Touch of Power (Healer #1)

by Maria V. Snyder (Goodreads Author)

THEY DESTROYED HER WORLD. BUT SHE’S THEIR ONLY HOPE...

Avry’s power to heal the sick should earn her respect in the plague-torn land of Kazan. Instead she is feared. Her kind are blamed for the horrifying disease that has taken hold of the nation. When Avry uses her forbidden magic to save a dying child, she faces the guillotine. Until a dark, mysterious man rescues her from her prison cell. His people need Avry’s magic to save their dying prince. The very prince who first unleashed the plague on Kazan.

Saving the prince is certain to kill Avry – yet she already faces a violent death. Now she must choose – use her healing touch to show the ultimate mercy or die a martyr to a lost cause?

my review: 7/10

The first 75% of this book was very good. I liked the concept of Healers and the fugitive point of view always intrigues me. I like Ms. Snyder's approach to fantasy and the way she always keeps the plot moving. I was moved by the concept of Avry healing by pulling the diseases into herself. Her willingness to mar her beauty for sake of others was a beautiful concept.

What kept this from being a 5 star book are a couple problems I had with the characters:

All of them are too black/white. If they are "evil" there is no goodness in them and if they are "good" there is no evil in them. There are no flaws. This just isn't really relatable and makes the characters and relationships a little flat. Avry with her pack of boys reminded me of snow white and her dwarves. and not in a good way.

But even worse to me is when seemingly intelligent characters start acting stupid. I found Avry's total lack of suspicion about Kerrick's feelings for her to be annoying. It really wore out my patience with the both of them. I don't believe that's how most people act- self denial. I think most people hope, if only in their private thoughts. I wish authors would stop using a misunderstanding about feelings as a way to keep the romantic tension going with a big unveiling at the end. It just makes everyone behave unnaturally and spoils the story.

Also I had a couple of plot issues: I'm not sure if it will be explained in one of the following books, but the Peace Lily's miraculous move wasn't very flushed out. Also Sepp's allegiance was super obvious, probably because he wasn't adored by Avry. Unfortunately with the black or white characters, this makes things painfully obvious when (I think) it's supposed to be a surprise.

And this is really minor but Tohon's language really aggravated me. He's, what, 25? What's with all the "my dear"s?