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

Scent of Magic by Maria V Snyder

Released: December 2012
Publisher: Mira - Harlequin
Series: Yes, #2 in the Healer series
Source: From Netgalley
Format: Digital ARC
Find at: Goodreads | Amazon UK | The Book Depository

Many thanks to Netgalley and  the Publisher for my review copy, this is in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads Synopsis:

 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 Review:

As this is the second book in the series I am not going to give and plot lines or spoilers. 
The first book Touch of Power scored pretty high for me, so Scent of Magic had pretty much a heck of a lot to live up to.  I did enjoy it very much, but I have to admit I much preferred the first book.  

I think this is because a lot of book two is basically battle and strategy, whilst this was interesting I did miss the humour that I found in book one.  It is definitely a darker book.  I wanted the characters to develop a bit more too, there are some I find really interesting but they get a bit lost in the story.  I certainly do not dislike the book, I just hope book three lives up to the standard of these two.  The author certainly knows how to build a whole new world, I find the description excellent and can almost feel like I'm in the forest with Kerrick and Avry.

I really like Avry and also have a soft spot for Kerrick, so it will be interesting to see where the story goes for these two.  I love this series and have immediately moved on to book three, Taste of Darkness.  I'm quite sad there are only three books as I do love the characters.  I've only read one other series by Maria V Snyder and that is her Glass series.  The Healer series is by far my favourite and I haven't even read book three yet!

Overview:
A great addition to the series, lots of battle and strategy in this one.  You do lose a bit of humour and playfulness you had with the "monkeys".

My Thoughts on the Cover:
I do like this cover, it definitely suits the book and I love the colour scheme.