Prohibido by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee

The Books of Mortals. Three novels. Two authors. One last chance for humanity. Many years have passed since civilization's brush with apocalypse. The world's greatest threats have all been silenced. There is no anger, no hatred, no war. There is only perfect peace -- and fear. But a terrible secret has been closely guarded for centuries: every single soul walking the earth, though in appearance totally normal, is actually dead, long ago genetically stripped of true humanity. Fleeing pursuit, with only moments to live, a young man named Rom stumbles into possession of a vial of blood and a cryptic vellum. 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. Set in a terrifying, medieval future, where grim pageantry masks death, this tale of passionate love and dark desires from master storytellers Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee peels back the layers of the heart for all who dare take the journey. - Publisher.

I like all of Ted Dekker's books but I have to be honest and say that at first, this book didn't caught me but as I progress in reading, I loved it! Emotions overwhelm me as if I had drunk the blood ... No, I'm kidding. But it was very interesting and it showed the combination of both writers. An excellent book.

So the whole premise of Forbidden is pretty different from anything I've ever read before—the idea of a world with only fear as an emotion is a pretty bleak one and it brings about some interesting complications.

I can't speak for Lee's other books as I haven't read any, but compared to other Dekker novels, Forbidden starts off a little slower—it takes some time to build up Rom's world and get you fully immersed. There are a lot of questions that need answering right away (Why doesn't anyone have emotions other than fear? What is this world like? What is the Order?), so although Rom's journey starts right away, many of the first chapters at first are primarily focused on world building. It's certainly not a bad thing, but it didn't grip me as quickly as some of Dekker's previous novels have.

Once you get into the meat of the story, however, things start to get interesting. Between a wicked antagonist, a throne up for grabs, murder in a world where killing is unheard of, dungeons and experiments gone wrong, Forbidden certainly has plenty to keep you interested throughout the book.

Unsurprisingly, Forbidden has many fantasy-like archetypes—a prophecy and an arcane group of “keepers” in charge of certain secrets, among others—as well as a few pretty transparent spiritual themes which, although they didn't bother me, were noticed. To me, some of the prose read a little over-the-top emotionally, but as the characters are feeling the full spectrum of emotion for the first time in their lives, it was understandable and it didn't detract from the overall story.

In short: Forbidden was an enjoyable read that I would recommend to those who like fantasy (as although it does have a dystopian background, it read more like a fantasy novel to me). Although it's not my favorite Ted Dekker book to date, I'm still looking forward to the sequel Mortal, which is expected to be published next June.