I love all of Maria V. Snyder's work! An epic start to this series!

I love Maria Snyder's writing. Her Poison Study series is one of my favorites. I read her Inside Out Series hoping to love it but thought it was just so-so. Honestly I had high expectations for Touch of Power and thankfully I was not disappointed. This book had a similar feel to her Poison Study series. I loved how the relationship between Avry & Kerrick developed. Their constant bantering back and forth was so fun to read.

Avry might be one of the last known healers in the land. A plague has decimated the Territories of the land and many people believe that it was the Healers who spread it and most of them have been hunted and executed. The ravaged population has been thrown into complete disorder, with several individuals rising to amass armies and attempt to take control of all the 15 territories for themselves.

When Avry cannot resist the urge to heal a small child, she is betrayed for her trouble. Thrown into jail, about to be executed, she is rescued by a rogue group who need her for a specific task. The leader Kerrick demands that Avry must heal someone who lies in a state of stasis during an early stage of the plague. When Avry hears who it is, she point-blank refuses, causing friction within the group.

Begin as you mean to go on and all that – after reading the Chronicles of Ixia (9 books comprised of 3 trilogies) I figured I might as well get to some of the other Maria V. Snyder books that I still have sitting on my shelf and plucked this one out at random. I actually have the next one sitting there as well, an ARC sent to me by the publisher years ago. However I’ve since discovered there’s a third book (because of course there is) and so now I’m wondering if I should wait until I can acquire that third book before going onto the second.

This is a similar-ish world to the Study series in that magic exists but it seems that fewer people in this world have the gift. There are different types of magic as well, of which Avry’s Healer magic is just one. There are also others connected to the elements and some that are tethered to life or death.

The plague that has swept the land has a 100% mortality rate in that no one who has ever contracted it has survived. It seems to have mostly swept through the population and exhausted itself now, leaving families decimated and mourning lost loved ones. It’s a chaotic world, many who didn’t die of the plague died of starvation as crops went neglected and supply lines dried up. Whereas before the 15 territories were seemingly ruled individually, some of the leaders have since died and so several of the remaining rulers or heirs have moved to amass power, trying to take over as much as possible. According to Kerrick, only Prince Ryne can restore order and for that, he needs Avry to heal him of the plague.

This was quite fun – an easy read I powered through in a couple of hours. Avry has a great personality, she’s not easily bullied and she is very much her own person making her own decisions. Taking control of her healing ability is a big thing for her – she must be able to decide who she heals herself and she won’t be threatened or coerced into it by others who would seek to take advantage of her. Healers in this world heal by absorbing the hurt or sick person’s illness into themselves and then their healer magic accelerates their own healing process. However, because the plague has 100% mortality, although Avry could heal someone with it, it would kill her because she would not be able to heal herself. This is something that I found it surprising that Kerrick wasn’t smart enough to figure out – he watches her heal quite a few people so he learns that she assumes the injuries or illnesses of the people she heals. He witnesses it early on when she chooses to heal one of his men from what would be a fatal injury. Perhaps he didn’t realise that she wouldn’t be able to heal herself from the plague, but Avry finds his determination that she heal Ryne and his seeming lack of concern for her upsetting, especially after they’ve been together for quite a while. It makes Kerrick seem callous but I think he’s actually just ignorant of how there are things that a Healer would not survive after assuming, probably because there are almost no Healers left and a lot of their secrets have probably been quite closely guarded. I’m unsure about the romance….at the moment I’m feeling more Opal and Devlen about it than I am Yelena and Valek! I’ll see how it develops.

Tohon is a suitably devious villain and his magic makes for an extra sprinkling of sinister. I quite liked learning about the different types and what the people who had different gifts were capable of. I also really liked the Death and Peace Lilys…..they added another element to the story and their capabilities and individualism but also…collectivism? is really quite fascinating. I hope that there’s more about about them in the future and how they might be used, but respectfully rather than being abused.

Keen to see where this goes.

8/10

Touch of Power
By Maria V. Snyder
December 11, 2011

Avry is a Healer but instead of being praised for her skills she is blamed for spreading the plague that has wiped out many of the citizens of the Territories. With survivors in anarchy. On the run she is taken but instead of criticizing her, they see the advantages in her gift. She must heal a prince, the same prince who is the enemy to her people.

The pacing of the book was fantastic, it held my attention to the very end.

Thank you to MIRA and NetGalley for this E-copy for a review.

Touch of Power appeals to lovers of fantasy but could have been better. While the basic story line is fine, some of the magical components could have been better developed. I would have liked to have seen better world building, though the characters were likeable.

Touch of Power was everything I could have wanted in a fantasy book. A kick ass heroine, an action-packed plot and a hint of romance. I fell in love with Maria V Snyder's books back with Poison Study and she has remained a favourite of mine ever since. This book was absolutely fantastic and it has left me reeling, dying to get my hands onto the next book.

Another fantastic novel from Maria. One for the fantasy lovers!

Have you wanted to read a book so much but ended up not liking it?

Author: Maria V. Snyder
Series: Healer
Kindle
2/5

I really thought I was going to like this series, but it definitely wasn't for me.

I found no connection between the characters, there was no rime or reason to anything the characters did. I couldn't see how Avry ended up with Kerrick, he's an ass. From the moment he hit her I was out, this couple wasn't for me.

The only kinda cute character is killed of just for shock value. The villain has no motivation except being bad and having daddy issues.

Avry as a character is ok and the only reason I finished the book. I don't think I will continue to read this series.

Reviewing old arcs, started but wasn't able to get into. Wont be trying again so no formal review on social media.

It's no secret that I am a huge fan of Maria V. Snyder's writing. Whenever I'm asked for book recommendations her books are on the top of my list.


I read this series a while back and didn't have the time to review it, but I had it on my list and am finally taking the time because everyone should know how great Touch of Power is.


If you liked the Poison Study series you will undoubtedly like this one also. It's not set in the same world, but the blend of magic, medieval and adventure is the same.


Avry is a healer who is forced to hide her gift or face death. She gets wrapped up in a war not of her choosing and makes friends and enemies as she is brought on a dangerous journey to heal a dying prince. She is a great heroine that I was rooting for the whole time.


There are other powers that come into play, and magical elements that are unique to the world Maria created in this series. The love story that is started in Touch of Power is woven through delicately so that it doesn't overpower the plot but sucks you right in with all of the feels.


A great adventure story and the start of an amazing series. If you haven't already added this one to your to-read pile, you definitely should!

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.