Skin Hunger (1) (A Resurrection of Magic)

Sadima lives in a world where magic has been banned, leaving the country people victims to fakes and charlatans. One such magician caused the death of her mother. Sadima's father forbides her to have anything to do with anything magical. Later, a strange man comes to her home and nothing will be the same.Centuries later, magic has been restored but only to the wealthy and is controlled by wizards within a hidden academy of magic. Hahp, the expendable son of a wealthy merchant, is forced into the academy. Only one student will survive to graduate.Both Sadima's and Hahp's stories are separated by generations but they are connected.At first I found the different points of view jarring. I was more interested in Sadima's story and how she had to hid her gift of communicating with animals. Only later, once Hahp is inside the academy did I start to see how the stories connected.This is an original storyline that shows maybe magic isn't all that great. The magicians are shown as uncaring and cruel. I cared for Sadima and Franklin and hope in the next book something good comes from them but I doubt it.

This book was interesting in that it is told from the point of view of two different characters. Sadima is a young girl whose mother died in childbirth while being attended by a magician. Her father forbids any magic. Franklin, a young wizard, finds her tending her sheep and recognizes a gift she has, and invites her to come to his town. Her life takes a turn when her father dies and she sets out to find Franklin and starts taking care of the place he shares with Somiss, another wizard. This takes place during a time that magic is outlawed The other part of the story is told from the point of view of Haph, during a time when everyone is using magic. His father hates him and takes him to a wizards academy knowing he will probably never see his son again. Haph must learn the magic if he is to survive. The academy's founder and one of the wizards who instructs them are the same ones from Sadima's story, Franklin and Somiss. There is so much that keeps you turning the pages. I will definately buy the sequel, Sacred Scars. I can't wait until school starts so that I can put this book on my shelf for my students. There is some minor cursing and the F-bomb is used once. However, I don't believe it would deter most people from reading the book.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. The writing is detailed and suspenseful. I felt the characters were well-rounded and I sympathized with them. I got angry at the antagonists, which is a sign of a good book. I read this book in a short amount of time-probably two hours-because it was so good. I like how the book goes back and forth between the present and the past. I thought this book might be pretty dark for young readers, but it was great for me. The writer didn't hold back on the characters and nothing in the book turned out like I thought it would. I thought since the children were being taught magic, and that they were from rich families, that nothing bad would happen to them. Some of them actually died, which surprised me. I honestly thought this would be something like Harry Potter in the latter books because in the end, those books were pretty dark. This seems darker at times. There aren't as many characters to keep track of like the Harry Potter books, which I actually appreciate. It helps because you can get more involved with a shorter set of characters. I would recommend this book if you like magic, interwoven stories of past and present, and dark books.

As a high school librarian, I get frustrated when a few books get a lot of attention when there are so many high quality books for young adults out there. This book is one of the quiet gems that I want to share with all of my students because Duey has created characters that are truly resonate with teenagers. Even though the situation Sadima and Hahp are in may not be familliar in time or place, there are so many aspects of who they are that mirror teens that I see every day. I, myself, adored Sadima and her heartfelt love and connection with animals. Hahp's pain and desperation is physically painful to me, as a reader, because Hahp is such a "real" person.One of my students took the book on Friday, and when she returned it this morning (Monday), she said that she hasn't found a book that she got so lost in in a long time. And this is one of my most prolific readers, so she had a broad frame of reference.Share this book with teens (and adults) in your life! It's one of the better young adult books published this year!

Took me a bit to figure out that each chapter is not only a different person's story, but set in a different time period However I enjoyed the plot and characters and want to read the next book

This book is a young adult book with very little depth. There are two story lines. One in the present where rich boys go to magic school to become wizards. This part is interesting. The other story line is about three characters trying to bring magic back to the world. It should be good but I felt no connection with any of the characters. Sollis is all evil, Sadima is a stupid girl who refuses to learn and has feelings for the strange man, Franklin. There are some mysteries that are interesting but the Franklin, Sadima story is poorly written and keeps you at a distance. I choose not to buy the second book.

It has an interesting plot.

Creepy

It was purely by chance that I discovered this Resurrection of Magic Trilogy. I read the synopsis and threw myself into this straight away. This book kept me on the edge. It's a young adult novel.I like how the story is told, each chapter focuses on a different character from a different time period with different perspectives.Without spoiling it, here is a rough summary of the plot.One story is about Sadima which is told through the 3rd person perspective. A farm girl leaves her village to join a friend named Franklin who she met while tending to her goats. She learns to read and write and decides to assist in helping Franklin who also lives with someone named Somiss who has knowledge about magic.The other story is told through the first person perspective of a young boy named Hahp who is taken to a wizard academy to learn magic. But the conditions of this academy is draconian. But this academy is run by a wizard who is also named Somiss.Are they linked? You'll have to find out by reading this.Although in some chapters it felt like some of the content was repeated. For example, Sadima is copying pages of written magic and songs. Hahp and his roommate are woken up by an old wizard who leads them to a hall where they, and other students, are made to recite old songs and practice breathing techniques.Okay, we get it, we know that it's part of their everyday routine but this repetition gets very boring.As a fantasy book, what makes this unusual is that somehow the magic was lost and very few people know about it. A small group of people want to resurrect it, but, will it be available to everyone or will it only be accessible to the wealthy and powerful. This is not something I have come across in any of my fantasy readings before which is very interesting. It's a unique story.What really builds tension is the interaction of the characters, their conflicting motives keeps you guessing about what they are going to do next. It was this style writing that kept me reading ti until the end. It really irked me when it ended. So I bought the second book, Sacred Scars. I recommend.