Early Review - Scent of Magic (Healer, Book 2) by Maria V. Snyder (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Size: 416 pages
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Release Date: December 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-0778314189
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Healer series
Source: eBook from Netgalley.com
Rating: 3/5 stars


This is the second book in the Healer trilogy by Snyder. I didn’t like this book as much as the first book, it was pretty much a war and strategy fantasy read. It’s missing a lot of the mystery, adventure, and romance we saw in the first book. I recommend reading the first book before picking up this one.

Avry leaves Kirran and infiltrates the holy army both to try and catch up to her sister Noell and to do what she can to fight against Tohon. Kerrick is sent back to Alga to deal with a different invasion and battle.

I didn't like this book as much as the first in this series. Nearly the whole book has Avry fighting in one part of the battle while Kerrick is sent to Alga to deal with a battle on a different front. I honestly thought the whole thing was pretty boring. Lots of battle strategy talk and intrigue but not a ton of action. We don’t get any of the tense interplay between Kerrick and Avry; the monkeys are split up for much of the book as well.

I didn’t feel like any of the characters grew or changed much throughout this book. Avry does learn more about the Lilies and she does grow some in power. Kerrick does finally realize that he neglected his home kingdom while he was trying to find a cure for the Prince. Outside of that it was all preparing for battle and then a face-off between Tohon’s undead army and the holy army.

There isn’t a ton of action. Avry is masquerading as a sergeant and spends a lot of the book teaching soldiers how to move silently through the forest. When she isn’t doing that she is trying to hide what she is, and she doesn’t do a very good job keeping her secret.

The best part of this whole story is the mystery surrounding the Death/Peace Lilies. Avry does interact with the Lilies quite a bit in this book. Rather than get answers though, we are mostly left with more questions.

The book is decently written, I just had a lot of trouble staying engaged with the story. Not a lot happens and I didn’t care much about the characters by the end of it all. Since most of the major characters are separated we don’t get the fun rapport between characters that we did in the first book.

Overall an okay addition to the series, but lacking in the adventure, mystery, and romance of the first book. The book is well written but mostly focuses on battle and strategy...not things I enjoy reading about. We don’t get the witty dialogue between Avry, Kerrick, and the monkeys since they are separated most of the book. So in the end I had a lot of trouble engaging with the story and caring about these characters. At this point I am uncertain whether or not I will read the final book in this trilogy. I would recommend reading Snyder’s Poison Study series instead of this one, that is a much better story.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Zombie Reading Challenge
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge

Early Review - Touch of Power (Healer, Book 1) by Maria V. Snyder (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Size: 400 pages
Publisher: Mira
Release Date: December 20, 2011
ISBN: 978-0778313076
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Healer series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

I got an eGalley of this book through NetGalley.com. This is the first book in Snyder's new Healer series. Previously I have read the Poison Study series (which I loved) and the first book in the Glass series (which I didn't love that much at all). For me this book was somewhere between those two. I enjoyed it and am excited to see what comes next for this series.

Avry of Kazan is a healer who has been on the run for nearly two years. Her and her kind are now hunted because it is believe that Healers caused the plague that wiped a good portion of humanity. When Avry is abducted by a group of rogues she thinks they are after the reward money that they will get for turning in a Healer. She is surprised to find out they actually want her to use her healing skills to heal a prince of the realm. Now Avry must decide if healing the prince and helping the realm attain peace is worth the ultimate cost, her life.

For me this book was better than the first one in the Glass series but not as good as the Poison Study series. Avry is an interesting character; I loved that as a healer she has to take on the injuries of her patients and I love how that forces her to balance what she does. Although she is intriguing, Avry still never really captured my heart like Yolana did in Poison study. Kerrick is the lead rogue, and as such ends up being the male lead. I didn't like him as much as the male lead in Poison Study; he comes off as a bit of a jerk at first. I did grow to like his character over time and understood him more as the story progressed; I still didn't think he was the strongest lead though. There are lots of very intriguing side characters. Snyder does an excellent job of making the side characters realistic and interesting.

The world building is one of the strongest points of this book. Snyder expands on the interesting world she has created with the previous two series. This book, of course, focuses on healing powers but also touches on life and death magic. I enjoy the magic system it is creative and interesting. I loved the inclusion of the peace and death lilies and loved how they were tied into the story; this added a little something special and mysterious to the story and I really enjoyed it. I am eager to see how the Lilies tie into the future books.

The plot is well done and the writing style is easy to read. Those who liked Snyder's previous series will enjoy this one as well. The premises are very similar. A girl in a tough situation with special powers meets a man she initially can't stand and then falls in love with; woven around that core are politics and danger. Don't get me wrong it's a good premise for a story and I enjoy it; it is just similar to what Snyder's done previously.

Overall I enjoyed this opening book to Snyder's Healer series. The characters are well done (although they didn't capture my heart like the Poison Study ones did), the world is intriguing, and the plot well done. Fans of Snyder's previous books should enjoy this new series. Fans of fantasy with adventure and romance thrown in will also find a lot to love.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 100+ Reading Challenge
- E-book Reading Challenge
- Fantasy Reading Challenge

Storm Glass (Glass, Book 1) by Maria V. Snyder (3/5 stars)

This is the first book in the Glass trilogy by Maria v. Snyder. This book follows Opal, the glass maker involved in some of the Poison Study stories. It was an okay book; but the characters lack a lot of the charisma seen in the Poison Study series. I actually listened to this on audio book and the audio book was very well done.

Something is wrong with the Stormdancers' orbs. Storm season has almost arrived and two Stormdancers have been killed by shattering orbs. Opal and her mentor are sent to the Stormdancer clan to see if they can help fix the glass the orbs are created out of. There Opal meets Kade the only surviving Stormdancer in the clan. Upon completion of that mission Opal is sent on a mission with her hated classmate, Pazia, to look into some black market diamonds and also tasked with building a glass shop in the keep. The incidents with the orbs and the diamonds seem intertwined, but how? Can Opal figure out what is going in without getting into too much trouble?

The plot and storyline were very well done. Snyder does well creating intricate plots and has a nice writing style that is descriptive, serene, and easy to read. The world of Citia is well thought out and this series flows seamlessly with the first series. The adventures get a bit overdone; you feel like Opal never has time to take a break she is constantly thrown from one panic to the next. This relentless pace make have had some impact on the biggest thing I didn't like about the book which was the characters.

Unfortunately Snyder missed the mark with the characters in this book. Opal is a hard character to like. She spends much of the book in uncertainty, constantly feeling sorry for herself, and needing constant assurance of how talented she is. For some reason the surrounding characters constantly tell Opal how clever and smart she is despite the fact that Opal is dense and always confused about what is going on. There were a number of times during the book where it took Opal many pages to realize that something straightforward was going to happen. My husband and I listened to this together; and many times we would end up rolling our eyes as it took Opal forever to think her way through something that we figured out instantly. Then Ulrik or Kade would be "Oh Opal you are so smart!" It was ridiculous. The story would have been much better without Opal. The only thing I did enjoy about Opal's character were the increasingly interesting powers she developed as the book went on.

The other characters were not much better. Ulrick, was boorish and selfish. I couldn't understand why Opal liked him, outside of the fact he was cute and could blow glass. The whole deal with Ulrick shadowing Opal was a bit overdone; I understood Ulrick was shadowing Opal, I didn't need as many reminders as Snyder gave. The villains were also fairly one dimensional; minimal time as given to their backgrounds or personalities. The only character I actually found interesting was Kade and he was out of the picture most of the time.

In summary the plot development and writing style were very similar to the Poison Study series. The characters in this book have none of the fire and spirit to them that Yelena and Valek did though. I think the book would have been vastly improved with either different or more in depth characterization. Will I read the second book in the series? I am not sure right now. Opal's character drove me nuts; she was just so dense. But, I do really like Kade, so following the rest of the story for his sake might be worth it. We will see.

Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder (4/5 stars)

This is the third book in the Poison Study series by Maria Snyder. In this book Yelena continues to discover what it is to be a Soulfinder. Yelena is trying to get permission from the Sitian Council to continue studying at the keep when she gets a message from Moon Man that he has found what she it seeking.

Yelena then travels to the plains to talk to Moon Man and ends up, once again, involved in battle with the Sandseeds as she tries to track down Ferda. Things end up being more complicated than Yelena initally knew and as the plot rushes along she ends up in a situation where she has to decide if her loyalties lie with Ixia or Sitia.

This was an adequate book for this series. I listened to it on audio book; the audio book quality was excellent. It was face-pasted and action-filled. Kiki and Valek are by far my favorite characters in this book. I liked the fact that Valek is in the book quite a bit more and that he still seems to know and see all.

I was disappointed in the path that the character of Moon Man took. I thought it was out of character for him to just step back and accept things like he did. I thought Yelena was more than a little dense throughout the book. Her Soulfinder powers seemed pretty obvious to me right at the beginning; yet it takes her until the end of the book to figure everything out. For some reason what happened with Roze Featherstone at the end of the book took me by surprise; I didn't really expect Roze to play as major of a role as she did. I found some of the debate between Ixia (military style government) and Sitian style government (more of a parliamentary style) to get a bit preachy at times; I suppose this discussion was inevitable given the political overtones of the book.


I still think that the strong point of this book is the cast of supporting characters. Kiki, Valek, Janco, Ari, and even Yelena's parents are, to me, much more interesting and likable characters than Yelena. This book seemed very well wrapped up at the end. I wonder if there will be another book; it is hard to tell. I kind of wish Snyder would just write the series from Valek's point of view; I think it would be more interesting!

Anyway, it was a good book. Just about what I expected. It would make a satisfying end to this series if that is what it is.

Magic Study by Maria Snyder (4/5 stars)

This sequel to Poison Study starts off shortly after that book ended. Yelena is on her way to Sitia to meet her family and to start her studies in magic with Iris. Of course nothing goes as planned and Yelena is having a hard time focusing on her studies because of all the things that keep happening to threaten the realm. Once again a threat rises that could be detrimental to both Sitia and Ixia and Yelena finds herself in the middle of it all; trying to find a way to save everyone.

This was a great book, if not quit as astounding to me as the first book. There are a number of new complex characters introduced throughout the book. Unfortunately I didn’t find many of the new characters to be nearly as likeable and engaging as the characters (from Ixia) in the first book. In fact I feel like this book really comes alive once the characters from Ixia join the plot again.

The above being said the book is non-stop action and the plot a complex set of intertwining political and personal events. This is another book that keeps you thinking during the read and wondering how all of the different strands of story will be neatly tied up by the end of the novel.

I think my main complaint about this novel would be an aspect of Yelena’s character. Yelena seems to rush off all the time into extremely dangerous situations without any thought as to the danger of them. I think this aspect of her character is played on too strongly and too often throughout the book. I mean Yelena is supposed to be very smart, yet I found her reasoning and logic as to why she had to be the one to put herself in danger to be unbelievable and not in keeping with her character.

Anway, this is a great book. Well written, smart, sassy, and high action. Valek is still my favorite character of the bunch; he is just so awesome. I am highly anticipating the next book of the series.

Here is a link to the book on amazon:

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder (5/5 stars)

I’ve been very curious about this book. Seeing it on Audible I downloaded it to listen to on the second half of our trip to South Dakota. I will start off by saying the audio book was done very well; very high quality production.

Yelena has been imprisoned with the ultimate punishment of death awaiting her; her crime is the murder of a man. As she takes what she believes to be her last steps before hanging by noose she is instead lead into the office of the Commander’s head of security, Valek. There she is given a choice; she can go to the noose or she can go through training to become the Commander’s food taster. Of course she chooses the second action. From this point on her live is full of the danger of food-tasting and of escaping the guards of the father of the man whom she killed. It is also filled with the kindness of a few special people and of Yelena’s exploration of here own abilities.

I loved this book. This book was a breath of fresh air after all the mediocrity I’ve read lately. The characters had a lot of depth and were very intriguing. I loved Yelena’s character and found her training as a food taster to be very interesting; I don’t think I’ve ever read anything on this subject before. The character of Valek is close to the top on my list of male characters that I love. He is just awesome in his skill, his depth, his humor and his loyalty. The Commander is another character with great depth and great interest. You really want to know all of these characters better; you want them to be a part of your life.

The book is exquisitely written and full of lush detail; yet there is wry sense of humor throughout the book that keeps the story from taking itself too seriously. The plot starts off simply and becomes more convoluted and intriguing as the book continues. There are many layers of political intrigue here that really keep your brain thinking and active. The characters are constantly evolving and surprising you. Yet somehow the book is an easy read (or listen). I found myself unable to leave the car because I needed to know what would happen next! This is one of those books that you will think about; I couldn’t wait to start the second one in the series.

A great book. I am very happy that I picked this one up; definitely one I will re-read. I will have to go and by the hardcover book just to have it in my collection of books that I absolutely adore.

Here is a link to the paper book on amazon: