January 20, 2013

Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder


Title: Touch of Power (Healer #1)
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Publisher: Mira
Release date: December 20th 2011

Rating: 4.5/5

Buy onAmazon | B&N | BookDepository

Read an excerpt here
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 don´t read too much epic fantasy as I should, and Touch of Power is the first book I´ve read by Maria V. Snyder, though I've read good reviews of Poison Study (a book by the same author), and because of this, I decided to read this series or trilogy.

Touch of Power tells the story of  Avry of Kazan a 20 years old young woman, she´s strong, smart, stubborn, strong-minded, she can take care of herself. She´s a healer that can heal by simply touching a person, the only drawback is that she absorbs and suffers the illness or injury of the person she´s healing, the gift that she has, at some time was well appreciated by everyone, but after a plague that killed two-thirds of the population of the Fifteen Realms,the healers were blamed for the plague and persecuted, so Avry for the last three years has been in hiding and trying to survive but at the beginning of the story she is about to give up. But when she is rescued-captured by a group of men led by Kerrick, with the sole intention of taking her  to heal a prince who has the plague and to which Avry has no respect or care about, but it is thanks to this group of "bandits" that she finds some meaning in her life

Within the group of "bandits" Kerrick is their leader, he´s just as stubborn as Avry, hard to understand, as he almost never shows any kind of emotion and his only goal is to save his prince, and at first I didn´t like him very much because of the way he treats Avry, but my opinion of him changed as the story goes on.

Other important characters in the story are the rest of the gang, which are Belen, he´s my favorite character in this book, he´s Kerrick´s best friend, he has a huge heart and he´s Avry´s protector, there are also Loren and Quain, they´re funny and ease the tension in the group and finally we have Flea, he´s the youngest of the gang and is a character that is impossible not to love.

I  loved Touch of Power!  is a great book, it has action, intrigue, a subtle romance with great characters, even the villain is great (a little bit mentally unbalanced but I like him as a villian) ! I highly recommend this book.

UK Book Trailer

13 comments:

  1. I have yet to read an books by Maria V. Snyde but this book as piqued my interest! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm interested. I'd like to know what happens to Avry and why the people blamed the healers for the plague.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I loved it too, but Poison Study is still my fave by her.
    Happy reading,
    Brandi @ Blkosiner’s Book Blog

    ReplyDelete
  5. This author is new to me but this sounds great!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great review. I have this book but I haven't had a chance to read it yet. SOunds like when I do, I will be in for a treat!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is one I havent heard about before. Sounds like a great book! Thanks for your review :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. This book is on my TBR list because the story looks so unique and interesting! I'm glad to read how much you liked it and that it has plenty of action and intrigue! I can't wait to read it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I keep seeing great reviews for this series. I think you've convinced me to move it up the list of books to read soon. Thanks for your thoughts! It really looks like an interesting story.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I haven't heard of this author yet, but I'm giving this a try since I love fantasy:)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I have been meaning to read something from this author forever. I just never get around to it. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh, great review! Now I really want to read this series. One of my favorite pairings is between stubborn characters. I think I will like this one!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love Snyder's book and this is an auto buy as far as I'm concerned.

    ReplyDelete