Scent of Magic (Healer #2) by Maria V. Snyder

Scent of Magic (Healer #2)
By Maria V. Snyder
Pages: 400
Format: ebook
Source: Netgalley

Rating: Really liked it

Goodreads Summary:

Hunted, Killed—Survived?

As the last Healer in the Fifteen Realms, Avry of Kazan is in a unique position: in the minds of her friends and foes alike, she no longer exists. Despite her need to prevent the megalomanical King Tohon from winning control of the Realms, Avry is also determined to find her sister and repair their estrangement. And she must do it alone, as Kerrick, her partner and sole confident, returns to Alga to summon his country into battle.

Though she should be in hiding, Avry will do whatever she can to support Tohon’s opponents. Including infiltrating a holy army, evading magic sniffers, teaching forest skills to soldiers and figuring out how to stop Tohon’s most horrible creations yet; an army of the walking dead—human and animal alike and nearly impossible to defeat.

War is coming and Avry is alone. Unless she figures out how to do the impossible ... again.

Cover Review:

I'm sorry, but....I hate that cover with a burning passion. It's hideous! After the first book's cover being so gorgeous, this one just fell completely flat. It's fake looking and just doesn't seem well put together. Bleh. But don't let the cover turn you off the story!

My real review:

First things first: I love Maria V. Snyder's books. Yes, I am a self-proclaimed Synder book junkie. You should be too. But that's part of the reason I have such mixed feelings on this book.

I absolutely fell in love with her first book Touch of Power. I even made a list of what I loved about the book:
1. Awesome Heroine
2. Hate turned love relationship
3. Kerrick
4. Fantastic secondary characters
5. Ridiculously crazy awesome villain
6. Intriguing and engaging plot
7. No shortage of action
8. Zombies

Sounds like 1 awesome mixture right? And it certainly was! But, unfortunately, Scent of Magic only had about half:

1. Awesome heroine:
I always adored Avery. She's just as likely to kick your butt as she is to help you stand again. She is fierce, intelligent and kick-butt, but also has such a great heart. She's a caring person and I love her determination where he sister is concerned. She's just as awesome in this book as she is in the previous. 

2. Intriguing and Engaging plot:
We learn so much in this book which I absolutely love! The plot is complex and intriguing and Snyder never fails to throw in a curve ball. 

3. No shortage of action:
 Action-packed and fast-paced = awesome! I'm an action junkie so I'm bound to enjoy a book with lots of butt-kickery. And Tohon's army? Plays a much bigger role in this book! Which leads me to...

4. Zombies:
'Nuff said. 

So, sounds pretty good right? And it was! I pretty much devoured the book! But after it ended, it left me...wanting:

1. No fantastic secondary characters:
 Boo. Remember all those guys I loved in the first book? Hardly even in this book. And, to be honest, they are what really made me love the first book. They're hilarious, quirky and are like one big family! I miss their humor and all around awesomeness. I actually did end up liking some of the new secondary characters, but they just can't live up to Papa Bear!

2. No hate turned love romance:
Yeah, I know, they fell in love at the end of the first book, but since they are apart for most of this book, it's more of annoying longing for each other. I miss their snarky interactions.

3. No Crazy Awesome Villain:
Well, at least not till the very end. Look, I like my villains crazy. I don't want to be told, I want to see it. I want reasoning. Tohon = psychopath. And honestly, I love it. His scenes in Touch of Power were definitely...intriguing ;) Sadly, he hardly plays a physical role in this book. Understandable, but I wish it weren't the case. 


Middle road:


1. Kerrick:
Intelligent, loyal, fierce, stoic Kerrick. How come I just couldn't fall for you in this book? Don't worry, I'm already in love with you but I just wasn't swooning over him as I did in the first book. I think this is because I didn't get to see his interactions with Avery and his crew (which I loved!). This was more about his lone journey, and it mainly consisted of him missing Avery. Sweet, but got on my nerves. However, I did love his POV in this book. Very interesting. 

Overall:

So, although this book lacked some aspects I absolutely loved from the first book, it still had plenty to keep me interested. If you loved the first book, you'll still really enjoy this book. Avery is still her awesome self, the plot is crazy (in a good way), plenty of curve balls and zombies. So what are you waiting for?

All the best ♥

Mackenzie 

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Touch of Power (Healer #1) by Maria V. Snyder

Touch of Power
by Maria V. Snyder
Release Date: December 20, 2011
Pages: 390
Source: Kristen from The Book Monsters
Format: Paperback


Rating: Absolutely Fantastic!!!


Goodread's Snyopsis:
Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan absorbs their wounds and diseases into herself. But rather than being honored for her skills, she is hunted. Healers like Avry are accused of spreading the plague that has decimated the Fifteen Realms, leaving the survivors in a state of chaos.

Stressed and tired from hiding, Avry is abducted by a band of rogues who, shockingly, value her gift above the golden bounty offered for her capture. Their leader, an enigmatic captor-protector with powers of his own, is unequivocal in his demands: Avry must heal a plague-stricken prince—leader of a campaign against her people. As they traverse the daunting Nine Mountains, beset by mercenaries and magical dangers, Avry must decide who is worth healing and what is worth dying for. Because the price of peace may well be her life...

My Review:

Wow.

Maria V. Snyder. ‘nuff said. 
But if that doesn’t convince you, then hopefully this review will.

This book was fantastic! It had everything I love in a book!! ♥ I’m totally feeling the love! Since there are so many reasons I love it, I’ve decided to make a list of all the reasons you should read this. 

1. Awesome Heroine:

    Yes, Avry is awesome. She’s snarky, fierce, intelligent and doesn’t like being man-handled (you go girl!). She’ll stick up for herself and her friends and if you don’t like that then to bad! Also, she knows how to throw knives so it wouldn’t be smart to make her mad. However, her fierce attitude isn’t the only thing I loved about this girl. I loved her heart. Avry can be so incredibly kind and good-hearted. She’s willing to risk her life for those she doesn’t even know. For her, it isn’t just her duty, but what she wants to do. There were plenty of times that I found her actions quite admirable. She knew about sacrifice and would willingly do it for those she believed deserve it.

2. Hate turned love relationship:

    What is it about a hate turned love relationship that I love so much? The snarkiness of the characters? The witty banter between them? The tension? Whatever it is, this is my favorite type of relationship. Yes, I do love the relationships where they get to know each other or where one may not like the other but eventually learns to love them, but for some reason, this time of relationship will always be on top. And this relationship doesn’t disappoint. I knew the moment they were falling for each other and I understood why and I loved it. 

3. Kerrick:

    Actually….I really almost hated him at the beginning. Yeah, you read it right. I didn’t like him. Oh, of course I knew that he’d change and that he wasn’t showing his true self, but he was a real jerk at the beginning and I definitely understood why Avry didn’t like him. However, I grew to love him right alongside Avry. He’s fiercely loyal, strong and intelligent. He’s a good leader that is used to telling people what to do, so you can understand why he butts heads with Avry. He is swoonworthy. It just took a while to see it.

4. Fantastic secondary characters:

    Yes, the MC’s are the most important part of the book, but it’s fantastic when I can fall in love with the secondary characters as well. Flea, Quain, Loren, Belen! They are all amazing in their owns ways. When they’re together, they are like one big family. Yes, they don’t always get along, but in the end they would do absolutely anything for each other. They were funny and quirky and protective. I adored every single one of them.

5. Ridiculously crazy awesome villain:

    Yes, I realize that “awesome” and “villain” probably don’t go together, but he was awesome. I like my villains to be bad. I don’t like when the author’s just tell me they’re bad, I want to read it and feel their evilness for myself. When I read about the villain, I want to be able to really see that he truly is evil, or insane or crazy. And believe me, when it came to this guy, it was very easy to see that he’s got a couple loose screws. He’s a psychopath! And man did I love it! Having a sociopath of a villain made this book so much more interesting. The parts with him in it were heart-pounding and just plain crazy! 

6. Intriguing and engaging plot:

    I personally thought the plot was fantastically unique and intriguing. Magicians, kingdoms, KILLER FLOWERS!! Yes, killer flowers. So cool!! While this book has many of the same elements of many fantasies, something that Maria brought to it made it unique. What exactly? I can’t quite put my finger on it. However, throughout the book I was constantly going through emotions. I’d be on the edge of my seat with my heart pounding one moment and then I’d be laughing at the Monkey’s. I’d be saying “Go Avry!”, then having my heart torn. I love when I can feel these emotions right alongside the characters. To me, this makes a book truly amazing.

7. No shortage of action!

    I like my books like I like my movies: action-packed. If its got action, I’m pretty much guaranteed to at least enjoy it some. This book is fast-paced and action-packed and I loved every moment!

8. While I’m not sure this is actually a spoiler, you don’t learn about it till later in the book so read at your own risk: THERE ARE ZOMBIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

However, although I’m definitely feeling the love for this book, there were a few things that bugged me.

1.   The modern language:

    When you read this book, there is a distinct historical feel to it. They have the old houses with taverns and inns, they fight with swords, they have kindoms, ect. So what’s with the modern language? No not all of our phrases that we say today, but there definitely were no “twas” or “thy” or “tis” and whatnot. Overall since the book was so utterly fantastic, it didn’t really bother me. However, I know that it will bother some people so I thought I should let y’all know.

2.   The bad part of the otherwise fantastic world:

     I actually thought the world-building was fantastic! But one thing that bothered me again had to do with the historical feel. While I love historical books, I don’t care when they add some modern things to it. Yes, its not actually historical fiction, but when that is the feel the book gives, then it sometimes bugs me when there are a few modern things in it. Again, it didn’t bug me to much because of all the awesomeness that is this book, but it did nag me a bit (but thats just me personally).

Overall:

If you can’t tell from the review above, I’m definitely feeling the love when it comes to this book. I absolutely love Maria V. Snyder’s books and this one does not disappoint. Between a snarky kick-butt heroine, an engaging plot, non-stop action, fast pacing, hate turned love relationship, hot men, fan-freaking-tastic secondary characters, and a psychopath for a villain, this book is a must-read. 


All the best ♥

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