Photo credits: Quang Nguyen Edited by Vaishali Title: A History of Madness Series: Outlands Pentalogy Author: Rebecca Crunden Publisher: Self Published Year of Publication: 2017 ISBN: ISBN-10: 1548579513 ISBN-13: 978-1548579517 Format: Paperback copy kindly provided by the author Genre/Themes: Dystopian Fantasy, Apocalypse/Post-apocalypse, series with LGBT relationships R E V I E W... Evermore memorable. Evermore intense. Curious hereafter, a wall-to-wall dystopian teeming with wall-to-wall passion, and I do love a chase for freedom. If this title doesn’t accurately (fortuitously) pay a personal homage to me, it’s like we were made for each other. But I’m not here to drop a deluge and flesh over over the innards of my fragile sanity. No, I’m hoping to do that with Rebecca Crunden’s hero, Nathanial Anteros. I was fully mindful of just how excited I'd be (by benchmark of design) to re-enter the darkly dystopic and grossly imperfect Kingdom that centres Rebecca Crunden's Outlands Pentalogy. The book that establishes and launches this series completely took me by surprise, the author affecting such a crystal-clear simplicity and character-driven complexity that the pages turned unbidden and the protagonists’ artlessly eased their way inside the humble lodging I call my heart. For all my fear for their fates, my desire to follow them anywhere is perhaps as radical as Nate’s audacity. And I'd be damned if that preface didn't whisk up a rippling flush of sweeping expectancy. The forecast: expectedly unknown if not for a widespread overlay of symptomatic, characteristic depression and despair, machinated by Crunden's trademark close-to-the-bone indelicate justice that never bridles the binds or blows to befall these characters in a setting sick with educated diminution. Nate and Kitty aren’t pardoned from suffering. There Is no saint or saviour or saving grace prowling in the shadows, even for the flush-pocketed. Ever since I completed A Touch of Death, the rest of this powerful and painfully mortal world has mulled an earthy tune in my mind, a returning birdsong that demanded I reorganise my reads and prioritise this character-driven marvel It might be nearing on only a handful of years since I knighted myself as a book-loving sleuth of fictional locales (late reader that I am) but it might be nearing on less than that as I later dubbed myself a lover of dystopian fantasies. The author deposits us back in this demonstrably familiar and frightening Kingdom of punishing orthodoxy with a terrifying shortage of freedom. Old beliefs haven been broken, newer ones have taken their place, and the rest is left to the heavens of chance. Deference is demanded. Discipline, encouraged. Law is safeguarded and to be free is to be a disbanded menace to legislation. This is a world with something all-encompassing to fight for, something important to fight against while surviving out of sheer establishment and demand makes this a colonised land where free will and autonomy died with the ancestors that devastated the future for posterity to come. We know Nate as the red-haired rebel who once seared with molten ire. Challenger to the Kingdom. Despiser of its council. Hater to the limbs of the law. Antagonist to its devastating ethic. His freedom-fighting spirit dropped after being criminally brutalised in a Kingdom that had never permitted him his own mind. With little left to fight for but to lock eyes with the only place he can't be caged, home to the human race's immemorial enemy, the Outlands dangles his ripe and waiting salvation. There, he can’t be disturbed by law. There he’s a free man. There, his soul can't be touched. In A Touch of Death we knew Nate through Kitty's mind and saw him through Kitty's eyes. In A History of Madness, we're graced with a POV change as we read from Nathanial Anteros, a Firebird in irons, incarcerated, as his loathing for a diabolical Kingdom only grows. While his mind dances a mercurial anthem from dejection to desperation, from mayhem to misery, the shuddering, palpitating flux of his mind boasts a biography of madness that speaks to a famine for freedom. And it’s where Nate, Crunden’s highly-feeling and thoroughly tormented hero is concerned, that the author titles this instalment with perfection. History seems wickedly primed for a repeat because while Nate attracts life with a resolve that sabotages his need to meet his maker, he's back in the hell where all his nightmares materialised. Nate and his friends were what felt like one last sprint away from freedom, but with no news of what happened to Evander, Kitty, Tove and Zoe, his despairing wait for execution unexpectedly changes to a five year sentence bound to a labour camp on the flip of a choice. He doesn't know how or why this change of fate has fallen, how he's evaded death yet again. But as he builds his strength within an encampment of convicts, he needs to know what happened to Kitty while he toiled away in the gruelling workforce. It's time for a fugitive homecoming and a convict jailbreak because this furious jailbird now intends to fly free like his favourite animal of choice. The quartet reunite and while they plan to follow through in departing a dastardly kingdom, they're on the same trail of evading capture, hoping for the best, fearing the worst and pulling themselves evermore through the cutting hand that has sliced through their hope, their conviction, their credence and all that is decent time and time again. Rebecca Crunden lets her characters bruise, burn, suffer and rage as their world thieves from them In this sequel still. While Nate spoke about Kitty as the ‘silver-tongued’ woman with bite, bravery and intelligence that claimed his heart, she’s now subdued, withdrawn and contemplative in a way she wasn’t after enduring a sacrifice to see her friends spared. She’s not the same as she once was as she and Nate close the distance between their separation, and while we’re no longer a guest to her point of view, we’re privy to her transformation through Nate’s sight. If you think these characters haven’t been put through enough, the suffering doesn't quite stop here. As with the first in series, we're dropped into the indefinite. We’re in a world that was once ravaged and savaged by a mysterious disaster. We're blessed with horror without quite knowing from whence it came, only its current state of becoming. We're aware of the world's current tyranny, law, penology and layered structure. From the bits of provided backstory we know about the Devastation that levelled land and race, we know about the Last War between humans and Mutants and we know how far the rulers of the world went to secure power. In this sequel, the author is still in no elaborate rush to allay discretion and spill every secret but we do learn more about the state of the world, about the rabids and Radiants, about the strange dreamland I was really curious about and why the world became a ruin before its rebirth. The Kingdom does take us to a few different places, having us meet new characters. Just in A Touch of Death, we have a world that slowly but surely reveals itself, with continuity, mystery and a taste for newer developments that I'm so excited to see the advantage in. I’m really looking forward to learning more about their mutant mutuals, to see what Nate and Kitty’s newly acquired adapted genes might grant them and to undress the rest with the prophecy and the budding insurgency angle. The author smartly reveals without revealing too much, even if I was hoping for a few more giveaways. The pace doesn’t bulldoze and neither does it dawdle but I did feel that the edge of suspense was amiss. The pace aims to comfort as opposed to inflame so I did feel it slacken in that respect. I need to get to the heart of this book and that is the man who already inhabits mine. I love, dote and champion everything that is Nate - he makes my heart pinch, ache and crumble all at once. The author consistently draws out the narrative, the tone and the continuity of her characters but if she arguably masters anything, it’s her leading man Nathanial Anteros. His home is with the misfits, criminals and lawbreakers. He’s as brittle and breakable as a time-sensitive explosive with a heart etched from feeling fire. Delicately anxious and courageously enraged by a civilisation that defeats human nature. Characterised by passion and a bleeding heart, Nate is deeply-feeling, deeply fearful, complex and restlessly haunted, a man poised at the edge of ruin, always a hand’s width short of losing himself. While Kitty is his light, his brother is his lifeline and despite Thom’s announced death, Nate still feels his aliveness in every part of him, an immortal awareness he won’t let go of. The Kingdom is his sickness and the Outlands is his recovery. I have an unfounded gravitational pull towards the passionate, and with Nate’s raw sting, his smouldering resistance, his sharp grief and of course, his always-welcomed smug sarcasm he’s just a fictional keeper for me. The author doesn’t aim to tame her characters, even if some are more contained than others, but they’re all fallible and abraded with unseasoned authenticity. There’s an overarching feeling that the main characters really are alone in this world. With their urgency, self-reflection, rest, unrest, displaced morality and adjusting identities, my sympathy soared as high as the walls of their Kingdom and I just wanted to hoard them, dress them in the finery of faith, arm them with love, swaddle them with curative salves for their scars and free them like butterflies trapped in a jar. There’s still a sense of wonder though - if they’ll see each other, if they’ll see their destination, see the fall of a wretched complex of control, gauging who to trust after being burned, where to go with no solid plans and hoping that hope isn’t as ethereal as it seems. Nothing really is certain. Something that hadn’t escaped my notice is how acutely the author highlights the physical grind and grit that surviving is for the central characters. Their bodies are pushed through a lot and Crunden describes the exhaustive toll of this imperious world as equal harassment on their minds and bodies; they’re not their own, used, abused, bargained and traded. As they travel, as they flee, as they’re captive, as they weather what’s out of their control, the author makes sure to give weight to the corporeal malaise, the shifting map of their changing bodies; scarred, starved, violated and honed by the uncharted. The above deepens the material durability of the characters; their worn bodies aren’t without discomfort and aren’t free from the oppression. It’s clear that surviving does age them quickly, almost expedites it and it’s all done without a sense of sensationalising the struggle or lingering on the terrible . We can see the struggle and the hardship, we know it’s bad, and we’re left to deal with it as the characters scramble to do the same. The struggle is physical as it is emotional, existential without being overly sympathetic to sentimentality. I don't think there's another genre as relatable and inherently speculative of the human race as a flawed society. Survival is one of my favourite tropes, perhaps the main reason for my fascination of a hard-hitting dystopian. The pool of Indie-published titles is congested and choked with leagues of creativity and Rebecca Crunden’s ‘Cuttaverse’ delivers a memorably original sample of great dystopian literature. This futurised era is excellently imagined and the author doesn’t pacify the darkness by way of a one-for-all restorative, remedial tonic. Everyone is robbed of the right to their ancestral history, of their human nature, educated with a legion of told enforcement, told lies, and with characters who don’t quite know their own strengths. Without any sort of embellishment, I confess that I honestly just can’t stop turning the pages with this pentalogy! I suppose that makes this a page-turner because needing to know what happens next is a must and I resent having to put these books down when I’m no longer primed to imbibe. Only two books in and my brain keeps turning over what might happen next while chastising me to catch up. You can look forward to the rage of injustice that lights up Nate’s bedeviled soul, flawed and flaking characters intimately bonded by their travels, a continuation of Nate and Kitty’s slow burn romance and a star-crossed brotherhood unlike any I’ve read before as a ride-or-die peregrination sees to believe in a life past the dividing frontier. As Nate sees Kitty and Thom as the stars that guide him as long as their lights remain aglow, I need this author to do the same for me and hopefully see me safely through the rest of this series! A History of Madness ends taut but excitingly and I now hurriedly run into the arms of the next book as it is a truth universally acknowledged that to wait is to deny a fine pleasure. I don’t think I've ever read a book where the love between two brothers runs deeper than love, that runs harder than the romance; the devotion is enviable. The author is a talent and so far this series pulls flush with moreish grit. I gave this book 4.5 stars -*A big thank you to the author for sending over a copy of this book in exchange for a review!* C O N T E N T W A R N I N G: Mentions (retrospectively) moments of self harm, self-destruction and attempts at suicide. General warnings for violence, alcohol consumption and profanity. Mentions being hanged, drowned, starved, beaten and whipped. Also deals with themes of forced/arranged marriage, past miscarriages and there is an on-page abortion scene that may be sensitive to readers. Bear in mind that there is sensitive content surrounding this including absent attitudes towards the death of life. Also mentions execution and off-page rape (there are conversations that allude to rape throughout). Detailed descriptions of tortured bodies and there is one non-descriptive/vaguely described bedroom scene. The main male character's struggle with anxiety and PTSD is also chronic. --------------------------------------- M Y R A T I N G S Y S T E M: ★ - 1 star: I did not like the book ★★ - 2 stars: The book was okay ★★★ - 3 stars: It was a good, solid read ★★★★ - 4 stars: A great book ★★★★★ - 5: A phenomenal read --------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________ R E L A T E D P O S T S: ● Book Review: A Touch of Death by Rebecca Crunden ● Book Review: A Promise of Return by Rebecca Crunden ● Book Review: A Dance Of Lies by Rebecca Crunden ● Book Review: A Time of Prophecy by Rebecca Crunden _________________________________________________________ E X T R A T H O U G H T S 1) Another minor theory on the way (perhaps don’t read on further if you haven’t read this book). I think the reason that Kitty kept miscarrying was because of her mutated genes. I’m thinking her body somehow rejected the human genes? 2) With Kitty and Nate’s relationship, I am truly invested in them as a couple but I still think they need more development. Clearly, they’re on the run and there’s always an intensive and worrisome burnt-out edge which doesn’t give way a lot of romantic exploration. I do feel the intimacy between them but I’m hoping to see more communication between them. We know that Nate’s love for her is diehard but I’m feeling that Kitty has a ways to go in getting there and I’m looking forward to seeing how the author might nurture their connection. 3) So, this comment really speaks to my weak kness for a hero who takes a common term of affection/endearment and individualises it. Every time Nate calls anyone 'darling' my heart just weeps (and definitely gets a bit giddy *grins*). S O M E F A V O U R I T E Q U O T E S !! Kitty looked at him, her eyes so open and genuine that he felt like he'd just been run over. The tattoo on her face had long stopped reminding him of Gabriel. The most beautiful thing in the world to him now bore the thing he most desired to be. It was impossible not to adore that. But the look on her face was more fearsome than a lion. He had always known her defiance burned brighter than most. She wasn't like him. He ran when damaged. She fought back even harder. 'Do you think I'm mad?' Kitty's lips twitched. 'A little madness isn't a bad thing. I think madness is what's kept us all going.' 'Freedom is like a drug, darling, and the Outlands can become an addiction. So yes, I believe in it.' 'Freedom was there for those who sought it. They had lost more than their share along the way, and the unfairness of that would never be rectified, but freedom stood wide open and welcoming, and he felt faint at the sight of it. Tommy was the armour and Nate was the sword, and together they made an unconquerable match. ‘His parting conversation with Tommy would haunt him for eternity. I could find you even in death, brother.’ In the midst of dealing with the wretched - and to him unbelievable - loss of the only thing he had ever loved, Nate found himself loving the woman who loved his brother almost as much as he did. The madness was comforting; his mind crumbling in on itself to protect him from reality. He let the darkness pull him down until he saw a face as bright and vibrant as the sun. Kitty. She was so good, so intelligent and shrewd; no one could ever match her sharp tongue or taunting jests. He missed her insults and her strength. He missed her so much it physically hurt. Coupled with the chronic ache of worry for Tommy, Nate floundered somewhere between sick and suicidal. 'Name?' the man asked, still not looking up, clearly unbothered by the arrival of another convict. He must have seen hundreds by this point. 'Anteros,' said Nate with a grimace. He hated his name. 'Oh!' The man's head shot up, eyes wide with surprise. He appraised Nate for a moment, unabashedly curious. 'You don't look much like your capture.' 'More handsome?' 'Thinner,' said the man critically. 'And you've lost a lot of hair. Cut it yourself?' 'I let the rats I was living with chew it off. I'm told I taste like strawberries.' 'Darling?' She looked at him. 'Yeah?' 'Are you afraid of anything?' Kitty nodded. 'I didn't used to be.' 'I'm afraid of everything.' 'Why?' 'I've never been given a reason not to be.' Nate smiled to himself as Tommy's face swam into his mind. 'Hes the only person in the world I have always known without question to be mine. If Kitty...' His throat tightened and he had to clear it several times before the words formed. 'You may not have noticed but I don't care much for life. There's plenty awaiting me in the next life, and I'm certain it will be less painful. I stay alive for her, and because I cannot yet believe my brother dead.' He smoked for a second before continuing. 'I’ve asked other siblings about it before. Siblings I know to love each other undeniably; siblings who do anything for each other. I've never met another pair like us. The only thing I've ever believed in is Tommy. 'He sounds like someone worth knowing.' Freida squeezed his arm. 'You’ll see him again, Nate. Even if it's not in this life. You have to believe that.' 'I do. Always have. Most days it's the only thing to keep me going. Tommy isn't just my brother. He's a part of me. I feel the same about Kitty - although it's not (I)quite(I) the same.' 'I envy your lady a bit. She's lucky.' That gave him pause. 'Kitty? Whatever for? Are you harbouring some deep longing to Complement a rotund leech?' 'It's hard not to envy the one who is held in such high regard by someone so passionate,' she mused. 'It's like you're ready to burst with all the fire you feel. It's intoxicating.' 'Not to me,' he said. 'It's horrible.' 'Caring?' 'Yes. I don't recommend it at all.' Kitty sat down beside him. 'Do you remember the last time we were trudging around a mountain?' Nate snorted. 'God, that feels so long ago.' She passed him a bottle of water. 'I kind of hated you then.' 'Kind of? Darling, with the amount of vitriol you spat my way it's a wonder I ever liked you at all.' He reached out and brushed sweaty hair away from her eyes. "Then again, perhaps not. I would have loved you either way." 'Darling, it's fine.' 'It's not. I was awful to you.' 'And I liked it,' he said wryly, lips twitching as he watched her. He had. He did. 'Well, after a while I just wanted you to like me, but I did enjoy the challenge. I liked that I had to work for you. Matty and I were handed to each other; you were different, you required constant determination and patience. It took a great deal of effort to win you over and I feel like I've earned it. You weren't something I was gifted or Assigned to. That means more to me than I could ever explain. So you don't have to apologise. I know how you felt and why you felt it. Part of why I fell in love with you is because you always spoke your mind , always knew how you felt about things.' 'You must feel more than hate if you love her as much as you do.' Nate leaned his head back against the wall. Some words were better left unsaid, but strange things occurred in the darkness; words that would never be utterable in the daylight suddenly seemed necessary in the night. He let out a long breath and shrugged. 'There's nothing good or easy or kind about loving her. I'm completely consumed. I wouldn't change it. Not for anything in the world. But I don't think I've ever once been able to be happy about it.' 'Ive been out there,' said Nate. 'On my own. It's the only place that's never worried me.' 'But what about mutants? Rabids? Wild animals? 'What about guards, the Private Police, Crown and Council?' he countered. 'There's danger on both sides of the Wall. The difference is that those dangers make sense to me. I'd rather live a life without law and take my chances than risk dying helpless at the hands of another human who hates me and doesn't even know why.' 'It was selfish to ever want this life for you,' he admitted. 'It's not selfish to want the one you love to want the life you love.' He felt a strange bitterness in his chest. He had loved her when she was Tommy's and she saw the world as a lawful, purposeful place that catered to her every whim simply because she was born lucky. He loved her all the more when he certainty had been ripped from her and she was left with nothing but the will to survive and cure him, if only for the memory of his brother that she would always hold dear. Kitty had only learned to love him over time, through pain and anger and sorrow. She had not loved him as he once was, and there was no guarantee that she would love him to the end of time as he knew he would love her. It stung. I love interacting with fellow readers, reviewers, bloggers and writers. 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