Monday 24 December 2012

Review: Scent of Magic

 Scent of Magic (Healer, #2)
Author: Maria V. Snyder
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD

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.

Review:
"No place is safe."

After reading Touch of Power, I couldn't wait till I start reading this second book. It started where the first one left off and I can't wait for more adventures.

This book has shifts with Avry's POV and a third-person POV to focus on Kerrick's sort-of solo adventure. We get to meet more characters and see the soldier-ish part of Avry. It strangely feels different compared to the second one because I was used to them being a team and travelling with each other. I was also used to that creepy feeling every time I read Tohon's name that I expect him to surprise our protagonists.

The only thing I felt off with this is that the whole book feels like a huge filler before an epic ending. Not that I want its pace to go faster, it's just that it lacked action compared to the previous one--maybe because those involved the group compared to this one. Everything felt like routine. But this gave each of them a chance to develop individually, especially Kerrick. His adventurous experience in the North wouldn't be like that if he's with the group. It became more challenging.

Oh and I love the return of one of my favourite character! I understood Avry's protectiveness of him.  Although I kinda grossed out at the scene where the Lily spit him out. I can't help but imagine some sticky saliva or maybe I'm just playing with my own mind. The mystery of the Peace and Death Lily wasn't fully exposed yet but I'm expecting it to help them more and maybe fight back?

This book just showed how alliances are forged and broken in times of war. It's like waiting for the next person to stab your back. The last fight scene was, ugh, I didn't see it coming! I didn't expect *toot* to be the traitor. I didn't expected the sister (not Noelle, mind you) to be that vicious. I thought she will fold and go against Tohon in the end.

With the last freakin scene, waiting for the next book is an agony. Prick me with the Death Lily's needle, I seriously need to start reading the next book. But I also don't want to rush the author because I want an epic, helluvah ending to this series. So, let the waiting commence..


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This copy was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence my review in any way.