Favorite Lines: "In the books that were Erik's passion, there were stories of a United States where civil rights prevailed, opportunity abounded, and humans lived in ignorance of the unseen. There were pictures bearing little resemblance to the places that now existed. Towering, gleaming cities turned to burned-out rubble and hollowed-out sanctuaries for the lawless as well as the desperate, most of it slowly being reclaimed by forests." (p. 3)

ISBN: 978-0-425-22793-0

Publisher: Penguin

Released: Aug. 4, 2009

Araña is an outcast. Branded as demon-touched because of a spider shaped mark on her skin, she fears the "spider powers" that allow her to see the future. But that doesn't stop her from following a vision that leads her to a tattooed man who reeks of power and is chained to a chair like a criminal. She sets him free, unknowingly setting in motion a chain of events that will reveal not only the future, but her past.

Tir only knows a life of captivity thanks to the torque around his neck which prevents him from remembering his past. He feels nothing but rage against humanity, those who have brutalized him and each other, as well as those who watched the brutality take place. Determined to discover the secret to removing the band from his throat, he wants nothing to do with humanity. But Araña is different. She is beautiful and defied her companions to set him free. Will she be his salvation or his downfall?

Spider-Touched by Jory Strong is the second book in an urban fantasy series set in the post-apocalyptic United States of America. It weaves romance and urban fantasy together so well that as Jane at Dear Jane puts it, "you cannot take Araña and Tir out of this world setting and into a different setting and have the same dynamic."

Spider-Touched is a dark story. People die, races in deadly mazes take place and otherworldly creatures exist. It is an unimaginable world with titillating characters and a sticky web that holds you in place while the story wraps around you.

Ms. Strong portrays the destroyed U.S.A. in a way that is reminiscent of the Medieval period but tweaks it to include technology advancements. There are cameras, buses and motor boats paired with church run governments and a society where women are second to men. This is best shown when Tir and Araña eat fish and chips at a diner. The clerk is kind of disgusted with Tir because he paid for his woman to eat instead of pimping her out in the back ally (166-67). Prostitution is visited over time after time again.

The back of Spider-Touched adds to the mystery of Tir by simply stating he was "held prisoner by humans, his memory and power lost..." Unfortunately the publisher's website adds to the description "held prisoner by humans, his angelic memory and power lost..." I didn't see the publisher's product detail untsil I began writing this review, but it is damaging. I had no idea what Tir was. All I knew was that Araña was demon-tainted and people who touched her died. People who weren't Tir. The back of the book and the dark thoughts Tir had urged me to think he was a demon, but the product detail on the publisher's site told me to disregard those thoughts because he was "angelic."

Scooper