Review | A Touch of Death by Rebecca Crunden

Title: A Touch of Death
Author: Rebecca Crunden
Series: The Outlands Pentalogy, Book 1
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Self Published
Publication: 2/23/2017
Read: February 2020
Format: Digital
Pages: 268
Rating: 4 Caffeinated Stars
Trigger Warnings: Graphic gore, death, suicidal thoughts, torture

Rating: 4 Caffeinated Stars
Rating: 4 Caffeinated Stars

Goodreads Summary:

Cover from Goodreads.com

A thousand years in the future, the last of humanity live inside the walls of the totalitarian Kingdom of Cutta. The rich live in Anais, the capital city of Cutta, sheltered from the famine and disease which ravage the rest of the Kingdom. Yet riches and power only go so far, and even Anaitians can be executed. It is only by the will of the King that Nate Anteros, son of the King’s favourite, is spared from the gallows after openly dissenting. But when he’s released from prison, Nate disappears.

A stark contrast, Catherine Taenia has spent her entire life comfortable and content. The daughter of the King’s Hangman and in love with Thom, Nate’s younger brother, her life has always been easy, ordered and comfortable. That is, where it doesn’t concern Nate. His actions sullied not only his future, but theirs. And unlike Thom, Catherine has never forgiven him.

Two years pass without a word, and then one night Nate returns. But things with Nate are never simple, and when one wrong move turns their lives upside down, the only thing left to do is run where the King’s guards cannot find them – the Outlands. Those wild, untamed lands which stretch around the great walls of the Kingdom, filled with mutants and rabids.

My Thoughts:

When Rebecca approached me about reading A Touch of Death, I have to admit I was a little apprehensive. Dystopian is one of those genres that has been so overly saturated that nothing seems to be fresh. Luckily, my apprehension was unwarranted.

"My fear pushes me forwards; it does not hold me back. My fear is of what's behind, of what has been done to me."

A Touch of Death is one of those books that will grab you the second you start reading it. This dystopian sci-fi novel grabbed me almost instantly. The plot was exciting and gave us a nice twist to the classic dystopian books. I liked all of the elements present, and they seemed to work pretty well together.

Just because our world is wrong doesn't mean people don't enjoy the binds which are holding them in. At least their binds are safe."

The main characters Kitty & Nate, were fascinating. I liked seeing how they interacted, and I loved the bit of bickering too. It did take me some time to warm up to both characters. I never seemed to connect to either of them, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the book. The relationships in the book were interesting to watch evolve, and I liked seeing how both Kitty & Nate changed throughout the book.

"Catherine was quite certain that their bodies would have fused together from the pain of it all if such a thing was possible."

All in all, I enjoyed the book. I would have liked to connect more with the characters, but this was a solid 4 star read for me!

Want to take a chance on A Touch of Death? Here are the buy links!

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads

Posted by

Caffeinated Ravenclaw with a passion for books, quotes, coffee, and sparkles. Keeper of the #CopyPasteCris list. #BookBlogger. #Romancelandia reader.

2 thoughts on “Review | A Touch of Death by Rebecca Crunden

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.