Touch of Power

Title: Touch of Power (Healer #1)
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Genre: YA
Rating: 5/5
Cover: 10/10

Avry of Kazan lives in a world where some people have magic. There are eleven different kinds of mages in the 15 Realms, and she is a Healer. When she was fifteen, her powers manifested and she was sent off to be an apprentice to another Healer. While away from her family, there was an outbreak of a plague; a plague that no Healer could cure without dying themselves.
Shunned by the population, and accused of having started the plague, the Healers were hunted throughout the Realms, and hefty bounties were offered to anyone who handed over a Healer. After three years on the run, Avry makes a mistake and is discovered and sentenced to death.
Having accepted her fate, she is surprised when a group of travellers breaks her out of prison, and asks her to heal a friend of theirs of the plague. As she travels with this band of misfits, Avry re-discovers the power of friendship, love and loyalty. But will she heal their friend?

Touch of Power was, to put it quite bluntly, awesome. There really is no other word for it. And the amazing thing is you can't really pinpoint what makes the book so good, because everything is just so well-written, well-paced and the world is so well-built, there's just no way of saying 'oh this was good, but that wasn't so much'. And writing a review for a book like this is extremely hard. But I'll try.
There is not a moment of sleepiness in Touch of Power, and from page one, Avry draws you in with her witty thoughts, dry humour and jaded perspective of the world. She is hunted, and she is tired of it. But once she has five men helping her survive, and they all know what she is so she doesn't have to hide her real self anymore, she really comes into herself again, and you get to see an entirely different woman - albeit still hilarious, fascinating and compelling - from the Avry you met at the beginning of the book.
And the secondary characters are equally interesting. There is no lack of depth in this book's characters, which of course makes the entire experience a roller-coaster ride of crazy emotions flying all over the place as you alternatively grieve, cry, laugh, hurt, scare, love, hate and become stubborn with them.

A fascinating read; can't wait for the next one! Touch of Power has a winner ending, that will leave you aching for more.