Avry of Kazan is a special type of magician called a Healer, and is the last of her kind. You'd think that people would find Healers helpful, and try to prevent them from dying, right? Nope. The common people of the very towns they healed killed them, all because a rumor had started that the Healers were the ones to spread a dreadful Plague across the Fifteen Realms. Avry has been on the run for nearly three years, abandoning her possessions, her identity, and knowledge of the whereabouts of what's left of her family. She moves from town to town, usually leaving after healing a sick townsperson. One day, she gets reported, and gets sent to prison. While thinking of her execution, she is rescued by a group of men in need of her healing expertise. There's Loren and Quain, the monkeys (It took me a little while to realize when someone mentioned the monkey, they meant these guys), Flea, a young boy from the streets, Belen, or as Avry calls him "Poppa Bear", and Kerrick, who is anything but the classic knight in shining armor. Kerrick's friend is in need of help, for he has contracted the Plague, and for once in her life, after finding out who said friend is, Avry refuses to help. Thus, sparking the mutual animosity towards each other. As she travels along with the ragtag group, and after being on her own for so long, she starts to think of them as her family. But even the closest family has its problems, especially when they revolve around trying to get to the Plague victim before a psychotic, homicidal king does.
The story of Touch of Power has a lot of the same elements to Poison Study: magic is looked down upon, and it revolves around a strong, independent heroine. This book is written in an old-fashiony, fantasy setting, but it uses modern language and themes. Only Snyder can pull that off. In the beginning, the story goes at a casual, airy pace, and so I thought "Oh, this is nice. Just steadily going along, perfect!" But then it played a trick on my mind. Before I could realize, the drama just built up and up and up until I was at the peak of a mountain of conflicts, and the only thing to snap me out of it was my knuckles hurting from clutching the pages.
So many things to love about this story. Watching the romance between Avry and Kerrick unfurl from a diminutive bud to a beautiful blossom was enchanting. In other words: It was sooooooo sweet!! And I loved the concept of the Death and Peace Lilies. The first time they were brought up, I thought that it was a neat idea, but I didn't think they would keep popping up in the conversations and plot. Soon, the flowers that had been a cool and simple idea became shrouded in mystery. I found it a wee bit confusing to keep up with, but I quickly found my way back on track, and by the end I was nearly crying.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good, thrilling fantasy, and a soft spot for sweet romance. I'm excited to get to read the next one soon!
Oh, and any fans of this book should check out the Maria V. Snyder books I listed up above. Just FYI.
I bid farewell to you all,
Julia
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