ARC Review: Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder

Website | Goodreads
Publication Date: December 18th, 2012
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
ISBN: 0778314189
Age Group: Young/New Adult
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy
Source: Provided by the publisher through NetGalley
Lootability: ****
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Hunted, Killed—Survived?
As the last Healer in the Fifteen Realms, Avry 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, Avry 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, Avry 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 Avry is alone. Unless she figures out how to do the impossible ... again.

About the book – beware, spoilers from Touch of Power

Scent of Magic is the second book in Maria V. Snyder’s  Healer series. Avry, the last healer in the Fifteen Realms, was kidnapped and forced into service in order to save Prince Rynn – except, somewhere along the way Avry and her kidnappers formed a comradery and Avry volunteered her healing powers in an effort to save her world.

ARC Review: Renegade by J.A Souders

Website | Goodreads
Publication Date: November 13th 2012
Publisher: Tor Teen
ISBN: 0765332450
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction / Dystopian
Source: Provided by the Tor Teen
Lootability: ***
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Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.
But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie. 
Her memories have been altered. 
Her mind and body aren’t under her own control. 
And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.
Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb... and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all

About the Book Renegade is the troubling story of Evie, Daughter of the People, as her world crumbles around her. Evie lives in Elysium, an underwater Utopia where a lucky few were chosen to escape from the violence and destruction of the Surface World. She is the adopted daughter of Mother, the revered wise woman who rescued the people of Elysium and now rules over them. She governs who may Couple (marry and breed), allocates designations (jobs) and keeps the city running, with a nearly perfect genetic population. "My life is just about perfect."