Seventeen year old Fennel is Sightless Groundling. This means that she is one of the few people who can safely venture outside the Groundling caves during the Scourge season. She is in charge of collecting water for her people and bringing it back to the caves for the Groundlings and giving some to her protector Peree for the Lofties that live up in the trees. When on the ground, she has to avoid the grotesque monster that are the Scourge, and trusts Peree to shoot anything that comes close to her.
The Groundlings and the Lofties are always at odds, as the Groundlings think that the Lofties lord over them in the trees as they suffer and are lost to the Scourge on the ground. However, Peree is different, and he seems to actually want to protect Fennel. But as the tension between the Lofties and the Groundlings grow, it is up to Fennel and Peree to either find the Hidden Waters so that they do not have to trek from the limited water hole daily, or suffer through a war and succumb to the Scourge.
This story completely drew me in, as it felt truly unique. I enjoyed hearing how a blind hero could protect her community and live her life keeping them alive. I loved hearing about the world of the Lofties and the world of the Groundlings.
The one thing I did not enjoy about this story was that occasionally I would lose track of the time. There was a lot of traveling done throughout this story, and sometimes I could not tell whether a day or a week had passed in the story. This was frustrating, but I could overlook it easily.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a new action/adventure story with a blind female main character.
Overall Rating: 4/5
