Fantastic Fantasy! Review of Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

paperback or ebook, 390 pages

Published: Dec. 20th, 2011 by Mira

Source: Purchased

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 have been wanting to pick up one of Maria V. Snyder's fantasy books, and have even owned Poison Study for ages, but this one was cheap for kindle and the second one was offered for review.  So this ended up being the first series I started with.  And oh my goodness, I fell in love!  I know there are many devoted fans of hers out there and it seems like those that read her books tend to absolutely LOVE her, I haven't really seen a middle ground so much.  So here I am, her newest devoted fan.  {I did read her Inside Out, Outside In books, but they are very different.}Also note that while I believe this is technically adult and is found in the adult section, it works quite well as a Young Adult book as well.  Any sexual situations are glossed over or faded out.

I was swept into this world and Avry's character right away.  There wasn't any slow moving bits and from the moment I picked the book up I desperately wanted to keep reading.  Avry is a very strong character.  She's strong willed, smart and resourceful.  She's learned her way all these years of hiding.  When she's kidnapped (or saved, however you want to look at it) by a bad of rogues you don't know if this is good or bad.  But within pages you know that these are good guys.  But Avry has her reservations because they want her to heal someone she doesn't believe is a good person.  Through a lot of witty banter and lots of saving of lives we come to love the band of rogues that hauls Avry across the country (or countries, kingdoms, whatever).  We laugh, we cry and we totally fall for their antics.

This book has a pretty fantastic romance as well even though it's not much of a romance in this book.  The two characters get to know each other, which I liked, I liked that emotion that grew between them over time.  I was surprisingly not annoyed with this romance (and how long it took to develop) and was happy with how it progressed even though there were times I wanted to smack Avry for being so blind.  I definitely think this is something that will be even better in the next book.

I really could go on about everything, but really all you need to know is that it has great characters (good and evil), has fantastic world building, and will keep you on your toes and with a smile on your face. Absolutely stunning start to what is sure to be a new favorite series for me.

Book Review: Outside In (Insiders #2) by Maria V. Snyder

Title: Outside In (Insiders #2)
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Details: Paperback, 326 pgs.
Published: March 1st, 2011 by Harlequin Teen
isbn: 0373210116 (ISBN13: 9780373210114)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Source: Amazon Vine, Publisher, for Review


Description:

Me? A Leader? Okay, I did prove that there's more to Inside than we knew. That a whole world exists beyond this cube we live in. And finding that led to a major rebellion - between worker scrubs like me and the snobby uppers who rule our world. Make that ruled. Because of me, we're free. I thought that meant I was off the hook, and could go off on my own again - while still touching base with Riley, of course. He's the one upper I think I can trust. But then we learned that there's outside and then there is Outside. And something from Outside wants In.

This book was one of those intense ones that your guessing the whole time.  Guessing what's going to happen, guessing who's bad and who's good, etc.  And it's really intense because the need to know is so strong!   I really didn't know who was bad and who was good and every time I'd guess I was wrong!  I have to say that was really the best part of this book was never knowing what was going to happen.


I thought the last one was good, but this was even better, I think.  I knew what to expect as far as the world goes so I wasn't so busy soaking up that info and the story was able to go deeper in the twisty-ness.  It was pretty awesome.


The characters were awesome and we really got a chance to watch them grow and form opinions on how they wanted things to run on Inside.  Unfortunately there's a lot of different opinions and Trella really doesn't want the responsibility.  She learns the hard way that she's needed though, they need to count on her to help them all see the big picture.  And when things start exploding and their whole 'world' could be in peril she starts to realize that she's needed to unite the lowers and uppers.  But then they discover that there's someone Outside and they want in.  But are they good?  Or are they bad?  


The end came with a pretty good conclusion.  It could work as the end of the story, but it could be continued in another.  I really hope that there's going to be another book,  but if there isn't, I can live with where things left off.

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Disclosure: I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.