Forbidden (The Books of Mortals)
Fleeing pursuit, with only moments to live, a young man named Rom stumbles into possession of a vial of blood and a piece of cryptic writing. When consumed, the blood will bring him back to life. When decoded, the message will lead him on a perilous journey that will require him to abandon everything he has ever known and awaken humanity to the transforming power of true life and love. But the blood will also resurrect hatred, ambition, and greed at terrible risk. The first book in a thrilling series set in a desolate future, FORBIDDEN begins a journey that continues with Mortal and will conclude with Soverign. From the combined pens of master storytellers Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee, this tale of passionate love and dark desires peels back the layers of the heart for all who dare to take the journey.
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Community Reviews
I'd forgotten how utterly amazing this series is. The setting, the plot....the setting. The characters aren't that influential in my enjoyment of the book, so that's why they didn't get a mention.
But I said setting twice, did you see that? That's because it's BEAUTIFUL! Dekker and Lee created a world that is both medieval and modern. Medieval in that we have castles,leaders rulers, guards knights, and heroes and villains dashing about on horseback; modern in that they have cars, televisions, cameras, computers, and subway trains. Granted, television is for is for practical and news sharing purposes only, given that the entire world's population no longer feels grief, joy, sadness, hope, anger, or anything....except fear. And that doesn't lead to a burgeoning entertainment industry. And it's not like it's allowed anyway, Order forbids it.
In fact, in this world, Order is law, submit to Order and you might obtain Bliss in the afterlife. Step outside of Order, and not only will you have to deal with the fear crawling up your spine (the only emotion humans are capable of), but you'll have to reconcile with yourself that you can no longer obtain Bliss. Hades awaits you. And that only inspires more fear. You get the idea, right? It's either just an emotionless existence, or cold fear. Nothing else.
But when one man drinks an ancient vial of blood said to bring humanity back the emotions that were so long ago stripped away, he sees the truth. That those living around him are not living in "Order" and destined for Bliss, no, they are dead. And he is...alive? That's what these new emotions raging within him seem to scream at him. Love like he's never known, hope for a brighter future promised to him by some man in an alley way, fear, fear unlike he's ever known too, though he's known fear all his life. But when fear is spurred on by love for another human being, it's another beast entirely. Because now he doesn't just fear for his own sake, he now fears for those he loves as well.
But there's another who feels like he and the others who drank the blood do. And he's destined to save the world from their death, to bring them back into life. If they can find him and keep him alive.
While certainly not the Gospel message, there's strong Christian parallels in this story. I mean "a boy whose birth is foretold and is destined to save the world with his blood"? It sounds familiar. I enjoy this aspect, but it's not accurate enough for me to pick up the books for this reason. I read for the sake of the story and the STUNNING imagery these books invoke, and I enjoy the fact that it has Christian parallels.
There were, however, moments when I was wrenched from the story because someone said something that just did. not. fit. The dialect sometimes felt a bit stilted, or not in tune with the rest of the story, sometimes it was just one word that didn't quite fit. While a bit jarring, it certainly doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. I can't distinguish how much influence Tosca Lee had in the writing, but I felt like everything flowed pretty smoothly.
These books also have a tad (pinches fingers together...um...widens the gap) bit of violence and gore O_O
It might be a bit much for some (at one point, a character chops off another characters hands during a sword fight). And that's not even the worst of it. Just a little heads up (ahem, and at one point, literally. Sorry, I couldn't resist). Comes with the medieval part of the story I guess.
Anyway, fantastic book and I'm on to the second one!!
But I said setting twice, did you see that? That's because it's BEAUTIFUL! Dekker and Lee created a world that is both medieval and modern. Medieval in that we have castles,
In fact, in this world, Order is law, submit to Order and you might obtain Bliss in the afterlife. Step outside of Order, and not only will you have to deal with the fear crawling up your spine (the only emotion humans are capable of), but you'll have to reconcile with yourself that you can no longer obtain Bliss. Hades awaits you. And that only inspires more fear. You get the idea, right? It's either just an emotionless existence, or cold fear. Nothing else.
But when one man drinks an ancient vial of blood said to bring humanity back the emotions that were so long ago stripped away, he sees the truth. That those living around him are not living in "Order" and destined for Bliss, no, they are dead. And he is...alive? That's what these new emotions raging within him seem to scream at him. Love like he's never known, hope for a brighter future promised to him by some man in an alley way, fear, fear unlike he's ever known too, though he's known fear all his life. But when fear is spurred on by love for another human being, it's another beast entirely. Because now he doesn't just fear for his own sake, he now fears for those he loves as well.
But there's another who feels like he and the others who drank the blood do. And he's destined to save the world from their death, to bring them back into life. If they can find him and keep him alive.
While certainly not the Gospel message, there's strong Christian parallels in this story. I mean "a boy whose birth is foretold and is destined to save the world with his blood"? It sounds familiar. I enjoy this aspect, but it's not accurate enough for me to pick up the books for this reason. I read for the sake of the story and the STUNNING imagery these books invoke, and I enjoy the fact that it has Christian parallels.
There were, however, moments when I was wrenched from the story because someone said something that just did. not. fit. The dialect sometimes felt a bit stilted, or not in tune with the rest of the story, sometimes it was just one word that didn't quite fit. While a bit jarring, it certainly doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. I can't distinguish how much influence Tosca Lee had in the writing, but I felt like everything flowed pretty smoothly.
These books also have a tad (pinches fingers together...um...widens the gap) bit of violence and gore O_O
It might be a bit much for some (at one point, a character chops off another characters hands during a sword fight). And that's not even the worst of it. Just a little heads up (ahem, and at one point, literally. Sorry, I couldn't resist). Comes with the medieval part of the story I guess.
Anyway, fantastic book and I'm on to the second one!!
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