consider what can be done to change the paths our planet is on while also giving us the hope of a believing that a better world is possible.

I genuinely loved these two books and if queer speculative fiction is your jam, I think you will too.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I loved the first book in this series, and maybe liked this one even more. If you're intrigued by the premise, and haven't read the first one - do that first! Otherwise book one will be spoiled. This is great for any fans of the postapocalyptic genre, it has more queer storylines than any other I've read. I hope there's another book in this series!

I wanted to love this, but it wasn’t really for me.

The time jumps kept confusing me, which I’m normally fine with. I also was not a big fan of the writing style. I don’t think this author is for me.

A follow-up to "Yours for the Taking," this is the rare climate change/dystopian novel that somehow manages to end of a note of hope. This time, we get see the world from the outside - the perspective of those shut out from The Inside. Told in dual timelines, we get to see how we got to the point of almost no return. With some disappointing, but not at all surprising, motivations and actions by those who should/do know better. But the hope at the end of the novel is that we do know how to do better, and and that it is possible to put it into action.

"The year is 2041, and it's a dangerous time to be a woman driving across the United States alone. Deadly storms and uncontrollable wildfires are pummeling the country while political tensions are rising. But Kelly's on the road anyway; she desperately needs to get back to her daughter, who she left seven years ago for a cause that she's no longer sure she believes in.

Almost 40 years later, another mother, Ava, and her daughter Brook are on the run as well, from the climate change relief program known as The Inside Project, where they've spent the past 22 years being treated as lab rats. When they encounter a woman from Ava’s past on the side of the highway, the three continue on in a journey that will take them into the depths of what remains of humanity out in the wilderness."

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

Yours for the Taking was one of my favorite books of 2023. A sci-fi dystopian story that hooked from the start. This is book 2, a breakdown of what happened Outside of the ultra elite survival community. As the world breaks down, this one has 3 different groups with POV.

We have a mom writing to a child, detailed how the world broke down and what broke first, how it crumbled. The 2nd POV is a group that has made it through the worst and is trying to survival. The third group has left one spot and is making their way to another - all to search and hope that someone is still there.

It was a great mix, the reveal of how it first started out and the more now POV that showed just how far it had all gone. It was a great story of survival but also the push to understand what surviving meant and what we would want to live for. It was still characters I loved and a story I could fall into, even if it was sad and broken. It was a great conclusion and I loved being back in this world. I definitely look forward to more from this author!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

The Shutouts is an excellent second book to answer Yours For the Taking. Placed in the outside world where the impacts of climate change affect those left. Orchid makes the trip to save her lost love and her daughter, and together they make their way through the United States and into Canada. Despite the dreary situation and occasional moment of danger, we see love and hope bloom in this book. I gave this four stars because I enjoyed it and would recommend it to a friend but wouldn't read it again.

This was a perfect follow up to Yours For the Taking! I loved the dual timeline and multiple POV aspect of this. I also loved seeing some characters from the first book and finding out more about the background of the world. This is such a unique climate change science fiction book and I think it is so realistic because it truly exposed how humans can be motivated by greed or by love. I really really loved this one!

"Queer people at the end of the world," according to the author, is the subject matter for last year's Yours for the Taking and this very, very recent release and sequel, The Shutouts. A powerfully written, character-driven story of the collapse of the world as climate change drives rapid ocean rise and catastrophic storms, this story is much stronger if the first book has already been read. Otherwise, the emotional impact of the characters' decisions and choices won't hit as hard.

Where the first book in the duology focused on the people who escaped the wrath of climate change by going Inside, this book focuses on those who were left outside to face the elements. My favorite character is Kelly "Green", a new character who plays such an instrumental role in this book's story arc.

I am very impressed with this series, and will add Gabrielle Korn to my list of "must read" authors for any new works that she produces. Bravo to an awesome set of books, a story that should be read by all those with anxiety over global warming. I wouldn't have minded if it were longer.