So sorry that we haven't posted much these last few days! Our annoyingly stressful school stuff is finally over now though, so we can really get on with reviews. This is one of the reviews we wanted to post earlier, but didn't get to. Reviews for Legend and Prodigy both by Marie Lu, as well as The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead are work in progress. You can expect them sometimes next week.
Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder
Steph’s Rating: 4 stars
Dani’s rating: 5 stars
Overall rating: 4.5 stars
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Publication Date: December 18th, 2012
Pages: 414
Goodreads Synopsis:
Hunted, Killed—Survived?
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.
Steph’s Review:
Maria...Maria...this could’ve been so much better. I fell absolutely in
love with the Healer world after book 1, Touch of Power. The characters
were amazing, the plot was stunning, the romance was smoky. Perfect! I
just have to say that I love book 1 a lot more than Scent of Magic. Book
2 left me a little disappointed.
Scent of Magic starts off right where T.O.P. left off, when a Peace
Lily saves Avry from almost certain death. The world thinks she is dead,
since there has never been a survivor of the lethal plague. Avry
finally gets the reprieve she’s longed for, sort of. She can move around
much more freely than before, as long as she hides her infamous healer
face. Using this to her advantage, she splits with Kerrick and goes to
infiltrate Estrid and Jael’s army against Tohon, while Kerrick returns
to his own kingdom to rally his army.
Rewind. She splits with Kerrick.
This is one of the points that made Scent of Magic disappointing in my
opinion. I don’t mean they broke up or anything, but they aren’t seen
together for almost all of
the book. I missed the sarcastic banter and sweet romance between them.
It was one of the things that absorbed me into T.O.P. so much. The
original gang I loved is in shambles. Flea dead, Belen, Loren, and Quain
are in one direction, Kerrick in the other, and Avry in yet another!
Scent
of Magic is told in dual POV’s by Kerrick and Avry. There are basically
two plots going on, one with the main character Kerrick, and the other
with Avry. They’re on two completely different agendas, which kind of
irked me off because I wish they had some show time together.
If you haven’t read S.O.M. yet, you might be squealing your head off
right now hearing about Kerrick POV. I know I was. Yes, he is one swoony
boy, but not exactly the best narrator. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I
actually was dreading to read Kerrick POV sometimes because all of the
interesting stuff happens in Avry’s story. His narration was actually
quite dull in comparison.
Okay
now onto the good stuff. As I said before, all of the interesting stuff
happens in Avry’s POV. She infiltrates Jael’s army, who is her
arch-nemesis, and it’s really interesting watching Avry trying evade
Jael finding out her true identity! There were lots of close calls that
honestly left me shaking a little. I especially liked how Snyder
basically ended each Avry chapter with a mini-cliffhanger! I think she
has earned herself the title: 2nd Queen of Cliffhangers (after JLA of
course :D). It made me want to read the next chapter so badly, which is
probably why I found Kerrick chapters bland. Along with trying to fit
in, Avry is trying her best to win her sister Noelle over again (I do
not like that girl). There was a huge twist in the plot right at the
end, and I did not see it coming! Actually there are several twists, but
there is one biggy that left me completely reeling for the next book.
I’m also wondering about Tohon’s feelings for Avry...real? Or just
ambition? Scent of Magic is full of intrigue, and will keep your mind
spinning in all directions!
While
this was a little disappointing, I will continue to read this series.
The final installment, Taste of Death will be out at the end of 2013,
and I am eager to see how Maria V. Snyder will conclude this series!
Dani’s commentary:
I disagree with Steph on some of her points. I didn’t find Avry and
Kerrick’s separation terrible to read about because of the amazing plot.
I didn’t find Kerrick’s half of the plot bland at all. I loved to see
the world from Kerrick’s perspective and laugh about all the people and
things he found annoying. One of the funniest parts in the entire book
is when he is bickering with his brother! It was so cute and romantic
when both were pining and dreaming about each other in consecutive
chapters. Kerrick constantly calculated the amount of days it would take
to travel from his current location to where Avry was. <3
To
elaborate about the “amazing plot”, both embark on similar yet
completely different quests. New characters and new information are
introduced. Avry finds new companions in a Estrid’s army and Kerrick
meets “the tribes”, a new people with different culture, rituals, and a
completely new type of MAGIC.
I don’t think that “all the good stuff happens in Avry’s POV” as Steph
said. Um, Steph, is torture (in Kerrick’s POV) boring to you?
I
do agree that Snyder is the Queen of Cliffhangers. There’s not much
that I can say about the plot without spoiling anything, but I will say
that in Scent of Magic we readers learn so much more about the Peace
Lilies and Death Lilies! These giant lilies are the most unique and
complex creation that I have ever read about! *Applauds Ms. Snyder*
