Book Review: Scent of Magic (Healer #2) - Maria V.Snyger

YA - Lounge

Book Review:  Scent of Magic - Maria V.Snyder

Scent of Magic ( #Healer 2)  by Maria V. Snyder

Hunted, Killed—Survived?

Release Date: December 18, 2012

Publisher: Harlequin MIRA

Source: NetGalley
Rating: Snore!

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

Death Lilys and the Walking Dead

I loved Touch of Power (Healer #1) the first book in this trilogy
In fact I loved the first book so much that I went on to read the entire Study series and started the Glass series. Healer #1 started my foray into the fantasy genre. I loved to read fantasy when I was a young teen, when Tamora Pierce was one of my favorite authors, but I somehow lost sight of the awesome book-genre that is fantasy and started to read adult contemporary fiction and YA-contemporary. So of course I was over the moon when I finally got my hands on Scent of Magic through the awesomeness that is Netgalley. That was last year. It took me a while to read it.
The Scent of Magic is sadly one of these typical *middle, second in a trilogy book*. It has a slow start, many flashbacks and *explaining the plot from the previous book* and non-logical exasperating decision-making from Avry.

Different to the first book, the story in the second book is told from two POVs. We still have Avry's but now also Kerrick's voice. To be completely honest I found Kerrick's story a lot more interesting than Avry's. He was a mysterious entity in the first book and now we get to see a little glimpse of his thoughts and feelings. But also his storyline was more action filled than Avry's which seemed to be at a standstill.

Avry and Kerrick spend a lot of time apart in this book. I missed the banter and the arguing. For me it also made Avry a much weaker character than in the first book, where she was a headstrong, independent young woman with extraordinary abilities. In Scent of Magic a big chunk of Avry's thoughts are occupied with missing Kerrick, feeling lonely without him, wondering if he's ok and still alive. I missed the slow-burn, the bubbling passion between these two. Now that they are in love and together it got a bit predictable and boring.

Also, what is it with dying in these books? Seriously!

All in all this is just *transition* book for me, a bridge I have to cross to get to the big Finale. But there are still some awesome scenes in it, and it was nice to spend time with Avry and the Monkeys again, to read about the different magicians and all the obstacles this world still has to face before there can be Peace. An enjoyable read with a somewhat slow start. With an ending that makes you want to pick up the third book without delay.