Review: Loved It!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 14, 2013
Peree's job is to protect sightless Fennel, shooting arrows at the horrifying flesh-eaters from high up in the trees as she collects water for the community.  She is the person chosen to collect water because being sightless, the flesh-eaters can't hurt her. Peree's job is not so much to protect her as it is to insure a continuing supply of water for his people.  But, he slowly falls in love with Fennel.This is a five-star, truly great book.  Henley paints beautiful pictures with her words from the first page.  Many times an author works and reworks the first few pages of a book so the prose is exceptional on those pages but the writing quickly deteriorates afterward.  The writing in The Keeper is exceptional throughout.What am I going on about here? The writing is never my focus.  I love a good story and was not disappointed in that regard for a second.  Flesh-eaters?  Yuck!  I don't usually love horror.  It's like going for the cheap thrill.  But, this book was not about horror.  It was about the relationship between two communities balanced precariously, on the edge of war, between the lofties, who lived in the trees, and the groundlings.  The real story is how Peree starts out watching Fennel, fascinated by how she manages, being sightless.  Then, he must protect her and make sure she is able to collect the water.  He tells her stories, challenges her, whatever he needs to do.  In the process his feelings for her grow, until he no longer just wants to protect the water supply for his community.  He falls for Fennel and wants to protect her.What I loved about it:  Fennel is not some fragile, incapable blind person.  She's tough.  Even though she's afraid, she's brave.  She's an admirable heroine.What I didn't love:  It was only 45 pages! I was so impatient when I was looking for a book to read I only looked at the cover and the description, missing the important info that The Keeper is a novella.I wanted more!  I found that it was a companion book to The Scourge, and quickly downloaded it.