Soundless, by Richelle Mead

A village at the top of a mountain has been cut off from the outside world by a landslide. A zip line that brings in supplies and transports the metals mined by the inhabitants is their only tenuous contact. The villagers all lost their hearing generations ago and now they are starting to lose their sight too. It is up to a young woman, Fei, to overcome traditional barriers and save the village and its people. This interesting concept is developed a little patchily, with some minor plot holes that jar. For example how would a deaf person with no knowledge or memory of oral language learn how to lip read? The story contains strong messages around class, greed and discrimination that are at times heavy handed. A touch of magical realism comes in a bit too late for credibility; it appears more a useful device to explain a central mystery rather than imbuing the whole tale. A sweet love story holds it all together, with heroism and self-sacrifice winning the day at the end.