Sunday 5 May 2013

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

I can't believe one year went by after I read the first book.  You know, "Touch of Power" (Healer #1) is the first review copy that I received and wrote review for, in this blog.  So, this series is something I can't forget that easily.


Series: Healer #2
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Publisher: Harlequin
Release Date: December 18th 2012
Source: Review copy from publisher
Genre: Fantasy, Young adult


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.


REVIEW

*** Thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley for the review copy. ***

I don't remember much of "Touch of Power", only Avry and Kerrick got together after Avry was healed by the lily (umm, death or peace???) and Avry healed Prince Ryne.  But, I don't have to worry much about it.  Scent of magic covers the basics and refreshes the readers' memory about its predecessor.

"Scent of Magic" covers the journey of Kerrick through the woods as a slave and adventures of Avry (ah, I like this name so much) in Estrid's army.  After some initial dissatisfaction, Estrid's troops trusts Avry.  And Avry helps the army to learn how to move in the forest without making any disturbances.  And Avry does this all with a disguise.  After some chapters, the disguise was worn off, and Avry is sent back to heal the injured in the infirmary.  In between all this drama in Avry's life, there are some friendship, losses and recovery, that makes the read more interesting.

Kerrick - oh, Kerrick!  Why do you have to be so boring?  His side of the story just drags on and on, without any much progress or action.  This is one major part I didn't like in the novel.  However, Avry's PoV and the climax made up for it.

The action and drama in Avry's world is very exciting to read.  Maria's writing is great as always.  We see more about Prince Ryne in this novel.  And the plot where the Estrid's army is totally surrounded is astounding.  Although evil, the plans by Tohon are really something to look after to.  And I really am surprised to see how the mind of such a evil guy works.

As much as I wish to say I enjoyed this novel, this is not as good as "Touch of Power".  But I still love it.  And I will definitely look forward to reading the final installment.



SERIES ORDER

1.  Touch of Power - Review | Amazon | Goodreads
2.  Scent of Magic - Review | Amazon | Goodreads
3.  Taste of Death - Review | AmazonGoodreads

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