Review: Touch of Power - Maria V.Snyder

Series: Healer #1
Genre: YA fantasy
Pages: 394
Published: Dec 20, 2011
Publisher: Mira
Source: Netgalley

Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan absorbs 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 Fifteen Realms, 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….

My thoughts:

I liked Poison Study, though not the two books that followed. But then I heard that this one was good and I wanted to give it a go. And it was a good, YA fantasy where everything is nice and sweet, even if there is war and death around. 

I liked the idea of a bad bad plague sweeping through the land, killing most people and now people are struggling to survive while a few leaders are trying to conquer and bring peace in their own way. And I also liked that healers have been killed to extinction, to not get me wrong, it is awful. But it sure brings drama to the book. 

And the heroine Avry, is one of those healers and she is running for her life. I must say that the more I learnt about healers the more I thought their job seriously sucked. I have no idea how she did it. 

Out merry bang of soldiers then, they were a good cast. And of course I knew at once who would become a love interest even though it took a long time. 

Now on to the negative things. Honestly, how is this woman still alive?! She was sarcastic, snarky and bitchy towards the wrong people. She should have been lying in a puddle of blood, every bone in her body broken. How am I am supposed to take the baddies seriously when they let her get away with things like that? And then there was the baddy who stole kisses from her, oh please, he is a baddie, you all know what would happen. But this is YA, and that is what I meant at the beginning that everything is so sweet and nice. Then some bad things are thrown in and am I supposed to be shocked? No way, I was still waiting for someone to beat the crap out of Avry. 

And the baddies then. Yeah, was I supposed to think that Tohon was evil? Sure he was. But Estrid persecuted people cos of religious views and kidnapped people. And the king that Kerrick wants her to save is just as bad as the rest of them. I can't like him them. Either be bad, or not. And I liked Tohon, actually the best of all the characters in this book. 

The world is also different, so very medieval, and then not. Suddenly modern things are thrown in. It works because of the way they are used. I guess some people there just hide technology better. Or, I do not know.

Conclusion:

In the end this was a good book, even if a bit too nice, considering events. There was no major cliffie and I do want to know what happens to this world.

Cover:

it works