Scent of Magic (Healer, #2)

by Maria V Snyder

[ladygrey]

REREAD ETA:
Like way to many YA 2nd books the first thing that happens is our main characters are separated. Which is stupid every single time. Maria V Snyder is particularly notorious for this. I’ve read at least part of 3 series at this point and she does it every single time. She always brings in a new set of strong secondary characters so you can almost forgive her. But not really.

There were parts of this story that were frustrating and some that felt fairly stupid. But by the end they all worked out and had a halfway decent point (mostly) so it wasn’t intolerable. Still not my favorite though.

*****

I liked knowing what happened as this story continued. And the book is alright, but I didn't love it.

The fundamental flaw that runs through pretty much the whole book is that she breaks apart the strongest aspect of her story. And from a plot point of view I can see why she did that - the elements she needed to incorporate and whatnot. But even though it serves a purpose it doesn't make it fun to read.

The energy of the last book was all her characters interacting. But so many of them are pulled in different directions it loses that sense of fun. And she does do an admirable job of compensating by bringing in new characters. And they're good new characters and it does help. Because there's also this sense in the first two thirds of the book that all this plot is happening without emotional impact on the characters. It was full but didn't feel substantive.

Also, there were two places I didn't understand Avry's emotional logic at all. In one place a character says something and Avry reacts with - oh now I understand this. But the two weren't connected at all it's like someone said I'm hungry and she responded with Oh, now I understand why the sky is blue. I just didn't get it. And the other place her emotional logic didn't make any sense at all.

Whatever. Snyder's tell was much more subtle and logical in this book so I almost didn't mind it. And in the end I didn't dislike this book. And of course I'm going to read the next one to see how it ends.