Touch of Power, by Maria V. Snyder

Avry is a healer, which means that she can heal people with just a touch by taking their sicknesses or injuries into her own body. When a plague spreads throughout the land and there are too many sick people for the healers to save, they are blamed and persecuted. Avry has been on the run for two years and after risking her freedom to save a sick child, the child's parents give her in to the authorities who plan a public execution. The night before her planned death, Avry is rescued/kidnapped by a group of rogues who need her to use her talents to save their friend, the very prince who started the uproar against healers.

This book was absolutely incredible, but it did feel a little bit like I was reading Poison Study all over again. This isn't necessarily the worst thing ever though, because that book was really good. The similarities in the plots and characters were a little too much and even though I enjoyed it, I am hoping that the second book is not also a repeat. However, in this novel's defense, the storyline was amazingly intricate and so detailed that I felt like I was being transported to another world. The way everything can be (or will be) explained with either magic or science in this world is absolutely fascinating so despite the similarities to Poison Study, I was still extremely pleased with this book.

4.7 stars

Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan assumes 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 Territories, 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....