Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan assumes 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 Territories, 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....
I recently got Scent
Of Magic, the sequel to Touch Of
Power. I’ve been dying to read it
since I first finished ToP, but I
realized that I’d forgotten most of this novel.
Since I never wrote a full review for it, I felt like that was the
perfect excuse to revisit and reread it.
Maybe the fact that I couldn’t remember much more than the
basic plot after only a year was a sign that it wouldn’t be as good as I
remembered, or maybe it was a case of wrong timing. All I know is that, the second time around, I
wasn’t nearly as excited by this book and its characters as I was
originally. I liked it still, and I do
look forward to continuing the journey with Scent Of Magic, but I can’t say I
loved it like I originally did.
Okay first of all, I have a legitimate question. Does anyone know why the plural for the death
or life lily is always “lilys”, not “lilies”?
I didn’t notice it the first time, but this time every time I came
across that spelling I’d drift away from the rest of the paragraph and wonder
if there’s an actual reason for it – like maybe to differentiate the peace and
death lilys from actual, real-life lilies – or if it was just a misspelling
that got overlooked in editing. Whether
it was done by mistake or by design, that constant drifting off took me out of
the story way too often, and is probably a large contributor to my lackluster
reread. (But seriously, if anyone knows
the actual reason for this, let me know.
It’s driving the grammar nazi in me crazy.)
Avry is a Healer, the last of her kind. She’s on the run for her life, since it’s
believed that Healers started the devastating plague that killed so many. Early on, she’s caught and Kerrick and his
men rescue her…before taking her prisoner so she’ll heal their Prince, who has
been put into a magical stasis after catching the plague. To heal him would mean death for Avry, who
has some serious grievances with the
prince to begin with. Avry’s
relationship with the boys, especially their leader, is rocky at first, but
slowly it takes on a familial dynamic, complete with (very) slow-building romance. There’s not a whole lot of hidden depth to
the novel, as a few other reviewers have pointed out, but if you’re reading it
for that storyline, you get what you go in for.
There are so many things about it that I liked. (Ironically, those lilys-or-lilies is one of
the main ones. The idea and how it ties
in so perfectly with the plot is just so cool.)
There’s nothing overly original about the big picture of the plot, but
it’s not cliché or a giant rip-off, either.
It follows a common high fantasy formula of feuding monarchs and land
disputes set to a backdrop of magic and a medieval-esque setting, but there is
something undeniably fresh and unique about it.
With the exception of the Healers, the magic system isn’t too deep, but
it works. The writing is good, and the
characters are likeable enough.
Which, I think, is the root of my problem with the
novel. Reread that last paragraph and
tell me, aside from the “lilys”, is there anything about it that screams
enthusiasm or excitement? Anything that
would propel the novel from “good” to “great”?
There was very little that I actively disliked about the book, but most
of what I liked coasted along as “average” and “nice enough”. This is also probably why I had trouble
remembering much about it months after my first read. There just wasn’t anything that stuck out and
grabbed me. (In fact, if I’m brutally
honest, I’m finding myself again forgetting a lot of the novel unless I really
think about it or refer to my notes.)
I still don’t know if my mixed feelings now are due to
timing or me being more critical after months of active blogging and
reviewing. I’d recommend it to fans of
high fantasy, but I doubt I’ll be pushing this book to the same extent as I was
pre-reread.
Touch Of Power - 3 out of 5 stars
It's possible that the "lilys" thing was a missed editing mistake. It happens even in the big-time published books. I didn't even catch it when I was reading. Ha.
ReplyDeleteI think I liked Scent of Magic just a hair better. More action anyway. Though the ending was a bit meh and there were some annoyances. Hope you enjoy!
<3
Pixie
When you begin to seriously head out and get Bookl, it is advisable to understand several terms in addition to examine guide building in addition to output procedure. For example, alot of men and women consider guide collecting only regarding the ultimate item the way it made an appearance from the bookstore, you'll find different components of some sort of guide which are more useful, more hard-to-find, plus much more intensely accumulated. Plus, the harder you realize around the heritage regarding books in addition to how books are generally constructed, the harder finely tuned the vital sensory faculties is going to be, plus the more you can take pleasure in locating a genuinely beneficial guide. This post can be an try and instruct in addition to present you with resources to obtain an individual were only available in guide collectin.
ReplyDelete