I loved this book so much! I loved the characters and the world! I would and have recommended this book to all my friends! Again, I loved this book so much!

Every now and then, I decide to read a book even though it doesn’t look like anything I will enjoy. Most of the time, it turns out I was right, it’s not a book for me and I give it up half way through. But I continue to do it because then a book comes a long, the book I was looking for, the one that goes against all my expectations, one that surprises me and makes all those false starts worthwhile. Red Death by Jeff Altabef is one of those surprising (for me) books. I thought from the cover, it was going to be just one more romance fantasy and, yes, there is a very very small amount of romance here but, from the first page, I was completely hooked on the story.

In a distant future, a disease known as the Red Death has decimated most of the population and continues to affect almost everyone once they reach a certain age. In Eden, a theocracy, it is believed that the disease is a punishment for long-ago sins. Priests and those known as Guardians protect the city not only from the disease but those known as the Soulless, people from tribes living outside Eden who are perceived as impure and still deserving of the disease as proven by the fact that, with the exception of witches, they all eventually die from the disease regardless of position in their societies.

Seventeen-year-old Aaliss is a Guardian and her brother, Wilky, thirteen, a Scientist, has discovered a cure for the disease. However, before, he can release the formula, he and Aaliss are accused of being traitors by the corrupt High Priest and are forced to flee, pursued by an assassin known as the Viper. In their escape, Wilky rescues a young Soulless girl whose speech seems incomprehensible. Then, just as they believe they are safe, they encounter a group of Soulless on the road who not only claim the girl is the sister of their king but that Wilky and Aaliss kidnapped her.

Red Death combines dystopian with fantasy, Medieval with modern to create a action-packed, exciting, and unputdownable tale. Filled with interesting world-building and even more interesting characters, it kept me glued to the pages right to the end. It is aimed at a YA audience but it is definitely the kind of book that can appeal to fans of dystopian and/or fantasy regardless of age. This is the first in the Red Death series and although many of the questions and issues raised throughout the book are answered, it does end on a cliffhanger. And that’s okay because I am already looking forward with great anticipation to the next in the series.

Thanks to Netgalley and Evolved Publishing for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review