Early Review: Scent of Magic

Scent of Magic (Avry of Kazan #2)

Maria V Snyder

Publisher: MIRA Books - Published on 24^th December 2012

E-Arc with thanks to Netgalley and Mira

Hunted, Killed—Survived?
As the last Healer in the Fifteen Realms, Avery 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, Avery 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, Avery 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 Avery is alone. Unless she figures out how to do the impossible ... again

Despite being the second book in the series, I found this story much simpler than the first book and as a result the story was faster-paced, tauter and more exciting. The first few pages mention a lot of names and it took me a while to catch up with all the characters, factions and powers again. There is no quick recap at all so you are thrown straight into the action. However, with Maria V. Snyder’s lyrical prose, it doesn’t take long to remember the details and be fully submersed in Avry’s world again.

Avry is on her own for most of the story and we get to see how strong she is on her own – without her constant mothering of her companions. She is able to use her own skills and intelligence to prove herself and it is refreshing to see such a warm and caring character standing on her own feet without a guy to support her at all. The story focuses on war with most of the action taking place at the army’s training ground. There are some intriguing developments regarding the Peace and Death lilies and the new characters in the army are a nice expansion to the world.

As ever one of the elements I loved the most about Maria’s writing is the relationships between characters as they evolve. The banter is fun and realistic – I always wanted to spend more time with these characters which is a good sign! The romance is not omni-present but just simmering nicely in the background. There are some interesting twists at the end of the book which will make the third book very exciting...do I have to wait a whole year though before reading it..? J

Fun fantasy with great characters and an easy reading style. One of my favourite fantasy reads of the year!

Recommended for fans of Robin Hobb and Sarah J Maas. 9 out of 10