A Touch of Death

Nate has never played by the rules. He knows the society he grew up in is broken, and he will make sure the rest of the world knows it too. But the King will not stand for anything disrupting his utopia, even if it is corrupt and centered around the wealthy. When Nate is forced to run or die, he doesn’t hesitate to head for the Outlands. A place that may be filled with danger, but the King will never find him. Unfortunately, he isn’t alone and Catherine is dragged into fleeing for her life. A woman who grew up in the wealth of society, who sees no fault in how she lives. But as she encounters the hardships on their journey to the Outlands, her worldwide views begin to change.

A Touch of Death centers around a society where if you pay a high enough amount, you’ll get away with almost anything. It also focuses on how the less well-off members of society are considered second-rate and do not receive the same attention and care the wealthy do. Nate has a fiery attitude and puts his life on the line to try and expose the truth of society. And while he is one of the wealthy, he refuses to act like it. He uses what power he has to form resistance groups, and in the end, it is his ultimate downfall.

While Nate kicks off the events of the story, most of it is told through Catherine’s point of view. This was a wonderful decision as it showed how someone who fully believed in society began to see the error in its ways. Catherine was so steadfast against Nate and could not believe why he caused so much trouble. But her encounters on the run began to open her eyes to the bigger picture and to see not everything was perfect in utopia.

I do wish more time had been spent with the secondary characters. Nate and Catherine go through so much growth and yet we don’t see much from the characters that eventually join their quest. The journey itself was such an interesting part of the story, and it would have been great to have more time to see Nate and Catherine bond with outside characters. The emotional ties would have formed much closure for the readers, causing more of an emotional pull when they encountered challenges along the way.

However, the way Nate and Catherine developed their relations was fantastic. Putting Catherine with a character she could not stand, yet had to rely on for survival caused a heady dose of drama and tension. Add to the fact that she doesn’t fully believe in the reason they are running away and doubting every choice they’ve made. Imagine your entire world is upset by someone you can’t stand, and the more time you spend with them, all the thoughts and ideals you had about life are turned upside down. You constantly question, is this the truth? Even when it is blatantly all around you.

A Touch of Death is a book for those who enjoy dystopian novels with fiery tempered characters. And when you turn the final page, you’ll be eager to see what new direction the story will go. I certainly need to find out!

–>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?

I am having trouble deciding if I like A Touch of Death or not. Rebecca Crunden writes a detailed story from Catherine's point of view. It starts with Nate and Catherine on the run from whatever happened in Nitoib. As most readers know, I am not known for reading the syllabus before reading a book and for this one I definitely should have.

I had no clue who any of the characters were or are to each other. Crunden depends on the reader to look at the syllabus first. I don't know about you, but I am a total cover ho' so I have a tendency now to buy a book by the cover. I only look at the back of the book when I am in a bookstore. (laugh) So I was completely lost as to why Nate and Catherine could get naked in front of each other like it is no big deal. (Still kind of weird to be getting naked in front of your brother's girl or even looking at her naked, but that is just me.)

So needless to say I spent a good deal of Part One scratching my head until Crunden starts to connect the dots for us.

There is a lot of action, but we don't see it except for in the very beginning when Nate is arrested. Nate and Catherine are put in many dangerous situations that have no action on the page to activate the danger. Everything “bad” kind of happens off-screen and we later hear about it so there is no real connection to the action. This is not to say that characters don't die, or get kidnapped, or even get tortured, we are just not really a part of it.

I felt the whole time I was reading the story that I just wasn't getting the whole picture. Crunden gives excellent details about the past, but I never really got the feeling that I knew Catherine. She talks about getting discontent with the Kingdom, but up until that point there is no clue that she feels that way. Catherine hated Nate for his feelings and actions against the Kingdom and Thom helping Nate. So when did the discontent start? It doesn't show in the dialogue up until this point and we are hearing the story from Catherine's point of view.

Then there is the slow-burn romance that Crunden builds between Nate and Catherine. This doesn't make sense for Nate's character. Nate tells Catherine he is in love with her, while at the same time saying that his brother is his soul and his loyalty is to him. Nate is convinced Thom is alive, so why say things which could end up making Catherine be untrue to Thom. It doesn't mesh with Nate's character.

I know I sound kind of negative about the story, but it is a good story. Crunden has created an incredible world. From the mountains, to the forests, ocean, small towns, and every nook and cranny in between are beautifully described. The Kingdom of Cutta's history is fully cultivated. Do not be fooled by the cover as the story is rich in color. Crunden has created a diverse dystopian world for “The Outlands Pentalogy” series to take place in. A Touch Of Death kicks off this series with everything you need to know about this new world.


I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.