Title: Taste of Darkness

Author: Maria V. Snyder

Series: Healer, #3
 

 

My rating: 3 of 5


(Book read from April 8th to April 13th, 2014.)

 

 

Summary:

She's fought death and won. But how can she fight her fears?

  

Avry knows hardship and trouble. She fought the plague and survived. She took on King Tohon and defeated him. But now her heart-mate, Kerrick, is missing, and Avry fears he's gone forever.
 
But there's a more immediate threat: The Skeleton King plots to claim the Fifteen Realms for his own. With armies in disarray and the dead not staying down, Avry's healing powers are needed now more than ever.
 
Torn between love and loyalty, Avry must choose her path carefully. For the future of her world depends on her decision.

   

 

My Thoughts on the Book:

Taste of Darkness is the final book in the Healer trilogy. I loved the first two books: Touch of Power & Scent of Magic, and I loved the characters & the world Maria V. Snyder had created in them. But, unfortunately, Taste of Darkness wasn't as good. Both as a fantasy book, and as a finale of a series, it was on the disappointing side. There's a good possibility there will be spoilers in the review below.

 

The whole story was kind of a mess, to be honest. The characters kept running around, not knowing this or that, looking for this person or that person, everything happened on the spur of the moment, and to be honest, I didn't really care anymore. I just kept reading so I can finish it & get it over with. I still liked it, but I was annoyed with the fact that characters I loved in the previous books started to annoy me, and they kept getting on my nerves more & more as I was reading, and I'm sad to say that Taste of Darkness was quite an average read for me.

I think that I would've preferred if the author decided on the whole war path, without the whole Skeleton King storyline, which I think it was quite unnecessary. Tohon was evil enough, and the Skeleton King was only crazy & a psycho, but not really scary. Oh, so he's a cannibal, wow, I guess I should be scared. Sick, sure, but scared, no. So, he bored me, even though he was one crazy guy.

And Tohon, oh how you irritated me with all of your dreams. And that was another thing that bored me. Yeah, they were vital for the storyline, but they were repetitive & boring. But, in the end, I still loved seeing him in person, and I loved hating him then. Tohon is brilliant, too bad he was an evil one, and he was too arrogant, but that made him the perfect villain.

I wasn't a big fan of the new magic Kerrick had. It was cool at first, but I preferred his original one. Also, Kerrick lost his charm, and started to irritate me most of the time, but not always. The same goes for Avry. I didn't like her anymore as a character, as for the rest of the gang, at the beginning they made me laugh as before, but soon they stopped being funny, and started to irritate me, and soon I didn't care about any of them. The only one I still cared at least tiny bit before this book was over was Flea, and of course I still loved Danny. I wish there was more of him & of Noak & the northern tribes.

That being said, this book wasn't bad. Some parts were pretty good, but some quite average, and it seems while the author tried to tie together all of those loose ends in one whole, the story ended up being a mess, because she probably didn't want to leave anything unresolved. So, kudos to her for doing that, for wrapping up everything nicely.

The story itself & where she was going with it (as well as the ending) was interesting enough, but before we got to that part - I didn't really care anymore. I wish it was executed better, and it flowed better. But, if you enjoyed the previous books, you should definitely read this last book & see how everything wraps up for Avry & the rest.

Taste of Darkness is a nice conclusion to the series, and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of Maria V. Snyder's books!

 

Challenges:

 

2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge

2014 Series Enders Reading Challenge

2014 Don't Let It End Reading Challenge

 

Title: Scent of Magic 

Author: Maria V. Snyder 

Series: Healer, #2


My rating: 5 of 5

  

(Book read from April 6th to April 7th, 2014.)
   

Summary: 

 

 

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.

  

My Thoughts on the Book:

Scent of Magic is great addition to the Healer series, and almost as amazing as the previous book Touch of Power. This book at the same time was what I expected, yet managed to surprise me with the way the story developed & everything that happened.

The first pleasant surprise was the dual PoV. Avry & Kerrick separate, so I was glad that we could follow them both, and their adventures.

The second surprise was the way the story developed. Everyone's preparing for war, so we got to see a lot of that, as well as some politics & lots of strategizing & lots of danger, and I loved that the author expanded the world. Everything was refreshing in its own way, so the story was fun, sad, adventurous, surprising, and it made me sit on the edge of my sit, turning that pages, and I loved it! It was almost perfect!

Avry was so amazing. From the way she dealt with every situation she found herself in, with the way she didn't gave up, even when she felt heartbroken or scared, she was just so brave & awesome.

Prince Ryne is quite the strategist, and just as awesome at what he does as Kerrick said he is, and he's amazing & so, so good! And Flea, omg, I was hoping for something like this, and it was awesome, I love him. He's such a sweety. And of course there's Danny. I love him, too. Danny's so amazing & sweet & brave & good, and so intelligent, and I know he's on the way to become a brilliant healer.

Of course I still loved Kerrick, he's such a great character, and I hope he & Avry will get their happily ever after. They deserve it! And of course I loved all of the rest, they made me laugh so much, and of course we met lots of new interesting characters.

And that ending, I didn't expect for the book to end quite like that, and I'm talking about the whole Tohon situation, and it was quite surprising, but awesome. As for the ending of the book, well after it & after reading the description of Taste of Darkness, my heart is already breaking for Avry, because she has been through so much in Scent of Magic, so now I'm stuck in that place where I can't wait to pick up the next & last book, yet at the same time I don't want to, because I know it will be heartbreaking, both the story, as well as saying goodbye to the series, but I know I won't be able to resist long & I'll read it soon!

Scent of Magic is amazing fantasy adventure, that I can't recommend it enough, as well as the Healer trilogy. I know I'll love reading these again & again, so if you're a fan of fantasy, Maria V. Snyder's books are the books for you!

  
 

Challenges:

 

2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge

Title: Touch of Power

Author: Maria V. Snyder

Series: Healer, #1

My rating: 5 of 5

(Book reread from March 22nd to April 5th, 2014.)  

 

 

Summary:

Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan assumes their wounds and diseases into herself. But rather than being honoured 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, the 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.

 

My Thoughts on the Book:

I actually read this book for the first time in 2011, and I rated it 3.5 of 5, which means that I only liked it a lot. Some parts I loved, but some didn't, though now I'm pretty sure that was only because of my mood at the time. So, now, when I was rereading it, I knew I will change the rating, and I kept thinking "What was I thinking?", because this book is so awesome, actually it's pretty much perfect & now it's one of my favs!

First of all, I love the story. From the way it started, to the way it developed, to its very end. It made me smile, it made me teary-eyed, and kept me in suspense, even though I knew what will happen, it was still quite the adventure & I can't recommend it enough.

And of course, I loved the world, and I loved the characters. Avry is such an amazing heroine. She's smart, persistant, quick-on-her-feet, brave, and so, so good, yet she can be bad-ass, too, so of course I loved her. Even after everything she's been through, she keeps going. She's a survivor, and for her to be still alive in her world - she had to be one.

I loved Kerrick, too. Yeah, he acts bad at the beginning, but I just knew there's a heart of gold under there, and his powers are so amazing, and I actually loved all the bickering between him & Avry, as well as between him & Belen, Flea & the rest. They're such an amazing "family", and all of them had captured a part of my heart, especially Belen & Flea.

And then there's our main villain - Tohon. I actually found him quite scary. Why? Well, even though he's so intelligent & so evil & so powerful, what made him more villainous was the way he could use some of his powers, and that he actually doesn't look evil. Apparently he's quite hot & handsome. All of that combined I found plain scary & unfair, and that actually makes him quite the villain in my eyes.

I won't go into details, but if you still haven't read this book and you love fantasy, than this is the book for you & I highly recommend it. Maria V. Snyder is an amazing author, that creates worlds & stories filled with amazing characters that will suck you in & never let you go, and I know I'll never get enough of reading her books!

Inside

An omnibus edition of the Insiders duology

by

Maria V. Snyder

Summary:

  

 

FOUR WALLS.

FOUR LEVELS.

EIGHTEEN THOUSAND PEOPLE.

NO ESCAPE - EVER.

 
The world of Inside is simple. Do your job, stay out of the way and don't dream of anything better. Because as every Scrub knows, there are no other options.

  

Until Trella - the Queen of the Pipes, as some call her - gets involved with a revolution that will rock her world…

 

 

 INSIDE OUT

 

Trella was just doing a favor for a friend - her only friend. Hiding an injured man from the Pop Cops seemed easy enough - though dangerous. But then she discovered that the myths of Outside might be real…

 

 

 OUTSIDE IN

 

Being Inside's hero only left Trella with more work. Ducking those responsibilities, she continued to explore her stark world - and found something she never expected. Strangers. From Outside…

 

 

  

 

Inside Out

Insiders, #1

 

Read from May 29th to May 30th, 2013.

  

My rating: 5 of 5

 

 My Thoughts on Inside Out:

 

 

From the moment I finally decided to start this book, I got wrapped up in the world of Inside, and couldn't stop reading it. I'm a big fan of sci-fi, and this book reminded me a little to some of my fav movies & episodes in tv series in sci-fi, although only a tiny bit, so yeah, it's a premise that it appeals to me.

Inside Out was a fast read, and the pacing of the story is quite fast, and I totally loved it! I loved Trella as a character, as well as Logan, Riley, Cog & Anne-Jade. I also loved learning about the Inside & how their world worked, and seeing how their rebellion developed. 

I have to admit that I was a little bit shocked when they finally opened you-know-what, I did not expect that, although after I was wondering how I didn't saw that one coming. It's rare when something escapes me & surprises me.

Anyway, Inside Out for me was a delightful read. There's something about Maria V. Snyder's writing that will get you hooked almost every time. Also, this book was really entertaining & fun, I was cheering on the characters, and it made me laugh out loud, and it was also sweet, and when I finished it, it left me with a smile. It's rare when a book does that to me, but this one did.

 

 So, yeah, when you're in a mood for something light & fun, this is the book for you, and I highly recommend it!

 

Outside In

Insiders, #2

Read from June 8th to July 3rd, 2013.

My rating: 5 of 5

 

My thoughts on Outside In:

Ok, I have to admit that even though I gave this book a rating of 5, it was a little bit biased. Why? Well, I had trouble getting into this book. I can't quite point out why, I just did. But, after a third of the book, when I finally got into the story, I was so wrapped up in it, that I loved every second of it, that in the end I had to give it this rating!

Once again the characters were fun & engaging. The level of suspense was definitely bigger, we get to learn a little bit more about the past of their world, and of course there's the threat that the Outsiders present to their well-being, so it's finally time to work with each other, not against each other.

Like the first book, Outside In left me feeling all happy inside & with a smile plastered on my face. I guess there must be some magic in Maria V. Snyder's words, or maybe it was just that I loved the characters in this duology.

I highly recommend this book, and this duology. It's really interesting & entertaining, definitely a fast-read, with delightful characters & engaging story, and the perfect ending that a series like this can get :)

 

 

Challenges:

 

2013 TBR Pile Challenge

2013 Books-In-A-Series Reading Challenge

Don't Let It End Reading Challenge