Despite that synopsis and the endless comparisons I keep seeing, this is no Angelfall. There really should be no comparisons made. I didn’t even want to bring Angelfall up, but I’d be remiss not to warn you. Outcast, thankfully, stands alone and does a good job putting its own twist on the angel genre, but again, it’s no Angelfall.I was a little torn between 3 and 4 stars, but writing a review always helps to clear things up for me. I really enjoyed the first half, but if you’ve read the synopsis, you pretty much know all that happens. Angels take a few people every year for years, angel comes for MC (Riley), Riley shoots angel in face, angel becomes hot naked dude, hot naked dude thinks it’s 1956 and remembers nothing. I don’t know why so much info is divulged in the frikkin blurb. I thought this was an interesting premise, but knowing it all before even going in took a bit of the shine off.I did enjoy the mystery surrounding Gabe and was gun-ho to settle in for a good story. Unfortunately, the story took a little detour. A lot of time was spent with the 2 MC’s doing the whole high school daily routine - complete with a super-popular, beautiful mean girl. Ugh. Enough with the mean girl trope. Please.I mostly liked Riley and Gabe and found myself wanting them to get together. Kress dragged it out and let them get to know each other, which is a good thing. I did feel that when the time finally came, it was a little rushed, but no insta-love, so hooray for that. Riley and Gabe have good chemistry for the most part, but individually, they’re both just okay. Riley has a mild case of Mary Sueism and if Gabe called Riley “sweetheart” in a cavalier way ONE MORE TIME I would have lost my mind. It was cute the first few times, but by the 100th time… *plucks own eyes out.As mentioned above, Gabe’s from 1956. He fully incorporates himself into Riley’s life and no one even questions him or where he came from. He figures out a way to live with Riley and her parents and they’re seemingly okay with it. He has no clothes and Riley’s mom goes out and buys him some, but fails to question him as to why he needs them. It’s too unbelievable. There’s more, but I don’t want to give too much away.Though I found the mystery intriguing, it was all too slowly paced. The second half, while slightly more fast-paced, was still largely boring. The blurb is not kidding when it says “band of misfits”. It was a weird bunch and none of the characters was particularly likeable.The one thing that saved this was its humor. I have to hand it to Kress, she’s very witty and even when I was getting bored of all the mundaneness ( I do not know if that’s a real word -__- ), I’d find myself laughing out loud. The regular laughs were enough to keep me entertained and distracted, but now, in retrospect, it’s not enough to offset the negatives.You mileage may vary, of course. It’s a fun, decent read, but don’t expect to be floored.ARC provided by Netgalley.For more of my reviews, visit my blog:
