Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder **Review**

This is a review for the second book in a series. If you haven't read Touch of Power, do not read this review, as it will contain spoilers for the first book. Click here to read my review for book one, Touch of Power.

Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder

Series: Avry of Kazan #2
Pages: 414
Publisher: Mira
Release date: 4th January 2013
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Waterstones

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Thanks to Mira for my review copy

Goodreads synopsis:

This is the second book in the series. If you haven't yet read Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder, but plan to, do not read this synopsis or review. To read my review of Touch of Power, click here.

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.

Having re-read Touch of Power and then followed up with reading this, I have been reminded of why I decided on Touch of Power as my favourite book of 2011. This series is truly something special; the world-building is spectacular, the characters seem like real people, and the creativity behind everything that goes into the books is above and beyond mostly anything else I've encountered. I am totally in love with these books.


The biggest, most obvious change in this, compared to Touch of Power, is that Avry and Kerrick no longer share the same story line. They part ways at the beginning of the novel, and go off on their separate missions. This means that the way the story is told also changes; for the first time, we get to see the world from Kerrick's point of view. Although the two of them were apart, and this was, in places, beyond frustrating (but not in a bad way), it was really interesting to see things from Kerrick's perspective. The only thing that could have made his chapters better would've been to have it in first person (we're getting technical with our words now!), rather than in third person, just so we could get into his head a little bit more.
I really enjoyed the direction that both Avry's and Kerrick's storylines took, though, and I don't think the story would have worked properly if they'd stayed together for the duration of the book - even though I did want them to be together again the whole time!

In Touch of Power I fell in love with Avry's character so much - I felt as though I had a real connection to her, and I really respected her for carrying on, despite the dangers that lay in wait for her around all corners. I didn't think it was possible, but I loved her character even more in Scent of Magic. She's no longer simply a healer, she's also a brilliant soldier. Seeing as everyone thinks she perished after healing Prince Ryne, she disguises herself, and calling herself Irina, infiltrates Estrid's army. This takes bravery beyond belief, but we already knew she was brave; she also shows that she's learnt a lot from her time with Kerrick and his men. She teaches the other soldiers how to move through the forest without making a sound - a useful tactic when you're trying to ambush or avoid your enemies - among other things. She definitely proves she can fight like that best of them!
She becomes so much more than just a healer (which is a pretty big feat in itself), and I was really impressed by everything that she managed to achieve. There is nothing better than a strong, fiercely intelligent female protagonist, and you definitely get that with Avry!

There are some major twists throughout this book, and whereas I can't talk about them in depth (wouldn't want to give any of them away now, would we?), I really enjoyed all of them, and I didn't see a single one of them coming. The twists at the very end of the book also help to set up some excitement and a build up to what I assume will be the climax of the series.
The book ends on such a huge cliffhanger that, even without the twists, I still need to read it now! Those who have read the book already will know exactly what I'm talking about. I can't believe it could end like that! Obviously I can't say what this is - it would give far too much away - but I'd say it's the most nerve-wracking moment in the series so far!

As a little aside, once I'd finished reading this book, I was thinking about Tohon, and how it would be really interesting to see something (maybe even just a short story) from his point of view. I find him a really interesting character - I know he's the bad guy, and he really is an evil character, but I can't help but like him in some strange, twisted way. He's the perfect antagonist. So I would love for him to have a little story of his own, just so I could see what goes on inside his head, and see what he gets up to when no one else is around.

I definitely can't wait for the next book in this series, Taste of Death, which (according to Goodreads) comes out at the end of this year.
If you haven't already picked up this series, you need to! It is, without a doubt, my favourite fantasy series.