Cover Image: The Perimeter (Outside Book 3)

The Perimeter (Outside Book 3)

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Member Reviews

This is the 3rd and final book of the series. It starts off right where the second one finished. This is when the climax and the whole picture of the story happens. I feel like the series had a complete ending with the way the series ended.

The 3rd installment of this series is again sees multiple POVs, with some starting in the past to catch us up to the future. Reading the series this way gives more to the whole picture and less questions unanswered. This was probably my least favorite book of the series, but that doesn't mean it's not a great read.

I really enjoyed the character development of Riley, even if there were times I wanted to shake her out of her immature naiveness. In saying that, maybe that's also why I enjoyed the series as much as I did. It was nice to read along with a main character that just saw the good in people and were not jaded by unfortunate living situations or the cruel of the world.

Thank you to Netgalley, Shalini Boland, and the publishers for this free ebook. This review is 100% my own and honest opinion.

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Thank you to Netgally, the publishers, and Shalini Boland

When I requested this book I was unaware that it was apart of a series, one that requires you to read the previous books for this one to make sense. I am unable to read all the previous books along with this one before the publish date. Therefore, I will rate this a fair 3/5 stars and will adjust the rating and review when I am able to read all the books in the series along with this one.

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The Perimeter from the Outside series brings us the final conclusions to the trilogy that we needed. Its hard to review without spoiling anything, but if you read the first two books, then you'll for sure need to read this quickly.

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Just completed "The Perimeter" by Shalini Boland—what an emotional ride! This dystopian romance had me captivated throughout.

Boland creates a believable post-apocalyptic scenario with excellent world-building. Perimeter residents experience the characters' struggle to protect their way of life.

We confront the terrifying James Grey and his unrelenting army, raising the tension. You cheer for the characters as they prepare for the last battle because the stakes are great.

The love themes complicate the storyline and pull at your emotions. The characters' relationships are rushed by imminent calamity, making every moment matter.

Boland's language and tempo are captivating. A thrilling conclusion leaves you breathless and engaged.

I thought of the everlasting subject of love in the face of hardship as I finished the book. "The Perimeter" is more than a dystopian thriller—it's a touching story about human tenacity and the will to change the world.

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Again such an underrated author who has such amazing characters who you feel you ere close with when reading. That is always the best for me.

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The Perimeter was the perfect ending to the Outside triology. The characters are brilliant and relatable and the world building was fantastic. Would definitely recommend.

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The Perimeter is the third and final book in Shalini Boland's Outside series. The main character is a strong female and she is a force to be reckoned with!

In a similar vein as series such as The Hunger Games and Divergent, it is a story about a time when much of the world is destroyed and the remaining people band together. The story itself is a bit more believable than the other series I mentioned. In this story, ia world teetering on the brink, a religious zealot takes control and becomes a menace to anyone outside of the area he controls.

I give the series 4 stars as it was well written and did hold my interest.

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A good conclusion to the series. Well written book about survival. Explosion of war, a d enemies. It was tense too which you don't always find in a young adult.

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I loved this book, despite being pessimistic with it being the third of a trilogy. It was a really well written battle of survival between string leaders but both with very different outlooks. Whereas the previous two had their own focus for the story, this one was all about the war between enemies and getting to a conclusion. I loved the tense scenes in this book and had to remind myself at times that it was a YA book, I found it to be well written with a satisfying conclusion which really focussed on revenge and also humanity.

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the end of the trilogy and though i really enjoyed the series the third book took a bit of getting into as it didn’t seem to flow as well and books one and two

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The Perimeter by Shalini Boland is the third book in the Outside series and it was another excellent read in the series. I particularly liked the ending of the series. I have now read all three in the series and found them all engrossing reads and thoroughly enjoyed all of them.
Whist these were for young adults I have to say as someone in my very late 60s I also enjoyed them. I particularly liked the strong characters of Riley and Luc and other young characters. The storyline was set in the future and was made up of different areas all closed into a privileged group of people and others were left outside to live in shantytowns.
An excellent, enjoyable series by the author.
Highly recommended

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It has such an interesting and unique plot with excellent pacing which kept me super engaged throughout. It is incredibly emotional, raw and beautiful. I absolutely love this genre and this was no exception, i will definitely be reading more from this wonderful author

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This is the final book of the series and we do get a satisfying ending, but of the books this is my least favourite.
I really liked the additional POV and the complex emotions this character brought about.
The romance is very YA in this book and I don’t mean this in a negative way, I did enjoy it. But the characters are young and you can see from their actions that they are.
The writing is good and pacing is again fast and the story action packed.
I think if you have read the first two then you cannot not read this last instalment.
The ending was nice with a clear message about humanity. Thank you to NetGalley and Second Sky for an E-ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

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I loved Perimeter, the cracking conclusion to an excellent YA dystopian trilogy. This book concludes events featured in the previous two books, namely who killed Riley’s sister who died in the first book and the conclusion to Riley and her group’s conflict with James Grey and his crazy followers from the second book. Perimeter rounds things off nicely without exactly tying a yellow ribbon around it. The end of the world and the way life has been since features a lot more in this book. This book felt more dystopian than the other two. Like the other books, the chapters move between different characters, so you gradually encounter the storyline. I loved this book.

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Book 3 in a 3 book series. I got this copy from Netgalley

MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD FROM BOOK 1 AND 2 BUT THEN ALSO FOR THE REST OF THE BOOK

Follows Dual POV's like the last 2 books. Riley and Jamie. Follows on after book 2 and is the conclusion of the series. Jamie's POV starts from around the time that book 1 was set and we slowly learn that he is the killer to Riley's younger sister Skye who was murdered by an accident. Her death literally reminds me of a final destination death. She was pushed into a glass door then before she can get up or move a glass shard that hadn't fallen from the frame on impact suddenly falls and lands in her neck killing her almost instantly.

Riley's POV is started months after the second book finishes. We learn that James Grey after being taken prisoner for the kidnapping and brainwashing of all the kids he took has since died. He didn't survive much after the end of book 2. We learn that FJ now known to us as Mathew (The Voice of the Father) is after revenge and has taken Liss's parents Jessie and Fred. FJ's parents also but since he is so brainwashed and so full of himself he no longer cares about them as family. He sends Liss and Annabelle to Riley to betray her and take her for a switch to get her parents back. Liss won't do that and warns them that FJ is coming with an army to take the perimeter and to kill Riley for punishment in taking James Grey, Liss, and Annabelle from the religious cult from the last book.

Enjoyed how this book ended the series and its one I would read again in the future.

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This was a beautiful and action packed conclusion to The Outside series. We have seen Riley at her best and at her worst. I love me a strong female protagonist and Riley was exactly that!

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Undaunted by the dangers of her previous adventures, Riley is ready to do whatever is needed to keep herself and her community safe in this third book in the Outside trilogy. And she will need to be!

Not impressed by her activities, the cult leader now has her firmly in his sights, and he's decided he wants her dead. Unfortunately, he has more than one brainwashed pawn he can use to attempt this objective...

Meanwhile, although Riley's fighting spirit is in fine form, the same cannot be said for her relationship with Luc. As the misunderstandings between them multiply, Riley keeps getting angrier and more upset, while Luc seems to be missing the point altogether.

The gypsies are a nice addition to the story, and believable also, given what we know about the wide range of characteristics in human nature. Riley's determination to help them reflects well on her personality.

This book is a worthy successor to the previous stories. The story telling is fast-paced and suspenseful. Some familiar faces also pop up. And overall, Boland does an excellent job of tying up all the plotlines so that the reader is not left ruminating over any unfinished subplots.

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Major spoiler alerts!

Thank you Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book!

Riley and Luc successfully captured James Grey, the creepy guy who kidnapped children to further his religion.

And while Riley hasn’t found out yet, we know who Skye’s killer is. We see what he did 5 months ago and his feelings about Skye’s death. We see that he is not entirely a monster, but that he was looking for sanctuary and that it was all a terrible accident.

When Riley was in line for food, it’s announced that there was none left and that started a riot. She had to escape with a young woman named Lou back to her house, where not everyone appreciated her presence. Her father comes to get her soon after.

Fast forwarding a bit, Jamie (Skye’s killer) encounters Mr. Carter, one of the members of the ‘god squad’ and the child abductor. He goes with him hesitantly, but then he decides he wants to impress him and get him to bring him to the compound. He gets dropped off at woman named Miriam’s house and Mr. Carter says he’ll pick him up tomorrow.

While having dinner together, Riley and Luc argue about the woman who helped Riley, leading Riley to leave and tension to rise between the two. Riley now fully believes Luc has no interest in her like he did before.

Not too long later, Riley decides to bring the fuel to the woman who helped her and makes the journey there herself, after forging her dad’s signature.

Skipping forward a bit, Riley finds Annabelle and Liss, the girls she rescued from the church. They explain that they had been caught by FJ and the church and locked up, alongside Liss’s parents. FJ had released the girls with the deal that Liss would find Riley and James Grey and bring them to him. With James being dead, that obviously complicated things, but Riley’s dad agreed to help, seeing as how FJ was bringing an army to destroy the Talbot Woods Perimeter. Liss said within a few days time, he would arrive with his army, so the entire perimeter community works hard to make sure he doesn’t get the better of them.

Riley manages to come up with a plan that involves wild dogs, so she rounds up over 200 with Denzil to keep in the perimeter.

Meanwhile, at the Close, FJ is planning an attack/ rescue mission with his army. The army includes Jamie, who is Skye’s accidental murderer, who is promoted to one of the church’s disciples. He has the task of killing the one who abducted Grey, supposedly Riley.

As the army prepared, Luc and Eddie had gone missing, much to Riley’s anxiety. She and Rita do lookout duty and see a black cloud, which shows the army marching towards them. As the army nears, no word from Luc or Eddie has been received, but as the army further approaches, perimeter vehicles are spotted, and Eddie is in one. His is demolished and he supposedly dies on impact, but Luc miraculously makes it back in, with the two other trucks. But there’s no time for relief or grief, as the perimeter was under attack.

FJ arrives at the perimeter gates and demands Riley and James Grey, so Riley’s father sends her and Luc back to the house.

The church soldiers begin to shoot back, leaving many of the shooters at the top of the walls dead, and they breach the fence. Riley and the others are ordered to lock themselves in the underground stores. Luc arrives and tells Riley they need to leave, go to her grandparents and get away since it’s her FJ wants. Riley tricks Luc and takes the motorcycle herself, knowing she had to try a different plan. She rode through the tunnels to see Reece, the leader of the camp. She requests his help, since everyone in the camp is trained and offers them weapons, ammo, and to find their missing children, who she suspects Grey stole. Reece agrees and she takes him to the weapons. He and his men take the stuff they need.

Meanwhile, at the perimeter, the fence has been completely broken in and all the perimeter guards are killed by Grey’s soldiers. Riley and the shanties arrive and take care of the sentries. They then take care of almost all of the guards, leaving less than 400 standing, according to one of FJ’s guards.

Riley manages to sneak in and finds her Uncle Tom. He tells her that her dad, Rita (Luc’s mom) and Luc had stayed on the wall to fend them off, but that they didn’t know where any of them were. She encourages the trio to get everyone who can fight out of the underground stores since the shanties managed to wipe out many soldiers. Riley’s confident they can end this once and for all, except when FJ brings out prisoners, which include her dad, Luc, and Rita. She agrees to exchange herself for them, leaving the perimeter in chains.

Jamie begins his task of killing Riley, but before he can, FJ introduces him to Riley as Skye’s murderer. Jamie doesn’t feel the joy or any of the feelings Matthew had told him he’d feel. He feels remorse, and as he prepares to slice into her neck, she forgives him. In a turn of events, Jamie switches maneuvers and kills FJ instead. All of the emotions ended up overtaking Jamie and he ends his life, but spares Riley’s.

In the epilogue, we’re taken 6 months into the future, where all the people of the perimeter community are rebuilding their home and their lifestyle. Grey’s men had all scattered, with both of their leaders dead. The perimeters and compounds were to be gone, and instead, there would be a community, police forces, and villages. The war might’ve brought death, but it also brought a new way of life.

Wow. This series had me on edge the entire time! I was fascinated by Riley’s story and all of the twists and turns Shalini Boland sent at me!

I would 100% recommend this book to any of my friends or family members. This book had all the necessary elements for me; adventure, strong character, a tad of romance, and twists and turns.

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Still going strong in this third entry in the Outside series, it flowed well with the other two books. I was invested in these characters and their world. It had everything that I wanted from this and had the same great writing style from Shalini Boland.

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The Perimeter By Shalini Boland is the third and final installment in a YA dystopian series.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Second Sky and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


Series Background:  (Warning:  Contains spoilers from previous books)
16 years ago, world-wide terrorist attacks  changed the world, creating chaos.  There is no government, and the military are no longer in charge.   In England, compounds called Perimeters spring up, most with high-security. Riley Culpepper grew up in one such compound.  Her father is a trader.  Her sister Skye was killed by someone who broke into the grounds.  Recently a religious group has been trying to take over everything.


My Synopsis:    (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
Riley, while on a trading mission with one of the compounds,  makes friends with some of  the "shanties", a group of rebels living outside, when one rescues her from a riot.   When she sees out rough they are living, she wants to help, although her father disagrees.

Meanwhile, the followers of religious fanatic James Gray are on the warpath.  They want their leader back, who was captured by Riley and her team when they recently rescued Liss and Annabelle.  FJ (now known as Matthew, and the Voice of God), escaped, and is determined to get "Their Father" back.  He has recruited Jamie, a disciple, to help him.  But FJ has an ulterior motive.


My Opinions:
Well, I still don't like Riley's impetuous and reckless ways.  I think she sets a bad precedence for teenagers who think it doesn't matter what they do, it'll turn out okay in the end.  She has no respect for authority, and always thinks she knows best.  It is irritating, and I wasn't impressed.

However, I continue to like Luc, and felt compassion for Jamie.

The story is told from both Riley's and Jamie's perspectives, and this worked really well, as we knew what was going on in both sides of the war.

Again, there was a lot of action, and it was a really fast read.  I think it ended a little abruptly.

Anyway, the book was good, as was the series, but it's not high on my recommended reading list.  I usually really like YA dystopic books, and I really like Shalini Boland, so this was somewhat disappointing. I think that this series was written early in her career, and it just shows how much she has improved in her more recent books.

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