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Aug 09, 2011

Amery added it

Reading this book reminded me just how annoying this series was. First off, the writing style is simple. Most of the writing favors the use of one type of sentence structure, often favoring it when other structures would have been better. This leads to a rather choppy reading, particularly for Sadima's story. Hahp's story is somewhat better, which keeps causing me to think that the novel was written by two different authors as the writing styles for the two stories are rather different.

Secondly, More...

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Dec 07, 2011

Baba Yaga rated it:

Sadima, Franklin, and Somiss, driven out of Limòri by a suspicious fire, are living in a cave hidden within the cliffs that overlook the city. Somiss is convinced the dark passages of the caves were the home of ancient magicians, and his obsession with restoring magic deepens. Sadima dreams of escape -- for her, for Franklin, and for the orphaned street boys Somiss has imprisoned in a crowded cage. Somiss claims he will teach these boys magic, that they will become his first students, but Sadima More...

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May 26, 2010

Sam rated it:

Sacred Scars is the long awaited (well, to me and my husband anyway!) second part of Duey's YA series A Resurrection of Magic- the first installment was Skin Hunger which I love love loved and is one of my faves to get to fantasy loving teens. If you didn't read the first one, don't pick this up! You will have positively no clue what's happening as it takes off exactly where Skin Hunger left the story.

Sacred Scars continues the dual stories of Sadima and Hahp- Sadima as she works with More...

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Oct 17, 2009

Eva rated it:

As anyone who has read at least the first quarter of the first book in this series, Skin Hunger, knows, Sadima not only does isn't able to stop Somiss, but 200 years later he and his magicians are still torturing and killing young boys in the name of magic. In Sacred Scars, we find out why Sadima did not succeed and what happened to her, as the timeline of her story gets closer and closer to student Hahp's time.

Meanwhile, Hahp and his fellow students continue to survive, but only ju More...

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Sep 22, 2009

Chris rated it:

"He hates Somiss," I breathed. "So long as he knew we all cared about him and--"

"Hate is complicated," Gerrard interrupted me again.

"No, it isn’t," I whispered, and he didn’t answer me. He didn’t need to. I knew he was right.

Hate is complicated. So are all of our feelings and motives. And evil is insidious, finding a way to taint even the best of intentions. No matter how infrequently he actually enters this story More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Sep 02, 2009

Christy rated it:

Wow, what an amazing story. I wasn't sure about the first title in the Resurrection of Magic series - Skin Hunger - but now that I have finished the second title and the story is beginning to come together I can see the brillance behind it all. Skin Hunger (the first in the series)is told in a double narrative in alternating chapters with characters living centuries apart. There are hints that the tales are connected but they are also very different. One tale is about a poor young girl named Sad More...

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Feb 19, 2011

Rosa rated it:

I wasn't going to write a review because I don't have much to say that isn't an echo of previous complaints, but I feel compelled to at least differentiate my lukewarm-star-assignation from that of the "too many f-bombs" camp. For the record, I have no issue w/ the profanity or the bleakness (although I must confess, I have a hard time figuring out what age I'd let my sons read this series), and I do find it amusing that these people are more thrown off by the swear words than the sex More...

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Oct 04, 2009

K. rated it:

I've encountered this strange phenomenon in other Duey books that I found with "Sacred Scars."

There is a lot of tense, anxious waiting by the main characters. Nothing much happens plotwise, and yet lots of things happen in the slow, psychological build-up/change in the characters' thinking.

Which should be boring. But in this book, the suspense of all the unanswered questions in Hahp's side of the story regarding who the wizards are, what they will do to the stud More...

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Jul 20, 2010

Kimberly rated it:

For the first 175 (!) pages of this book I kept wondering when something interesting would happen. This book was 550-something pages long and we really could have done without the first 175 as they were just more of the same leftover from Skin Hunger: Sadima and Franklin struggle to live under Somiss's rule, Sadima continually copies the magic songs and realizes that Somiss is changing the words around, Franklin professes his love for Sadima and refuses to do anything about it, and the boys at More...

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Aug 06, 2009

Diana rated it:

Skin Hunger, the first book the A Resurrection of Magic trilogy was one of the best books of 2007. Sacred Scars continues in its excellent tradition as a sophisticated, elegant, and complex story taking up where Skin Hunger left off but incredibly enough is constructed so that it can stand alone if the reader missed Skin Hunger. Sadima and Hahp are featured in alternating chapters as their stories and times converge. Simply stunning!

I kept waking up all night wanting to continue reading th

More...

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Nov 01, 2009

Barky rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Sep 15, 2009

Jackie rated it:

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May 07, 2011

Kary rated it:

The jacket cover still scares the crap out of me. Life for these this hero and heroine sucks. No two ways about it. There is one common denominator for the suckiness -- his name is Somiss and every character in every timeline knows Somiss HAS TO DIE!!!!!

Hahp and Gerrard et al are now murderers? That is a hard dose to swallow as a reader.
Sadima is void of all memories and walks around like a hollow shell for 200 years?

This is by far the most depressing gut wrenchi More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 19, 2009

Deborah rated it:

Sadima is trapped in a cave with Franklin and Somiss and a cage full of orphaned boys. Despite his love for Sadima, Franklin feels bound to Somiss and delays escaping with Sadima and the boys. Meanwhile, Sadima finds out that Somiss is lying about the progress he has made with the songs and magic.

The alternating chapters are several decades later.... Hahp is progressing with his magic studies faster than the other boys, although he comes to realize that Gerrard actually knows the ma More...

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Jun 15, 2010

Meghan rated it:

Dark young adult fantasy featuring torture, murder, and the use of magic, Sacred Scars picks up exactly where Skin Hunger leaves off. Sadima has been forced to retreat with her love, Franklin, and his wizard master, Somiss, to a large linked series of underground caves, after Somiss' royal father might have had their house burned down. Somiss is now experimenting with young street kids who he has taken captive. In the other storyline, Hahp and his wizard school roommate are debating whether to l More...

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Dec 12, 2009

Alicia rated it:

A strong second book in this dark fantasy trilogy, which is a notable accomplishment since Book 1, Skin Hunger, was a National Book Award finalist. I describe this series as the Anti-Potter: you've got a school for young wizards, but the teachers are horrible and cruel, and only one student in each class (if that) ever survives to graduate. Hahp and his classmates continue to learn magic and try to survive, while a plan to band together and destroy Somiss and their other cruel masters begins t More...

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Mar 28, 2010

Kari rated it:

I don't know why I like this series so much, but I do. Each chapter switches between two different characters seemingly centuries apart. Connected through magic and circumstance by knowing the story of Hahp, you know the story of Sadima. Or so you think.

Since time switches with each chapter you know that Somiss & Franklin are wizards at the school that Hahp struggles at so it is frustrating reading Sadima's trials because you feel you already know how it ends, it doesn't matter. More...

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Sep 18, 2009

Emily rated it:

Ok, first off, this book has probably one of the best covers ever. I absolutely adore it.
With that said, on top of the amazing cover (or... should i say underneath?) is a book that is totally and completely spectacular.
So, i feel that fantasy has been a tad bit ignored in this sudden vampire/urban fantasy craze. So, when i find a truly good fantasy, i get way excited.
This is the second book in the... hmm i'm gonna say trilogy, but don't quote me on that one. I'm not 100% sure. More...

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Jul 26, 2010

Melissa rated it:

At first I wasn't sure if I would like this book. I was looking forward to it after reading the first in this series but as it started out it seemed a lot like the first one. I didn't want to read a book that had pretty much the same things happening in it as the first. I felt compelled to stick to it though. I just had to find out where these books were going. I'm so glad I did. The course changed and when it did I couldn't put it down.
In this book Sadima, Franklin & Somiss are living in More...

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Jan 15, 2010

Rachel rated it:

While this is definitely the middle book in the series—without a definite beginning or end—it succeeded in pulling me further into the world Duey has created. I actually love the first book more for having read this one.

The biggest draw for me is definitely the world-building. There's a genuine sense that the author has thought out, in depth, everyone and everything in her universe, and then polished it up for the glimpses we catch. The overwhelming feeling of reality is what make More...

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Jan 18, 2010

Bex rated it:

As per my review of Skin hunger, I promised myself I would not waste my time reading an exceptionally boring book if it was still bad after the first 150 pages.

It was still boring... and instead of the boys pissing (which they still do a lot), they are also doing exactly what they were doing for the majority of the first book. And we have boys in a cage eating bread while learning how to write from their teacher, Sadima. Who is completely unlikeable, by the way. Somiss is still a sad More...

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Jan 07, 2010

April rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 27, 2011

Regina rated it:

wow... my first gut instinct is to say i liked this book but there is a bit of love-hate relationship going on. I remember reading the first one way back in high school years ago and it was so interesting even though the two main characters never meet and i hoped they would in this one but i guess i would have to wait for book three. AAARG the agony of waiting sucks. i know some people commented on the use of strong language by Hahp but i think it wasn't that bad honestly. Its not like kids now More...

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Aug 01, 2009

Erin rated it:

hmm...as I said with the first, I might like it, IF (and that is a big if) it ended. Come on. Not even a cliff-hanger. The book just ends as if it were cut in half. No climax no resolution. Just endless unanswered questions. Please. I am growing more irritated by this series. Perhaps it wouldn't be so annoying if the author/editor/publisher publised all the books in the series all at once so a reader could blitz right through the story.

But, no. Instead I'm let to just wond More...

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Apr 20, 2011

Patricia J. rated it:

I can't believe I let this book sit in my TBR stack so long! I so loved the first book in the series, SKIN HUNGER, that I bought this second one as soon as it came out. Then somehow other books kept getting read--even after I finally put it in Goodreads to read months ago! Silly, silly me.
What amazed me was that I slipped right into the world of the story again as soon as I started reading a week or so ago. I remembered the characters and became entranced as if years and my own life events More...

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Sep 23, 2009

Patrick rated it:

Typical Lukewarm "Tweener"

I don't know what it is with the Sophomore Syndrome! Is it a quantifiable phenomena? Is it a rampant virus that afflicts everyone who's given just a little bit of success? Is it a business tool used to torture just a few more dollars out of our already open pockets?

Sacred Scars isn't the only second book I've read recently that's disappointed; it just happens to be the one I'm writing about while in the mood for some rabid biti More...

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Aug 19, 2009

Melody rated it:

I don't know what to say about this book. It's riveting, compelling and terribly dark. It's also the middle book of a trilogy, and it simply STOPS with no resolution of anything it raises. It's well-written but I have no idea where it's going. I won't know how I feel about this one until after the third one comes out. I can't recommend reading it, not yet, but I think ultimately I will be able to. I'm impressed with Duey's world, with her sense of magic and what magicians were, are and can be. T More...

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May 31, 2009

Michael rated it:

Book Two of Kathleen Duey's A Resurrection of Magic series is the sequel to "Skin Hunger" (the National Book Award finalist). It is a huge, expansive read. Like Tolkien, she balances the personal struggle with huge geopolitical issues seemlessly. It takes a broader view than the first volume, giving a terrifying glimpse into the endless wars between kings and magicians, and the even more frightening prospect of a manipulative priveleged class pulling all the strings and playing with th More...

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Sep 14, 2009

Jess rated it:

When I read Skin Hunger, I wasn't terribly enthusiastic. It was disturbing at times, and I felt at a distance from the characters. But I couldn't stop thinking about the book, and wondering what would happen to them. That was in December of 2007, but the world of the book stuck with me so completely that when I picked up a copy of Sacred Scars from the library, I started reading it on the walk home. While I couldn't remember the plot of the first book in detail, Duey provides just enough inf More...

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Oct 09, 2009

Charlou rated it:

As the story lines from Book 1 start to converge, more is revealed about the depths of the evil and manipulation. At the same time I was thinking this book was too long, I was also admiring the way she slowly and carefully lets her story play out. Her revelations don't come with exclamations and drama, but in subtle ways that make you stop and think and often go back and reread to make sure you understand. As in the first book, when the words in the title show up, the insights make you stop and More...

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