#12,
Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder
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….
I loved Snyder's Study series but this is the first time I've ready any of her other series. This had the same feel of that series - for good and bad. I say that because I recognized several of her tropes right off the bat from having read the Study series and so it sometimes felt that I was reading those books, just with different characters and settings. Even, or especially, the romance was pretty much the same formula.
Not that it was bad, just really too familiar! I liked the whole plague part and the magic set was interesting (though the book seemed a bit long and I did scan several chapters to get around some of the details that I felt were not moving the book along) and the characters were fine (sometimes the language felt too modern in their speeches?). Overall a fun, quick read and I'd certainly read the sequel when it comes out.
#13,
Raven Calls by C.E. Murphy
Suddenly, being bitten by a werewolf is the least of Joanne Walker's problems.
Her personal life in turmoil, her job as a cop over, she's been called to Ireland by the magic within her. And though Joanne's skills have grown by leaps and bounds, Ireland's magic is old and very powerful….
In fact, this is a case of unfinished business. Because the woman Joanne has come to Ireland to rescue is the woman who sacrificed everything for Joanne—the woman who died a year ago. Now, through a slip in time, she's in thrall to a dark power and Joanne must battle darkness, time and the gods themselves to save her.
Oh Walker Papers, how I love you. In all honesty, I think the only thing I was sad about was the lack of Morrison (
but Gary was so kick ass that it was okay) but that's the romantic in me sulking. ;)
I don't think I could ever say anything bad about this series (and that's not because I read C.E. Murphy's LJ, promise); this is not a series that you can jump in the middle of, you have to read the first one to understand exactly what's going on and the character growth. But, as always, not only do the characters kick ass but Murphy brought in several new characters and made me care about them by the end of the book. Which is kind of hard to do in a series when you're so used to caring and keeping track of "core" characters.
Lots of fun, like always. :D