The Outlaws by Emory Faith
(Troubador Publishing, 2024)
Reviewed by Andrew Openshaw
Set in a dystopian 2100, The Outlaws paints a bleak portrait of a post-apocalyptic world where humanity huddles within the fortified cities of London, New York, and Dubai. London, where the novel unfolds, is a walled fortress governed by King George VII and his Council, its people safe but ever-watchful for attacks from the Outlaws—a displaced faction of survivors who eke out an existence beyond the city walls in the wreckage of a collapsed civilisation.
Despite the immense upheaval, remnants of the old world endure in the form of traditions and titles. King George is lauded as a hero who has “made sure that the world is at peace,” overseeing a controlled society where all citizens’ basic needs are met. Yet this isn’t a perfect utopia: the rigid social structure is based on inherited rank, with advancement limited by one’s birth. Greed, ostensibly the root cause of the environmental disasters that preceded this world, is suppressed by a system where equality is more an ideal than a reality, and personal ambition is discouraged. Unsurprisingly, disillusionment is brewing.
At the story’s heart are the Knight brothers, Johnny and Mike, two orphans who have completed their mandated “Induction” and are ready to take on their assigned “Roles.” Johnny, our eager narrator, dreams of working in “Construction Tech”, building and exploring; he is instead placed, however, in the “Guard”, a militarised force that shields the city against potential threats. His friends include the genius Mike, humorous Cal, headstrong Scarlet, and brilliant Winter—the last bound for an illustrious “Legal” career and already betrothed to Marcus, the King’s coldly elitist grandson. These characters move forward into a social system that has been meticulously engineered to sustain order but leaves little room for individuality or social mobility.
Unfortunately, nearly everyone inside the city—our heroes, that is—seems moulded from the same uninspired template: attractive, athletic, intelligent, and predictably heterosexual. The boys play rugby, the girls cheer from the sidelines, and Winter proclaims, “Every girl wants to be a princess. Don’t they?” It’s an outdated archetype, one that feels tone-deaf in a genre that often thrives on breaking conventions. The Outlaws, by contrast, are caricatured as fat, greedy, and callous—often depicted as thuggish Irish brutes who speak in exaggerated Dickensian dialects. Their leader, O’Reilly, is a camp, scheming former aristocrat, embodying every trope of the ‘evil-genius’ British villain. These simplifications strip away nuance, leaving us with cartoonish adversaries that undermine the intended dystopian tension.
When Johnny and his friends uncover a conspiracy involving London’s ruling class and the Outlaws, the action picks up. In one memorable scene, the narrative reveals how technology has enabled humans to converse with dogs via “translation halos”—a breakthrough developed initially to communicate with livestock, implying a deeply uncomfortable juxtaposition between companionship and commodification. Moments like this hint at a darker, more complex dystopian world but are few and far between, submerged beneath the surface of a conventional, hero-vs-villain setup.
This novel marks the author’s first foray into YA fiction, and while some reliance on familiar tropes and a need for tighter editorial refinement may hinder the book’s ability to truly stand out, it still possesses notable strengths. Its vivid setting, ambitious ideas, and occasional flashes of originality highlight the author’s potential to evolve as a storyteller, offering an enticing glimpse of what could be achieved with greater narrative depth and polish. It lays a promising foundation for the two planned sequels to expand upon and refine. Regardless of its imperfections, The Outlaws is a fair addition to the SF genre, particularly appealing to readers eager to delve into the complexities of dystopian worlds in fiction.
Review from BSFA Review 25 - Download your copy here.