Review: Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

Title: Touch of Power
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Publication date: December 27th 2011
Publisher: MiraBooks (an imprint of Harlequin)
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Cover rating: 4/5
Content rating: 3/5
Buy: Amazon

Description:

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...

My thoughts:

While I would not feel right giving this book more than three stars, I also don't really think there was much wrong with it. It's a pretty well written book with lots of detail. I personally thought it was too long, though. It just seemed to go on forever and really dragged at points. I would have liked it more had it been a hundred pages shorter. 

I was completely intrigued by the premise of this book. It is unlike anything I have read before so I was very excited! Plus I also think the cover is gorgeous. I really did love parts of this book. Sometimes I would be completely engrossed in the story for about thirty or so page, and then it would just slow down and I'd be yanked back out and it would take a while for it to get going again. I found that annoying. I would just starting to question why I had liked this book at any point and then it would get good again! 

I thought the characters were well developed. They felt very real to me and they all had very distinct personalities. I really enjoyed the idea of the healers and would have preferred if they had been explained more, instead of spending so much time on things which didn't hold my interest! The world itself I found a bit hard to picture and it didn't have a constant feel to it. 

Overall, this book was not amazing but it held my attention enough for me to want to read more. I am going to try out some more of Snyder's work but I'm not sure if I'll continue with this particular series.