Pages

Saturday 12 January 2013

A Review for Scent of Magic (Healer #2) by Maria V.Synder

Scent of Magic (Avry of Kazan, #2)
Posted by Donna
Release Date: December 18th, 2012
Finished Date: December 19th, 2012
Publishers: Mira Ink
Source: For Review 
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 400
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

Hunted, Killed—Survived?

As the last Healer in the Fifteen Realms, Avery 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, Avery 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, Avery 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 Avery is alone. Unless she figures out how to do the impossible ... again.

The Review: Maria V. Synder is back with the highly awaited sequel to her phenomenal Touch of Power series with Scent of Magic. In book two, we see Avry go into hiding and try to help take down Tohon and his army. Then we have Kerrick who returns to his home - Alga, to summon his kingdom to help win the war. As Avry and Kerrick both take two separate journeys, we get alternative points of view from them and well, we all wanted more Kerrick and we sure do get it with this instalment. Yay!! 

It was fantastic to be back with these characters and in this wonderful and believable world that Maria V. Synder has created and, if anything, I've fallen in love with this world even more. The more I find out about it, the more I want to know and as a reader, we do find out a lot about Avry's world this time around. How many of you had questions about the peace lillies and Avry's connection to them? And how many of you had questions over King Tohon's army? In all honestly, it's impossible to not have any questions about this series but Maria V. Synder definitely does a fantastic job by giving you just the right information at the right time and answering many of them unanswered questions. I love how this story is so unpredictable and it leaves you guessing all the way through. 

“We don't take orders from you, Sergeant." Quain said. "Your man tried to assassinate-"
"He isn't mine. My man has eyes that change color with the seasons.” - Avry


The characters; Avry is an epic character - one of the best female leads out there right now. Kerrick is an unforgettable love interest but he's so much more than that. He's a warrior, a natural one that will do anything to protect the ones he loves. Then of course we have the monkey's and Poppa bear. Talk about fantastic secondary characters. They're full of fun, humour and love, they're also very protective of Avry, they love her just like a sister and you can really see how much. I adore they're scenes together because they're such a joy to read about. And then there's Tohon - evil, horrid Tohon - who I can't stand but he does make an excellent villain. This series simply has some of the best characters around! Hands down! 

"You had me tied in knots. You saved Belen's life, and I wanted to kill and thank you all at the same time. And during those nights when we didn't know if you'd live or die, I went from being angry, to worried to frustrated to scared all within a single heartbeat. If you had die, I would have killed you." - Kerrick

Despite how much I enjoyed this sequel, Touch of Power in my eyes was always going to be a hard act to follow and while I don't think Scent of Magic was as good, it was still very enjoyable. I felt as though parts of the story dragged. Especially Kerrick's part. Even now, a few weeks after reading the book, I kind of feel like Kerrick's story was a little bit of a filler story. We don't find out the purpose of his journey - well not really. The only thing I can think of was it's intentional by the author and his story might play a bigger part in the third book, otherwise I don't see why it needed to be there. But I guess I'll find out soon with Taste of Death. 

12 comments:

Vivienne Dacosta said...

This is the next on my Kindle to be read. I feel like I am stalking you Kindle book wise as I am just reading Hooked. I loved the first book in the Scent of Magic series so can't wait for this one.

Suzanne @ Paranormal Book Fan said...

I've been unsure of whether to pick up this series or not. And while you loved Touch of Power, this sequel didn't seem to quite live up to your expectations. Hmm it's one I'll have to think about.....Lovely review deary :)

laura carter said...

I absolutely loved the first book in this series and this book is the next i am going to read. Maria V Snyder is one of my favourite authors :)

DonnasReviews said...

Thanks Viv! I did love this one just not as much! Hope you enjoy it!

DonnasReviews said...

Suzanne, read it hun, it's amazing but maybe wait until book three is out. Lol.

DonnasReviews said...

Thanks Laura. I seriously need to pick up her other series soon! =)

Suzanne @ Paranormal Book Fan said...

Yeah maybe I will when the full series is released. I'm getting so fed up with long waits for sequels. Sometimes I find I've gone off the idea of the book by the time the sequel comes out. I'm not going to read Cinder either, I'm going to wait for the full series :)

Kelly Fox said...

I think this was book was more of a set up for what will happen next. I have ideas about that and I hope I am right.

Brodie said...

I actually haven't been crazy excited to start this, despite loving Touch of Power. But reading your review.... I think it was the boost I needed! I like that we get two separate journeys from Avry and Kerrick, which no doubt makes when their shorter time together all the more sweeter. I LOVED the secondary characters so much in TOP! I'm so happy to haer they're still as awesome as ever. Fantastic review!

DonnasReviews said...

That's how I feel Kelly...well I hope we're right otherwise I guess I'd be more disappointed.

DonnasReviews said...

Thank you Brodie!! I so need to start her other series, the magic one - so many people loved it. Hope you get chance to read SoM! =)

Anonymous said...

Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom.

1mEds http://www.cheapuggbootsan.com/
hObm http://www.michaelkorsoutletez.com/
pUpi http://www.cheapfashionshoesam.com/
8lAst http://www.burberryoutletxi.com/
2yUxv http://www.nflnikejerseysshopxs.com/
7cLgd http://www.coachfactoryoutlesa.com/
2kLyn 1vGiv 7hWgt 1wWmf 2uWku 2fMzp 4aBlm 5wWyz 2gIfg

 
Design by Imagination Designs
Graphics by Octopus Artis