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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
I've had this book for a while and finally had the chance to read it. Several things reminded me of the Poison Study series (which I enjoyed). Looking forward to reading more!
I enjoyed this and I liked how Avry made up her own mind about whether toheal Ryne or not and nothing Kerrick did changed her mind. However, I was extrememly disappointed my the romantic element. I didn't like the hero at all and honestly don't see why Avry would either. He was horrible to her without any good reason (and no I don't think trying to force her to heal before even trying change her mind with words was a good enough reason). Maybe if it was his child who was sick and he had tried convince her other ways first but that doesnt happen. He basically says heal him, Avry says no I'm leaving so he hits her and chains her to a tree - what an a-hole. Nothing in the story or events excuses his behaviour. And even after he changed his tactics he still wasn't that nice and a I certainly never felt like there was any real connection or interaction between the 2 that would account for them being in love.
Good things: I like the world building. The system of magic is pretty interesting, as is the plague that killed so many before the book started. Avry was an interesting and well rounded character, and I liked Belen a lot.
Meh things: I honestly could have done without the sexual assault, even if it was just limited to kissing. What was implied was gross enough. Tohon would have been more interesting as a villain if he hadn't been so one dimensional. I mean, he so we're all well aware he's pretty evil.
Bad things: I just couldn't get behind Kerrick. I wanted to like him, but he was so awful to her in the beginning it made
THE ANACHRONISMS. I fully expect that not everyone has an issue with this, but so many people are more forgiving of LOTS of things than I am. At some point the boys say they're going to celebrate by drinking champagne. CHAMPAGNE. As in, sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France. France. F R A N C E. When Snyder has given no indication that this world exists on the same world as France. Just say celebrate, say wine, say mead or beer or ale or whatever. Don't say champagne, buds.
I was describing the book to Tess over phone and had to knock off another star.
Meh things: I honestly could have done without the sexual assault, even if it was just limited to kissing. What was implied was gross enough. Tohon would have been more interesting as a villain if he hadn't been so one dimensional. I mean, he
Spoiler
frickin kills childrenBad things: I just couldn't get behind Kerrick. I wanted to like him, but he was so awful to her in the beginning it made
Spoiler
the declaration of love (or at least, Tohon telling her Kerrick loved her) seem as unbelievable to the reader as it was to Avry. Up until she heads off with Sepp to let herself get caught by Tohon she doesn't like him much, and then all of a sudden he says he loves her and she's like "oh sure, I can get behind that." Uhhhhhh. Also like. He hits her. And ties her up for weeks. At this point falling in love with him AS WELL smacks of Stockholm Syndrome.THE ANACHRONISMS. I fully expect that not everyone has an issue with this, but so many people are more forgiving of LOTS of things than I am. At some point the boys say they're going to celebrate by drinking champagne. CHAMPAGNE. As in, sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France. France. F R A N C E. When Snyder has given no indication that this world exists on the same world as France. Just say celebrate, say wine, say mead or beer or ale or whatever. Don't say champagne, buds.
I was describing the book to Tess over phone and had to knock off another star.
(originally published at http://www.emsreviewsbooks.com/2011/12/review-touch-of-power-by-maria-v-snyder.html)
Ahhhh...I love being back in the realm of fantasy with Maria V. Snyder. She's one of my favorite fantasy authors and I'm reminded why.
She's created another fantastic world, complete with Peace and Death Lilies, crazed rulers trying to grab territory, and magical powers that span the elements. I'm a huge fan of her world-building. Her other fantasy series are among my favorites because of this. On the one hand, it's like she's taken things that we know and love about our world and used them, and on the other hand, it's a whole new dimension. I love both the familiar and the new.
Her characters are another strong point. They're relatable, they're real, and they're flawed. Their flaws just serve to make them believable. I've never liked the Superman-types. Oh, they're fine to look at, but in the end, *yawn* they've just saved the day...again...I get bored with them. Snyder's characters are never in danger of becoming boring.
The story is wonderful too. There's enough conflict and compromise going on to satisfy anyone, and there isn't ever a moment when it becomes laughable because it's strayed into the completely ridiculous. Does that even make sense? I guess what I'm trying to say is that Snyder makes her characters work for plot resolution instead of just having it handed to them on a silver platter. We see things come into play that the characters discovered themselves after trial and error. The 'aha' moments are worked for, never handed out. You know, no deus ex machina here. Thank goodness.
With Touch of Power, Snyder is back doing what she does best...giving us a taste of what we had in the Poison Study series and the Glass series. Yes!! (Don't get me wrong-I really liked the Inside Out duo, but I love her fantasies better.) I'll have you know that even though I got an ARC of this one, I've also preordered the book itself. It's one that I'll read again and again. It gets a 'Pick Me' rating for being awesome!
Ahhhh...I love being back in the realm of fantasy with Maria V. Snyder. She's one of my favorite fantasy authors and I'm reminded why.
She's created another fantastic world, complete with Peace and Death Lilies, crazed rulers trying to grab territory, and magical powers that span the elements. I'm a huge fan of her world-building. Her other fantasy series are among my favorites because of this. On the one hand, it's like she's taken things that we know and love about our world and used them, and on the other hand, it's a whole new dimension. I love both the familiar and the new.
Her characters are another strong point. They're relatable, they're real, and they're flawed. Their flaws just serve to make them believable. I've never liked the Superman-types. Oh, they're fine to look at, but in the end, *yawn* they've just saved the day...again...I get bored with them. Snyder's characters are never in danger of becoming boring.
The story is wonderful too. There's enough conflict and compromise going on to satisfy anyone, and there isn't ever a moment when it becomes laughable because it's strayed into the completely ridiculous. Does that even make sense? I guess what I'm trying to say is that Snyder makes her characters work for plot resolution instead of just having it handed to them on a silver platter. We see things come into play that the characters discovered themselves after trial and error. The 'aha' moments are worked for, never handed out. You know, no deus ex machina here. Thank goodness.
With Touch of Power, Snyder is back doing what she does best...giving us a taste of what we had in the Poison Study series and the Glass series. Yes!! (Don't get me wrong-I really liked the Inside Out duo, but I love her fantasies better.) I'll have you know that even though I got an ARC of this one, I've also preordered the book itself. It's one that I'll read again and again. It gets a 'Pick Me' rating for being awesome!
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
4.6 stars
This was a hard hitting adventure. The world is brutal, and the people are hardened from it. The magic system was interesting, the political system was mess lead by several deeply evil people. The injustice of it all and how people lived in these situations is harrowing. The main characters are well done. They pull your heart strings from the beginning.
This was a hard hitting adventure. The world is brutal, and the people are hardened from it. The magic system was interesting, the political system was mess lead by several deeply evil people. The injustice of it all and how people lived in these situations is harrowing. The main characters are well done. They pull your heart strings from the beginning.
This book blew me away. I love the connection that Avry had with the monkeys... especially Belen. I'm a big fan of his. I was not a fan of Kerrick at all in the beginning of their travels, and for good reason. How did he think his treatment of her would make her want to help him? Just didn't make any sense at all. Interesting story. I will be reading the next one.
I was recommended to read this book by the site and at first, I was a bit unsure because it wasn't normally the type of book I would read but When I started to read the book I instantly fell in love with the story and characters. Have you ever felt that amazing feeling of book chemistry? Where you just love everything from the story to the characters? I say you should definitely pick up this book because it is amazing---an absolute work of art. Sadly, it has it's some huge flaws. Although, the chemistry I felt while reading it, was undeniable. This may or may not be my second or third time re-reading this book within the last year.
Touch of Power is about a Healer named Avry of Kazan, a twenty-year-old girl with an ability to take the take the illness and wounds of an injured or ill person into herself. Intriguing, right? Her body is able to heal faster than a normal human. She can also use her to zap people with excruciating pain and make them unconscious. When the plague swept through the fifteen realms, killing millions of people, the blame was placed on the healers and so they started to hunt and kill every healer.
For three years, Avry had eluded the bounty hunters and the people-in general-who want her dead. It all comes to an end, when Avry heals a sick young girl and is to weak flee thus gets caught and thrown in jail. She is saved/kidnapped by a group of men (Kerrick, Belen, Loren, Quain and Flea) who want her to heal Prince Ryne whom Avry refuses because she has her own reasons for not wanting to heal him.
First off, Avry is a wonderful main characters who tends to puts other's lives ahead of herself. She is witty, and stands her ground when she knows she's right. Although she has a tongue she knows when to keep her mouth shut. I felt very much connected to her from the first page I started to read. It was also very early on where I knew I'd love Belen, Loren, Quain and Flea. Each one of them had a quality about them that makes you wish that you could actually meet them. That's what Touch of Power does so well with its characters.
All except when it came to Kerrick: an an alpha male with a tendency to brood and only spoke to give orders. The majority of the book, Kerrick views Avry as nothing but a means to an end. She there's to heal Prince Ryne and nothing more. But did he really have to be such an ass?
I'm going to break my no-spoiler-review, just once, to talk about chapter three. Or the ending of chapter three.
Besides, how could it get worse? Only it did. Not that he abused her again, but he tied her to a tree at night without a blanket as a punishment (for something that happens after the slap) and a tactic to get her to heal Prince Ryne.
Although through the rest of the book, he does get better as character, I couldn't forget what he did in the first half of book.
I knew that there was going to be romance between Avry and Kerrick. When it happened I was a little surprised, but I was okay with it. I didn't support it, but, I didn't hate it either. To be honest, I would never in a million years get with a man who would slapped me in a fit of rage, let alone advise someone else too. It was why I couldn't root for the relationship because of what he did.
There's an almost attempt at a love triangle except it's one-side thing between Avry and King Tohon. He doesn't even really care about her, he just doesn't want her to be with Kerrick. He's controlling, slightly delusion and has a bit of temper.
If you think about it what does Avry really have to choose from? Because both guys kinda suck. Even Belen would have been a better option than Tohon and Kerrick.
It's a great book, yes, it does take a long long long while for the characters to get from point A to point B, but it was to show Avry bonding with the group which felt raw and real. The writing was simple but held my attention. Although, it failed at romance, everything else about it was strong. It's why I'm giving this book a solid 4.5 stars. If it was purely emotional I'd give it five stars, but I need to dock points because of it flaws.
Touch of Power is about a Healer named Avry of Kazan, a twenty-year-old girl with an ability to take the take the illness and wounds of an injured or ill person into herself. Intriguing, right? Her body is able to heal faster than a normal human. She can also use her to zap people with excruciating pain and make them unconscious. When the plague swept through the fifteen realms, killing millions of people, the blame was placed on the healers and so they started to hunt and kill every healer.
For three years, Avry had eluded the bounty hunters and the people-in general-who want her dead. It all comes to an end, when Avry heals a sick young girl and is to weak flee thus gets caught and thrown in jail. She is saved/kidnapped by a group of men (Kerrick, Belen, Loren, Quain and Flea) who want her to heal Prince Ryne whom Avry refuses because she has her own reasons for not wanting to heal him.
First off, Avry is a wonderful main characters who tends to puts other's lives ahead of herself. She is witty, and stands her ground when she knows she's right. Although she has a tongue she knows when to keep her mouth shut. I felt very much connected to her from the first page I started to read. It was also very early on where I knew I'd love Belen, Loren, Quain and Flea. Each one of them had a quality about them that makes you wish that you could actually meet them. That's what Touch of Power does so well with its characters.
All except when it came to Kerrick: an an alpha male with a tendency to brood and only spoke to give orders. The majority of the book, Kerrick views Avry as nothing but a means to an end. She there's to heal Prince Ryne and nothing more. But did he really have to be such an ass?
I'm going to break my no-spoiler-review, just once, to talk about chapter three. Or the ending of chapter three.
". . . I'd gone to far. With a strangled cry, Kerrick lost his temper. Belen lunged toward Kerrick and I raised an arm to block Kerrick's strike, but we were both to slow. Kerrick backhanded me across my cheek. The force of the blow sent me to the ground.".WHAT?! WHAT?! JERKWAD DID WHAT NOW?! That slap. I have no words to describe my anger. The inner feminist inside me wanted to quit reading, but the reader in me wanted to continue.
Besides, how could it get worse? Only it did. Not that he abused her again, but he tied her to a tree at night without a blanket as a punishment (for something that happens after the slap) and a tactic to get her to heal Prince Ryne.
Although through the rest of the book, he does get better as character, I couldn't forget what he did in the first half of book.
I knew that there was going to be romance between Avry and Kerrick. When it happened I was a little surprised, but I was okay with it. I didn't support it, but, I didn't hate it either. To be honest, I would never in a million years get with a man who would slapped me in a fit of rage, let alone advise someone else too. It was why I couldn't root for the relationship because of what he did.
There's an almost attempt at a love triangle except it's one-side thing between Avry and King Tohon. He doesn't even really care about her, he just doesn't want her to be with Kerrick. He's controlling, slightly delusion and has a bit of temper.
If you think about it what does Avry really have to choose from? Because both guys kinda suck. Even Belen would have been a better option than Tohon and Kerrick.
It's a great book, yes, it does take a long long long while for the characters to get from point A to point B, but it was to show Avry bonding with the group which felt raw and real. The writing was simple but held my attention. Although, it failed at romance, everything else about it was strong. It's why I'm giving this book a solid 4.5 stars. If it was purely emotional I'd give it five stars, but I need to dock points because of it flaws.
The protagonist was too go with the flow.
I did NOT like her main love interest. I feel like from the starting point of when they met, there could have been better development. He treated her horribly.
The conclusion wasn't what I expected. But honestly, I don't think I will be reading the sequel because the characters did not have enough depth for me to care what happens to them next. I'm sorry.
I did NOT like her main love interest. I feel like from the starting point of when they met, there could have been better development. He treated her horribly.
The conclusion wasn't what I expected. But honestly, I don't think I will be reading the sequel because the characters did not have enough depth for me to care what happens to them next. I'm sorry.
Pretty good read. I won't be chomping at the bit to read the sequel but I was invested in the characters enough that I'll probably still pick it up.