The Healer Trilogy Continues

SCENT OF MAGIC (Healer Trilogy #2)
Maria V. Snyder
Harlequin MIRA
December 2012


I have been a fan of Maria V. Snyder since the first Trilogy she wrote for MIRA, the Study series. While Study remains a favorite, I can't say the same for the Glass Trilogy. I could not make the same sort of connection with the characters. I think that was a matter of personal taste because I know many readers were happy with Glass. Healer # 1, Touch of Power, brought me firmly back into fan territory.

In Touch of Power we met Avry, the last healer in the Fifteen Realms. The Healers were blamed for the plague that killed six million people and were hunted down and killed. Avry alone survived by running and hiding for three years. When she is finally captured it is to heal Prince Ryne of the plague even though the healing will mean her own death. She has other reasons to refuse to heal him however. Her journey, and that of her captors to Prince Ryne's side make up the first of the Trilogy.

Scent of Magic opens where Touch of Power ended. Avry is thought to be dead by all but a few and she can go under cover into the enemy's camps and find her surviving sister, Noelle. Noelle blames Avry because she did not come home to her family while the plague was killing them. Enemies are plentiful, especially King Tohon, the megalomaniacal life magician who is trying to take control of all the Fifteen Realms. Snyder can write a villain that one really loves to hate and Tohon is a prime specimen. Avry's lover, Kerrick, is unwilling to let her go alone, but Avry is nothing if not stubborn. Besides, Kerrick has his own mission to accomplish for Prince Ryne. Scent of Magic switches back and forth between Avry and Kerrick and their individual adventures. Both will suffer much danger and heartache before the are reunited- and Scent of Magic has quite a cliffhanger. Too bad it will be another year before we can find out what happens!

Scent of Magic is a mixture of action of action, adventure and romance that should appeal to a wide audience of readers. Thanks to MIRA and netgalley.com for an advance digital copy in return for an honest review.

RATING- 4 stars