Review: Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder

Scent of Magic (Healer #2) by Maria V. Snyder

Paperback, 414 pages

Published: December 18th, 2012 by Harlequin Mira

Source: Amazon Vine

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.

First of all, I'm not sure what to label this book.  In stores it's sold in the adult section and as far as I know it's considered adult.  But when I called the first one an adult book I had a whole slew of people shouting that no, it's YA.  Being as Avry is 20 something, I would say that would make it adult but really, the series is completely appropriate for YA readers.  So it's whatever you want it to be, I'll just avoid labeling it this time around.

It's no secret that I love fantasy books and while this series is my first foray into Maria V. Snyder's fantasy world (worlds?) it's definitely a world I love to read about.  I wouldn't say it quite WOW's me as much as some fantasy, but I do enjoy (nearly) every moment I'm reading it.

I can definitely say the characters in these books really stand out to me.  Avry has really grown a lot from the first book, she's very strong and brave and can endure just about anything.  She has gone through a lot but she still has a very strong sense of right and wrong.  She's been betrayed a few times but she doesn't let that harden her heart, she still lets people in.

Kerrick felt a bit more flat to me in this book.  I loved him in the second half of the first book book but while we do get pieces from his POV in this one, and he's honorable and good and there's nothing that makes me not like him, I think I needed more interaction of him and Avry for him to really wow me.  However he's still a great character to read about, I just think he could be a touch MORE.  I do have to mention that I ADORE his magic.  If I could have magic, I'd want his!

All the other characters play their roles very well. There are a lot of them but yet they are all so different that they really stand out to me.  They have strong personalities and individual voices.  It's always a pleasure meeting new characters and deciding whether they are bad or good.  And what's even better, sometimes there's just not a clear line.  Sometimes it's just bad and worse, and you have to choose one side.  Sometimes the bad guy becomes the good guy.  That's one of my favorite things with fantasy.

The world in these books is great, I really enjoy learning more about it.  One issue I had with this book is that so much of it is in one place and learning battle maneuvers, etc.  Surprisingly I never really felt bored, but it still moved at a slower pace much of the time.

While there was a pretty good conclusion for this one, not an actual ending, but ending this present bit of issues, there's one thing that happened at the end that leaves you saying WHAT?!  So I finished the book silently screaming.  I wouldn't say it's a cliffhanger, but yet it sort of is.  I'll definitely be VERY eager for the next book!

Disclosure: I received this book for review purposes, all opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.