A clever book that mixes two worlds (one where magic is accepted and another where it's not) into one. The mix doesn't truly appear until later in the book, actually near the end. Duey's writing is strong, her characters are interesting and sympathetic and I will eventually read the next book in this series, because the first was more than interesting enough to make me want to know what happens next. ( )

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. ( )

Written in alternative chapters this story of a girl who lives in a world where magic is frowned on, ridiculed and punished and a boy where magic is rampant but to become a magician you have to survive the school. A place where you starve until you work out how to create your own food, a place where your other classmates disappear and where you're told only one of you will go on to become a magician.

Hahp is one of these students, a disappointment to his parents this is his last recourse. He learns but can he learn quickly enough.

Sadima is from the earlier time, her mother died giving birth to her and only for her dedicated brother she wouldn't have survived much longer. She can hear animals speak to her. When opportunity brings her to the big city she finds herself with Franklin and Somiss and their obsession to discover the truth about magic. The cost may be too high.

The story ends on a cliffhanger and I really do want to know what happens next. ( )

Original post at The Little Bookworm refers to audio

Sadima lives in a world where magic is outlawed and the country is ruled by a king. But she has a magic all her own, she can hear animals talk. One day she meets Franklin who works for a young nobleman and who invites her to the city. After the death of her father, she goes and finds that they are working on finding the lost magic.

Centuries later, Hahp lives in a world where magicians are revered. He has no particular magic skill but as the second son of a most hated father, he is sent to the magicians to learn magic. But only one student can graduate and the methods of teaching are most cruel indeed.

First, let me say that I listened to this on a Playaway. If you've never seen one or used one, they are portable little audiobooks the size of an mp3 player. They are most cool and enable me to save room on my player for music and they are very easy to use. Luckily my local library lends them out. Andy Paris is the narrator and he does an excellent job although he varies his speaking speed something and sometimes it is too slow. But he has a nice clear voice and he was easy to listen too.

Anyway, I liked this book although it was horrifying what they do to those poor boys. I'm really wondering how the story of Hahp and the story of Sadima tie into together. I guess I have to read the next book. Somiss, the nobleman, is insane and terrifying. Sadima is awesome and Franklin is pitiful. In the end I was ready for it to be over, but I wish there had been more answers. It ended on a crazy cliffhanger. ( )

Parallel timelines, centuries apart: Sadima, who can communicate mentally with animals, becomes the servant of two would-be mages, Franklin and Somiss, who are attempting to rediscover the magic that may have led to a world-changing holocaust or war. Centuries later, Hahp, despised by his nouveau riche father, is deposited in the wizards' school. The headmaster, Somiss, tells the incoming class of eleven that only one or none of them will graduate a wizard, and the school's "courses" quickly prove a lesson in cruelty: the boys are made to starve until and unless they can produce food by magic, and they are all warned against helping each other, although some--especially Hahp and his streetwise roommate Gerrard--manage to sneak each other tiny, terrifying bits of unacknowledged and unacknowledgeable help.The prose is sometimes clunky and Duey is too fond of em-dashes, but the characterization and the growing feeling of entrapment across both storylines have real force. It's clear what benefits Sadima has had from growing up in a loving family, even with her depressed and sometimes abusive father; none of the boys in Hahp's storyline appears to have any kind of emotional resources with which to fight the competitiveness and cruelty of the wizard school. I am curious to know what happens to Sadima and even the less likable Hahp and how Franklin and Somiss' plans became the wizard school, although some of what went wrong is already clear.Somiss, although cruel, selfish, and spoiled, also has some awkward interpersonal attributes that make me wonder if he suffers manic-depression as well, particularly the surge in energy that accompanies fasting for him. ( )