Skin Hunger (A Resurrection of Magic Series #1)

No Need For A Bookmark

One of the best books i have read EVER!!!! I didn't want to put it down once i started. The way Kathleen Duey was so brutally honest in her descriptions kept me right in the book. There is always a reason to keep reading. I can't wait until the next books come out.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Reviewed by Natalie Tsang for TeensReadToo.com

Despite what the cover may say, Kathleen Duey's SKIN HUNGER, first installment of her fantasy trilogy A RESURRECTION OF MAGIC, is not a novel. It's a third of a novel. Or maybe it's two novels. Maybe it's a sixth. But anyway you slice the cake, it's not enough.

The book alternates chapters narrated by Sadima, a farm girl, and Hahp, a second born son of a cruel merchant. The catch is that they live several generations apart. One in a world that desperately needs magic and the other in one saturated and corrupted by it.

The story opens on the night Sadima is born. Her family is cheated by a fake magician, who instead of assisting in the birth, steals their valuables and lets her mother die. Unsurprisingly, Sadima grows up in a family that hates magic and she is forced to hide her gift of understanding animals. Franklin, a servant of a young nobleman named Somiss, finds her and tells her about his belief that magic will solve all the problems of the world. Together, the three try to rediscover magic. Hahp is sent to an academy of magic. There are nine other boys. Eight of them come from wealthy families and the ninth, Hahp's roommate, is a mysterious peasant named Gerrard. Unlike Franklin's lofty ideals of teaching everyone magic, here everyone must earn the right to learn. And those who do not or cannot will die.

I think this book will appeal to both boys and girls. Initially, each protagonist seems to represent the traditional story of their gender. For Sadima, the girl, it is a love story and for Hahp, the boy, it is an adventure story. At first, I thought the sweetness of Sadima's part was a nice balance to Hahp's grittier and darker part. Over time, the two stories blur together. What Sadima does is now inextricably connected to Hahp's outcome and the future explains the past.

The book is extremely vivid and well thought out. Kathleen Duey creates many unique, strong, and complex major characters. It is undeniably a very dark book, but the main characters are too optimistic and hopeful to make it depressing. Even though it is 357 pages, the font is larger than normal and I finished it in one sitting. And as hinted in the beginning, (and I hope I'm not giving too much away), the story ends with a teeth-gnashing cliffhanger.

I really like how the story is aimed at ages twelve and up, but does not dumb down or gloss over the grittier aspects of life, such as the death of a loved one and the difficulties and consequences of making your own decisions. At the same time, I hesitate to recommend this book to grade school and possibly junior high students. If it were a movie, the violence would probably give it an "R" rating. However, the blood and gore is never gratuitous and always serves to improve the story. I have seen more graphic writing in historical fiction aimed at this age group, such Donna Jo Napoli's STONES IN WATER. It also has the same amount of emotional turmoil in any of the later HARRY POTTER and HIS DARK MATERIALS books. Not for the faint of heart, but still a great first book in what seems to be an addictive trilogy.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

10 out of 10!

I found 'Skin Hunger' to be glued to my hands! I couldn't stop reading it! It was a thrilling adventure that not just suprised me but drew me in to love it. I highly reccomend it! You will love this beautiful yet grimly written novel!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Awesome

An intriquing book that you can't put down. 2 different times and differnt characters that begin to connect. I can't wait for the next book in the triology to find out what happens to Sadima and Haph and more about their world

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Wonderful...

I found this book by chance really, i was searching through fantasy books and this came up. It seemed interesting so i bought it. It was just what i was hoping for.. not only well written but the stories connect throughout the books in surprising ways. i cant wait till the next one!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Hungry for more! I'm off to buy the sequel!

My first thought about the book was that it was written in an unusual style; switching back and forth between two different but connected times and places. Once I got past this, I was thrown into a dark but intriguing world of magic and survival. I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!

On the downside I'll admit that, because the author made me feel such a strong connection to Hahp and Gerrard, I was less interested in what Sadima, Franklin, and Somiss were doing in the alternate chapters.

You should definitely read this book if you're looking for something raw, edgy and a little bit different. This book deserves a lot more popularity!

You think its two books in one

Great story, good character development. Loved reading the two stories and love the way that they slowly weave into one another.

This book is absolutely amazing!!

I'll be honest. I picked up this book because I was intrigued with the cover art. I flew through it in a matter of hours and started the second one. The stories of Sadima and Hahp are truely unforgetable. This is one of my favorite books!

Great x 10000

I've never read a book like this one with two completely different character from two different periods of time. When I started reading it I was imediately captivated by events that I will not tell you about. Duey does an incredible job of portraying the conditions exactly as they are, so much so that you can imagine it completely in every detail. I would support anyone who has an interest in reading it to do so because you will not be disappointed.

worst book ever

I got this book thinking that it would be a really good book because I read the back of the book to see what's the book about. And it seems ok. But once I started reading it. I was so lost and after a few couple of chapters that is when I realized that its two different stories. And its the same thing over and over again in every chapter.And the two stories doesn't even connect to each other. I had to drag myself to finish to book because I hate leaving a book unreaded. There is no action, no plot, its not really thrilling to read. please do not read this book, you will be very sorry that you even bought the book.

Worst Book ever

I got this book thinking that it would be a really good book because I read the back of the book to see what's the book about. And it seems ok. But once I started reading it. I was so lost and after a few couple of chapters that is when I realized that its two different stories. And its the same thing over and over again in every chapter.And the two stories doesn't even connect to each other. I had to drag myself to finish to book because I hate leaving a book unreaded. There is no action, no plot, its not really thrilling to read. please do not read this book, you will be very sorry that you even bought the book.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Excellent

Skin Hunger is a truly wonderful story! Or 2 actually! It took me a little while to get into it b/c honestly I was kinda confused, but once it got going I didn't want to put it down! Hahp's story was heartbreaking at times! I am patiently awaiting the next book...very interested to know what's going to happen next!

An amazing outlook on magic.

"Skin Hunger" is truly a superb book. Honestly, once you start reading it, you just can't put it down. The book alternates attention between each of the two protagonists-- Haph and Sadima-- who both live in two entirely different times, each chapter. As you read one chapter about Haph, the next one will undoubtedly be about Sadima. Sadima's story, which is where the book starts off, is set in a time where Magic has corrupted the world. Haph's story takes place in a time where Magic has been resurrected. Sadima is capable of magic, though because of her family's prejudice towards it (for killing her mother), she lives with her abilities in secrecy, until she is able to leave home and head for a city where magic supposedly reigns supreme. Haph, on the other hand, is forced into a "training camp", so to speak, by his cruel and intimidating father, to become a wizard. Both stories are told through different circumstances, which makes it all the more interesting, and I just cannot wait for that point where their worlds collide.

The overall quality of the book is great. Though it didn't increase my vocabulary by very much, the writing style really suits the book.

I enjoyed reading a whole new, darker insight on magic. It's dark, it's thrilling, and above all, it's just RAW. There are no magic wands. There are no spoken spells or incantations. From what I have seen of their magic so far, it seems all the more powerful, all the more natural. Really, at times, I felt more as if I was reading something from a fictional history book than I was just a novel, and the feeling was amazing.

I think, what I love most about the book, is how riveting it is. Each chapter starts off slow (but not in a boring way). When you start reading a chapter, you feel settled. Content. But right before you begin to get too comfortable, something amazing happens. In a blink of an eye, you're just pulled right in mid chapter, and you can't put the book down even if you wanted to. Just when you start thinking that you never want to stop reading, and just when you find yourself so phenomenally immersed with the story, BAM! The chapter ends and you're onto the next, which is a whole other story entirely. The amazing thing is, is that it's consecutive sequence. It happens over and over, chapter after chapter, as if routine.

The book doesn't ALLOW you to get comfortable. It doesn't allow your nerves to fully calm, or for you to be at ease with even one of the stories. It's kind of like when you're floating on water. You can float for a while, learn to relax, but once you start getting too comfortable, and start focusing more on the calm and ease of everything, and begin to loose sight of exactly how uncertain and unbalanced your situation really is, you sink. With a jolt, you scramble to the surface, still in shock, awe and uncertainty, and it takes a while for you to start floating again.

And then the same thing happens again. And again. And again.

This book is truly amazing. It's vivid and attention grabbing, and I'll definitely be the first person at Barnes and Nobles as soon as the second book is released.

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