Review: A Future Tale of Forbidden Love
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 28, 2012
I got this book at the ARe Earth Day free event because the blurb sounded interesting.  It was a very enjoyable read.  I was pleased by the post-apocalyptic adventure and romance.The disaster is that earth is hit by a huge meteor shower that has a profound affect on the topography as well as the occupants so that by three hundred years later advanced technology is a thing of the past throwing society back into the Middle Ages.  Life is about survival mostly.  It also has an affect on the people and animals in that mutations take place causing there to become a class system of 'normals'- people showing no mutation and 'mutah's- those who show evidence of mutation.  There are 'cleanses' where the normals wipe out any mutahs they come across.Atty is a mutant and lives in a walled village made up of mutahs.  She is special in that she is the only female in the hunter caste and has a rare gift with weaponry particularly her bow so that she is able to successfully bring in meat even when other hunters come back unsuccessful.  One day she comes back to find that her mother and sister- the last of her family- are missing and presumed dead.  That night a band of soldiers- cleaners- burst into their village and begin slaughtering her people.  She uses her special gift to stop the slaughter and kills sixteen of them before a larger party of soldiers come.  Atty is captured and restrained.  The leader does not kill her like she anticipates, but he is intrigued by her ability and decides to take her captive and force her to teach his men.  In return, he will let the rest of her people live.Yulen is the Battle Lord for his compound.  He hates the mutah because they killed his father, but he decides to spare this mutah girl who decimated his troops in an astounding show of skill. He refuses to admit that he is attracted to her though his old friend and adviser sees right through him.  On the long journey back to his compound and the adventures they have on the journey, Yulen begins to learn how wrong he has been in his assumptions about the mutah in general and with Atty in specific.  He comes to care for her and now is determined that he wants her for his own.  It helps that her only mutation is her beautiful blue hair, but also her that he takes the time to really know her.  All is not easy in that his men particularly his second in command are still suspicious and even though they grudgingly admit that she's good with her bow he will always have a hard time convincing his people to accept her.The rest of the book is rather exciting.  At one point, I was flying through the pages to see what would come next and yet at another point, I was even reaching for a tissue.To be enjoyable, there is a need to suspend belief and treat this as more of a fantasy than a clear cut dystopian.  It is gritty and harsh in its environment and people, but it is also romantic too.  There were a few twists in the plot that really made things interesting.  The pace was pretty good.The characters were enjoyable though there were only a few described in depth.  I really liked Yulen, Atty and the doctor.Enjoyable read for either those who enjoy historical style fantasy stuff or for those who enjoy post-apocalyptic.