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A review by zraitor
A Touch of Death by Rebecca Crunden
4.0
–>I received a free copy of this in exchange for an honest review.<–
Set in a dystopian society, a thousand years after the fall of mankind, two people mysteriously infected with some kind of illness or disease, now branded criminals, take flight...
Opening with an awesome and gruesome scene in a prison, we see Nate beaten and tortured for his crimes against the crown and king, which are too numerous for me to name and mostly all unfair. We are shown just how brutal this society is to those who disobey its many laws.
Freedom and History are called "the most insidious and destructive aspects of human nature" and the most important aspects of society should be CONFORMITY, CONTROL, AND CONTINUATION, yes in all caps as you'll read in the very beginning. We are reminded again and again just how oppressive this place is during this tale. Anyone who goes against these laws is set to the same prison as Nate either to die or be committed to hard labor and he only survives because his family is rich and affluential. The wealthy can buy their way out of the smaller crimes, but they too are killed for most things to set an example and keep everyone in fear.
Nate barely survives his ordeal, and leaves for a few years, only to come back and get into trouble once again. This time, however, he drags his brother Thom and the one Thom is betrothed to, Catherine into his problems as well. Leading Catherine away from the guards in a mad dash to escape, they run all night only to narrowly escape the guards. Afterward, they discover they contracted some sort of illness during this, and as being infected with one of the many diseases that exist in the kingdom is a crime, they flee from the Crown and search for the cure...
Most of this takes place during this adventure, and Nate and Catherine have so much dialogue and back and forth arguing that it really wore me out and got on my nerves. They aren't bad characters, they have a lot of development and good moments, but man the constant bickering got old and fast. It was what the author intended, Catherine hates Nate at first and so, of course, they would fight. But it's obvious to everyone I'm sure a relationship is going to form here, and I found myself just waiting for them to get on with it.
The disease that inflicts them both, which I won't spoil too much, also completely ravages Nate. He is described as losing half his weight and looking skeletal, and always in pain and exhausted. It kind of seemed unrealistic that he was able to run around and travel as much as he did towards the end. Almost further taunting the poor guy is the crazy amount of food on display in so many scenes, I know it made it me hungry, at least.
The world-building is amazing, and this very dark and bleak place is so well done and fully formed, and I wanted to know more about it, which made this arguing dialogue all the more frustrating. I was being teased of tales of rabid mutants, plagues, the bite, and something called 'The Thinning' but all I was being shown was them fighting and making up, only to fight again.
There really was a rich history and world developed here, and I'm sure it is greatly expanded on as this series goes on. Being the first of five! books this had to set up a lot, and so I'm quite understanding to the characters and not everything being shown at once. Maybe someone would be into their relationship, and I have serious doubts that I as a thirty-four-year-old man, and a very grumpy one at that, was the target audience for their budding romance.
But despite my issues with the main character's relationship drama, this book had a lot to like. The action scenes, although few in number were exciting, and the writing was great as well as the author's attention to detail. Every bit of the adventure is described wonderfully, and the world despite its darkness had a lot of imagination put into it, with all it's futuristic technology, like hovercars and many items that heal and change a person's body features.
As again this is the first of five books this doesn't offer a complete ending to the story, and everything is still up in the air waiting to be resolved. What fate awaits those who survive to the end of this book?
Set in a dystopian society, a thousand years after the fall of mankind, two people mysteriously infected with some kind of illness or disease, now branded criminals, take flight...
Opening with an awesome and gruesome scene in a prison, we see Nate beaten and tortured for his crimes against the crown and king, which are too numerous for me to name and mostly all unfair. We are shown just how brutal this society is to those who disobey its many laws.
Freedom and History are called "the most insidious and destructive aspects of human nature" and the most important aspects of society should be CONFORMITY, CONTROL, AND CONTINUATION, yes in all caps as you'll read in the very beginning. We are reminded again and again just how oppressive this place is during this tale. Anyone who goes against these laws is set to the same prison as Nate either to die or be committed to hard labor and he only survives because his family is rich and affluential. The wealthy can buy their way out of the smaller crimes, but they too are killed for most things to set an example and keep everyone in fear.
Nate barely survives his ordeal, and leaves for a few years, only to come back and get into trouble once again. This time, however, he drags his brother Thom and the one Thom is betrothed to, Catherine into his problems as well. Leading Catherine away from the guards in a mad dash to escape, they run all night only to narrowly escape the guards. Afterward, they discover they contracted some sort of illness during this, and as being infected with one of the many diseases that exist in the kingdom is a crime, they flee from the Crown and search for the cure...
Most of this takes place during this adventure, and Nate and Catherine have so much dialogue and back and forth arguing that it really wore me out and got on my nerves. They aren't bad characters, they have a lot of development and good moments, but man the constant bickering got old and fast. It was what the author intended, Catherine hates Nate at first and so, of course, they would fight. But it's obvious to everyone I'm sure a relationship is going to form here, and I found myself just waiting for them to get on with it.
The disease that inflicts them both, which I won't spoil too much, also completely ravages Nate. He is described as losing half his weight and looking skeletal, and always in pain and exhausted. It kind of seemed unrealistic that he was able to run around and travel as much as he did towards the end. Almost further taunting the poor guy is the crazy amount of food on display in so many scenes, I know it made it me hungry, at least.
The world-building is amazing, and this very dark and bleak place is so well done and fully formed, and I wanted to know more about it, which made this arguing dialogue all the more frustrating. I was being teased of tales of rabid mutants, plagues, the bite, and something called 'The Thinning' but all I was being shown was them fighting and making up, only to fight again.
There really was a rich history and world developed here, and I'm sure it is greatly expanded on as this series goes on. Being the first of five! books this had to set up a lot, and so I'm quite understanding to the characters and not everything being shown at once. Maybe someone would be into their relationship, and I have serious doubts that I as a thirty-four-year-old man, and a very grumpy one at that, was the target audience for their budding romance.
But despite my issues with the main character's relationship drama, this book had a lot to like. The action scenes, although few in number were exciting, and the writing was great as well as the author's attention to detail. Every bit of the adventure is described wonderfully, and the world despite its darkness had a lot of imagination put into it, with all it's futuristic technology, like hovercars and many items that heal and change a person's body features.
As again this is the first of five books this doesn't offer a complete ending to the story, and everything is still up in the air waiting to be resolved. What fate awaits those who survive to the end of this book?