Outcaste by Fletcher Delancey

Outcaste by Fletcher DeLancey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Was excited to see the book appear as a 'coming soon' book. Then annoyed when I saw others being able to read it before I had access. Then took slightly less than a month to actually start to read the book. Two reasons for that delay - I finally noticed that this book focuses on yet more new characters and is, in a way, like Lynn Galli's At Last - specifically the part wherein Outcaste is, like that book, both a prequel and sequel to the series it belongs in ('At Last' starts before the Virginia Clan series, includes material that occurred during that series, the continues past the last book in that series).

Outcaste restarts the series from before the beginning. I didn't catch all the hints as they came and went, but I believe this story begins roughly 13 years before the events in The Caphenon (time passed quickly, though I believe that the book opens with Rahel being 13, then was around the age of 26 when the events of Caphenon occurred); moves past the events of the other books in the series, references the events in those books in passing (including Vellmar's sports wins in Vellmar the Blade) and closes some point past the current furthest point of the series (when Rahal was, roughly, 37).

That's right, this book follows the life of someone for 26 years. Some parts of which have, actually, been glimpsed in prior books, though I'm not saying exactly what I mean as that'd be spoiler-y (okay, more I'm 99.9% certain that she was glimpsed in prior books, just not 100% certain).

The book opens with Rahel Sayana (not going by that last name at the start of the book) dutifully doing her job as daughter to a member of the craft caste and merchant caste. She showed no Craft skills, and so has been groomed to enter the Merchant caste. She’d rather, though, join the Warrior caste. The mother seems to defer to the father when he very strongly leads Rahel down this path, blocking every attempt by Rahel to go a different direction, including tossing her library books (because they put the warrior thought into her mind, and were a ‘distraction’), saying that joining the training house was ‘too expensive’, to attempting to force her to ‘sign up with’ (not the words used, I forget the words used, register? Inscribe with? Something or other) the Merchant caste at 15, two years before she would ordinarily sign up – whereupon Rahel finally breaks and states that she wants – super-duper wants to join the Warrior caste and won’t allow herself to be inscribed into the Merchant caste. (This exciting paragraph, no?), whereupon the father withdraws his love (what, they an empathic alien race, she can tell). And Rahel flees to the city. Unfortunately she arrives to learn that the Warrior caste won’t let her sign up without parental permission – at least not at her current age – come back in 2 or so years and try again. Whereupon Rahel becomes an outcaste – living on the edge without membership in a caste.

So, book started off with family issues/controlling parent(s). Moves to ‘growing up fast’, to ‘graphic depictions of ‘underage sex’, to ‘prostitution’, to ‘rape’, to abuse/torture/war . . . and an endless stream of hard to read stuff.

I’m not playing around with that ‘depictions of underage sex’. It’s true that we are talking about aliens, using a different biological scale, time scale, etc. etc. – but including multiple repetitive mentions that the sex that occurs involves pedophiles and people younger than the age of consent. Add to that the part where one of the people involved, while not actually being that age, looks roughly 7 years younger than they are – looks prepubescent. Mind, most of the graphic stuff takes place off the page. The ‘first time’ though is graphically described, and involves underage aliens.

I’m not really sure how to take that. If the book involved humans, I’d have a better understanding of just what exactly I was reading. But the book is about aliens with a very different biological make-up – to the point that the graphic depiction of sex did not correspond to what you’d read if it did involve two humans. What with all the talk of ridges, and fingering the male’s vagina (not the word used).

Funny. I was just going to write something along the lines of ‘I do not think I can write a review for this book’. Then all these words appeared *points around*. Then I got hung up on the underage sex, rapes, abuse, torture, and can’t continue. Much. There were enough elements in the beginning, middle, and end that would lead me to be able to give this book a rating as high as I did. (Oh, I forgot adultery and cheating, which occurred in this book also).

I’ll just note one thing before moving on with my life – At one point in the book it is brought to Rahel’s attention that she is sansara. Someone who does not derive pleasure from receiving sexual contact. The glossary, at the back of the book, defines sansara as ‘asexual’. Certain issues involved here, like the part where Rahel does receive sexual pleasure from giving sexual touches/satisfaction/etc. and how that does or does not correspond to an asexual, but I’ll just move on. Since it is a complicated topic, and we are talking about aliens here.

Rating: 3.68

November 15 2017



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