Shai has special abilities and is a precious commodity, for which different fractions of this futuristic city are willing to go into serious confrontations with each other.

Shai has been through many kinds of personal freedom restriction institutions and places.
- His life started at an orphanage, from which he escaped to the brutal life on the streets after the death of his older friend.
- After a few miserable years of being homeless he found a job as a waiter at a night club that offered speculative safety to its employers.
- However, that didn't last long and he was soon taken against his will to live and work at a government research facility. It offered many comforts limited to an ordinary citizen, while keeping its subjects under lock and key and exploiting their paranormal abilities.
- Finally, he was kidnapped by one of the most violent gangs and suffered a terrific physical and sexual abuse at the hands of genetically engineered soldier/gangster.

In the end, the Outsiders (Outriders) who roam free beyond the city limits take him in and become his new family, but this is all we are left with: Shai is safe for now.

Rounding up to 4 stars for all the abuse =)~ and because "Pathfinder" was at one point a free read and I am sorta kinda partial to the authors who take their time to write and share their fantasies with us for nothing (even if they eventually publish).