Review: Touch of Power by Maria Snyder

Title: Touch of Power (Healer #1)
Author: Maria Snyder
Genre: YA
Heat Index: 1 out of 5
Release Date: Dec. 27, 2011
Word/Page Count: 394 pgs
Format: Netgalley

Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan absorbs their wounds and diseases into herself. But rather than being honored for her skills, she is hunted. Healers like Avry are accused of spreading the plague that has decimated the Fifteen Realms, leaving the survivors in a state of chaos.

Stressed and tired from hiding, Avry is abducted by a band of rogues who, shockingly, value her gift above the golden bounty offered for her capture. Their leader, an enigmatic captor-protector with powers of his own, is unequivocal in his demands: Avry must heal a plague-stricken prince—leader of a campaign against her people. As they traverse the daunting Nine Mountains, beset by mercenaries and magical dangers, Avry must decide who is worth healing and what is worth dying for. Because the price of peace may well be her life...

Originally, I was going to give this story a C, but realized (the more I discussed this story with a friend) that I was being overly generous (blame it on the overdose of fudge while reading). There is nothing blatantly wrong with this story on the surface. In fact, I think some readers will enjoy Avry's adventure. Especially if they aren't well versed in the fantasy genre (or simply haven't read a gazillion books since they learned to read).

This story has a beautiful, spunky, powerful heroine who takes on the illness and injuries of others onto herself. She even heals when she knows that her life would be in jeopardy if she is found out. She heals to the brink of her own death because she deems that person worthy. She helps rescue kidnapped victims and heals the poor, conscripted soldiers of the villain. I'm trying to find fault with MarySue...

I could go on about the hard-hitting 'hero' (it's not an attribute), the lack of dimension to the main villain, the tropey evil-ex, the 'red shirt crewman' who is destined to not make it to the end of the mission, or the the motley crew of Hollywood extras, but that would take too long.

Instead, I will say that it took me a long time to figure out that I simply was not engaged with the characters. Because of that lack of interest, I focused on the story only to realize that it was rather shallow, making the bland, fillery narrative brain numbing. By the last quarter of the story, the only emotion I was getting was anger at all of the missed opportunities. Fans of YA who aren't picky, might enjoy this story. For me, it turned out that the Power of Magic was a mere shadow of a better story.