Terrific Touch

4 gnomes out of 5 gnomes

This is a great introduction to a world that seems to be filled with magic and intriguing characters.  The world feels like a superb mix of the fantasy and dystopian genres. 

There are a lot of different magics in this world but also a horrible plague with no cure.  This has led to a disorganized mess when it comes to cities and government.  Even a plant in this world can kill you, the death lily description kind of made me think of Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors.  In some towns there were almost no people so that means that there's nobody to keep the peace and enforce laws.  This chaos and lack of unity means that some of the previous leaders are trying to take over the whole country.  There seem to be three options for their leader: The religious zealot, the guy who does horrible things for power, and the guy with the level head and a plan.

Avry is a healer, her power allows her to channel the injuries or sickness into herself to heal someone.  Healers used to be well respected but they were essentially shunned after the onset of this plague with no cure.  They were blamed and with no cure to be found the healers were seen as harming instead of helping and now most of them are dead.

After healing and getting caught Avry is rescued/kidnapped by a group that wants her to heal someone.  The leader of this group, Kerrick, has some secrets of his own that he's hiding.  I really didn't like him at first but he slowly grows on you, so far I don't think he's as good a male lead character as Varek from Magic Study was, but I do hope that he keeps growing as a character. 

One of my favorite side characters is Belan.  He's a great character especially when he threatens to rip a certain love interest's arms off if he hurts Avry again.  Belan is big like a bear and very protective of the group and Avry.  I hope to see more from this character in the next book.

The author is definitely not afraid to kill off characters and I know that one death really surprised me.  Though this death also gave Avry more drive to succeed.  All these characters have a lot to prove and even more to lose.  There is a lot of death and near death happenings. 

Overall this book is full of surprises and has an intense ending that seems to promise quite an interesting future.

"Waiting On" Wednesday - Touch of Power

"Waiting On"  Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. 

This week I'm waiting on...


Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

* Book will be released December 20, 2011
Check out the description from Goodreads:

"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 can't wait to read this book because if it's anything like Snyder's past books, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to love reading it.  It looks like this will be quite the interesting setting and have some intriguing characters.