Thursday, December 27, 2012

Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder

Genre: YA Fantasy
Series: Healer #2
Publication Date: 1st January 2013
Pages: 414
Book Source: Thanks Harlequin Teen Australia

Synopsis: 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.


My Thoughts:
I enjoyed the next leg of Avry and Kerrick's journey but if I'm honest, not quite as much as Touch of Power. Scent of Magic kicks off where Touch of Power finishes so it's an easy transition reading them one after the other. 

Whilst Avry & Kerrick are parted for most of the book on separate missions I enjoyed getting the story from both their points of view but I really missed the camaraderie of their little gang. That was the downside of this book in my opinion. On the upside, Avry and Kerrick get my vote over Yelena & Valek from Maria's Study series if I had to pick favourites.

Their quest to keep King Tohon taking control of the 15 Realms is fraught with never-ending drama trouble which kept me turning the pages but believe it or not, there wasn't actually a whole lot of plot advancement or character development. Oh well, still fun!

Taste of Death, the conclusion to the Healer trilogy is due for release December 2013 ... another year ... it's a cruel world ;)

See my review of the 1st book - Touch of Power.

Want to know more about Maria V. Snyder? - Visit her website.

and here's the UK (left) & US (right) covers ... I'm going with the Australian cover.


 
                                                          






11 comments:

  1. I have to agree. Scent of Magic is not nearly as strong as ToP, with one of its biggest drawbacks in the lack of that hoopla with the gang. After the end of this book I don't think I can ever forgive the author... :P

    Great review!

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    1. Thanks Cass, will you still read the last book? I will, have to know what happens :)

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  2. Not a fan of the Au cover, it's so meh. But then the US is so..eh.
    Lol

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  3. I really enjoyed reading from Kerrick's POV as well, despite really disliking the guy for his actions in ToP. I enjoyed ToP a lot more than this as well, like you.

    I think I prefer the UK cover, because I love the purple and white colouring!

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    1. yeah I agree Kerrick was an ass in Touch of Power but I'm looking forward to Taste of Death

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  4. I am going to check her out! I like the US cover!!!

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    1. no one likes the Aussie cover with the peace or death lily on it ... sigh ;)

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  5. Agree about preferring ToP. I also think I like Avry/Kerrick as a couple more than Yelena/Valek although Valek wins for romantic interest for me (Avry > Yelena at this point). Will be interesting to see how the third book affects those rankings for us.

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  6. Having to wait over a year is very very cruel, indeed!!! I am sure that I've told you that I've tried her adult books and have had a hard time getting into them. Maybe I need to read the YA books instead!

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  7. Most of the trilogies I read, its the second book that is the downer in the group. Still want to read these two anyway. Thanks sweetie.

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