Review: Inhuman (Fetch #1) by Kat Falls

In a world ravaged by mutation, a teenage girl must travel into the forbidden Savage Zone to recover lost artifacts or her father’s life is forfeit.

America has been ravaged by a war that has left the eastern half of the country riddled with mutation. Many of the people there exhibit varying degrees of animal traits. Even the plant-life has gone feral.

Crossing from west to east is supposed to be forbidden, but sometimes it’s necessary. Some enter the Savage Zone to provide humanitarian relief. Sixteen-year-old Lane’s father goes there to retrieve lost artifacts—he is a Fetch. It’s a dangerous life, but rewarding—until he’s caught.

Desperate to save her father, Lane agrees to complete his latest job. That means leaving behind her life of comfort and risking life and limb—and her very DNA—in the Savage Zone. But she’s not alone. In order to complete her objective, Lane strikes a deal with handsome, roguish Rafe. In exchange for his help as a guide, Lane is supposed to sneak him back west. But though Rafe doesn’t exhibit any signs of “manimal” mutation, he’s hardly civilized . . . and he may not be trustworthy.

I received this book a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Geez ... it was like a year ago. I don't know why it took me so long to pick it up. I think that at the time when I first got it, I was super excited. I had been on this dystopian kick that I didn't think I was going to get tired of ... well ... I did, apparently. There CAN be too much of a good thing. I was just gorging on these YA dystopias like they were going out of style and man did it come back to bite me in the ass. I made myself sick of them. If I heard about one more dystopian novel, I was going to scream. So I decided not to read this one when I was so completely dead set against the genre. 

Which I think turned out for the best. Because by the time I picked this one up, it had been quite a while since I had read anything else like it. Not that I have ever read anything else quite like this one ... it was pretty out there. I'm not a huge science fiction fan, so this one was a bit of a reach for me. Can you imagine ... people crossed with animals ... while the concept of talking animals isn't anything new, especially in children's movies, this novel was anything but tired and done. 

The whole concept behind this novel was very intriguing and not very far-fetched. Almost immediately I became obsessed with Lane and the journey she was on. It was interesting getting to go on this trek with her and things being as foreign to the main character as they are to the reader. I found all of the characters intriguing in some way and I had a small attachment to each of them as the story progressed. 

When I first received this novel, I knew nothing of it being the first installment in a series. I often hoped that the story would wrap itself up so I could find out how things ended but at the same time, I was wishing that there would be a continuation so that the adventure didn't have to stop. Thank goodness, there will be a second installment ... especially since this one ended in such a cliffhanger. I'm interested to see how everything plays out in the next novel. I won't lie ... I'll need to reread this one before I get into the second one because I devoured it so quickly, I'm sure that I missed some important things.

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