Thursday, October 23, 2014

Touch of Power - Maria V. Snyder



So one thing that I am probably going to mention so many times through the reviews of me re-reading her books is how quick of a read they are. And I mean that in the good kind of way; since there are books out there that are fast reads because they have no substance and then there are books that are fast reads because you can't stop turning the pages. And for me, her books are of the kind where I really do not want to stop turning the pages. I mean I had to force myself to put this book down so I did not finish it in one day. Same with the second book which I started yesterday and I am already halfway through. She is consistent with all of her protagonists in all of her books where they are really likeable for me. I am able to empathize with them, and probably because I read the Study Series first (LIKE YOU ALL SHOULD! I mean it. Read them!) I love where I can see how the characters are really similar. And not in the sense where it feels like she recycled them, but in the more subtle feel of the characters. I know, that might not make any sense, but it does to me.
heal
Something I have noticed is that Maria V. Snyder is quite good at making the main baddy very nicely unhinged. Where you can definitely tell that the more you learn about them and are exposed to them you can tell there is definitely a little bit of crazy behind them; this is Tohon. And then you have the character that you really really really do not like at all, but that is because they are just bad people, and that would be Jael.

Magic. I am a sucker for books that have magic in them. I am even more of a sucker for books that have magic that does at least one thing unique about them. One of the positive points that I mentioned in the Malazan Book of the Fallen. In the Healer Series there are a couple things that stick out as nicely unique, the kinds of magic that are available and the namesake for the series; the healers. So Healers are capable of healing just about anything...except the plague, but plagues cheat. When a healer heals you they assume the injury or sickness on their body and remove it from yours. The healer then is able to heal from the sickness or injury at a faster rate than you or I which in most cases allows them to survive it. The oddballs are for example the plague, which the healers are just not able to heal from fast enough but live longer with it, and some instances of very series injuries. In the case of the very serious injuries or sicknesses (minus the plague) if another healer is around they can lend their energy so then either they split the healing between them or they help the main healer heal themselves faster. Healers are also able to send lots of pain through an attacker through skin contact.

A couple of the different kinds of magic available are Life, Death, Air, Forest, and Earth. Life magicians are able to take lives and preserve dead bodies, death magicians can tell if you are going to die and are capable of putting a living body in stasis to prolong the inevitable, and air is self explanatory. Forest mages are able to connect with nature and see intruders in nature through the connection, they can also do the awesomeness of camouflaging themselves. Earth mages on the other hand are more along the lines of rocks, so they can do stuff like earthquakes.

I highly, highly, HIGHLY, recommend you check out just about any of her books! :) Let me know if you have read any of her books and what you think about them. 

No comments:

Post a Comment