Review - Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

Author - Maria V. Snyder
Publisher - MiraBooks
Release Date - December 20th, 2011, 394 Pages

Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan assumes 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 Territories, 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....

                  *A copy was provided for review purposes from Harlequin and NetGalley*
I love the world that is created by Maria in Touch of Power. Avry's touch can heal someone of any ailment, whatever was wrong with them will just transfer over to Avry. She heals at a much faster rate due to her powers. Before the plague Healers were involved with all Fifteen Realms but when the plague hit they needed someone to blame so they blamed it on the very people that were helping them, the Healers. There was a bounty put on any healer's head. Avry has been on the run for three years, healing every now and then but not drawing any attention to herself. One night her neighbor's child will not stop screaming and Avry knows that she will not make it much longer so she cures her and goes back to her room without enough energy to grab her things and hit the road. The childs father turns Avry in and she is sentenced to be excuted. She knew the possibility of this when she was healing the child but since she is a healer she didn't have much of a choice, she would happily give up her life to save the child. While being locked up the first night Avry is broken out of the cell by Kerrick.


Kerrick and his men are on a mission to find any healer and bring them to save their Prince so that he can bring peace to the Realms again. Avry finds that she is the last healer left so the choices that she makes not only affects herself but everyone in The Fifteen Realms. Her decisions could either help them or it could destroy them based on who is ruling over them. The story line and characters are so well written. The plot was perfectly paced, there was action exactly where it needed to be, there was background information that we found out along the way through Avry and the others. I could never guess what was coming next. Going back to the characters for a second, I loved almost all of them, almost. There are only 3 that I didn't like and that was just because of what they did but that's the enemy part of a novel, the characters themselves were very well written and the history is all told so your not left guessing anything. The characters that I loved the most would be Avry, Belen, Kerrick, Flea, Vinn, Quain and at the end Ryne. I loved that there was romance in this novel but it wasn't an OMG I love him at first site, the relationship was built throughout the book and it was revealed at the perfect timing.

I haven't read any of Maria's work before but after reading Touch of Power that will change. I will definitely be waiting for the second novel to come out to find out what is going to happen next in the story, how things will change. This is a great read, all the elements in it were perfect. It's almost a 400 page novel but you get so sucked into the story that the next thing you know it's almost over and your wanting more!

-Shellie