Author: Maria V. Snyder
Publisher: Mira
Publication Date: December 2011
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Series or Stand Alone: Series, Book One
Synopsis can be found here.
Netgalley review.
Review:
I enjoyed Maria Snyder's Insider series so was excited to get a galley for this new one.
Avry, the last healer alive after the plague, is on the run. Everywhere she goes, she is hunted. She tries to slip in and out of towns, but she can't go very far before she decides to heal someone. And this time, she is captured.
On the night before her death, she is rescued by a mysterious stranger named Kerrick, who kidnaps her and takes her on a perilous journey over the Nine Mountains to save a King. But Avry doesn't want to save the King. And she will do everything she can to get away. That is, until she spends time with Kerrick and his band of misfits running from being hunted by another man who will use her power to his advantage. She begins to wonder if maybe, just maybe, she doesn't want to run from them at all.
I enjoyed Touch of Power way more than I thought I was going to. I sat down one night, really exhausted after work, and thought I only had it in me to read a couple of pages or two.
I was still reading an hour later.
Kerrick's band of men are fun, warm and a good comic relief. I have mixed feelings about Kerrick. Although he does redeem himself to me by the end, I do have a slight problem when the love interest is especially brutal to the heroine before he falls for her. It's a little too Stockholm syndrome for me, especially that Kerrick has in fact kidnapped her in order to bring her to his King.
Avry is trying her best when saddled with a huge responsibility- being the last Healer in the Realms. Will she heal a King she doesn't believe in? What if it ends the war? Her bravery is what I liked most about her. She is selfless, without being a oh-woe-is-me.
I liked the world the story was in, but felt like it was barely there. I wanted more history, more information on this magical place, before and after the plague. And more on the Death and Peace Lilies. Such a creative idea! Tohon, the man hunting Avry, is sadly the least fleshed out of the characters. Yes, he's evil, with an evil mind and an evil plan. But I don't get the sense of him having more depth than what he is supposed to be- the bad guy.
Overall, Touch of Power is a fun, fast read filled with adventure. I'm glad there is going to be a second book!
Rating 8 Cookie Worthy
I enjoyed Maria Snyder's Insider series so was excited to get a galley for this new one.
Avry, the last healer alive after the plague, is on the run. Everywhere she goes, she is hunted. She tries to slip in and out of towns, but she can't go very far before she decides to heal someone. And this time, she is captured.
On the night before her death, she is rescued by a mysterious stranger named Kerrick, who kidnaps her and takes her on a perilous journey over the Nine Mountains to save a King. But Avry doesn't want to save the King. And she will do everything she can to get away. That is, until she spends time with Kerrick and his band of misfits running from being hunted by another man who will use her power to his advantage. She begins to wonder if maybe, just maybe, she doesn't want to run from them at all.
I enjoyed Touch of Power way more than I thought I was going to. I sat down one night, really exhausted after work, and thought I only had it in me to read a couple of pages or two.
I was still reading an hour later.
Kerrick's band of men are fun, warm and a good comic relief. I have mixed feelings about Kerrick. Although he does redeem himself to me by the end, I do have a slight problem when the love interest is especially brutal to the heroine before he falls for her. It's a little too Stockholm syndrome for me, especially that Kerrick has in fact kidnapped her in order to bring her to his King.
Avry is trying her best when saddled with a huge responsibility- being the last Healer in the Realms. Will she heal a King she doesn't believe in? What if it ends the war? Her bravery is what I liked most about her. She is selfless, without being a oh-woe-is-me.
I liked the world the story was in, but felt like it was barely there. I wanted more history, more information on this magical place, before and after the plague. And more on the Death and Peace Lilies. Such a creative idea! Tohon, the man hunting Avry, is sadly the least fleshed out of the characters. Yes, he's evil, with an evil mind and an evil plan. But I don't get the sense of him having more depth than what he is supposed to be- the bad guy.
Overall, Touch of Power is a fun, fast read filled with adventure. I'm glad there is going to be a second book!
Rating 8 Cookie Worthy
Glad you liked it!! I have your signed one... will hand over on Weds. :)
ReplyDelete