Skin Hunger

I’ve always loved fantasy and science fiction. Say what you will, there’s something about a well written one that takes you away from the humdrum and the mundane in a way that all the other kinds of fiction never do. That is why it is such a great pleasure to discover new authors. Kathleen Duey who wrote Skin Hunger was my lovely recent discovery.
Skin Hunger (A Resurrection of Magic) is the first of a planned trilogy. It tells the alternating story of two teenagers living generations apart but whose lives are somehow intertwined far more closely than they (or us for that matter ) think. Sadima lives at a time where magic is feared and reviled and practitioners are hated. However, she herself has an affinity for magic and when her father dies she comes to the big city to live with two magicians who are working to legitimize magic and to restore it to its noble purpose. The alternate chapters tell the storey of Hahp. He is the second born son of a wealthy man who sends him to the Magicians Academy where only one out of ten boys will live to become a magician. In Hahp’s time, magic is reserved only for the wealthy.
This is a deeply absorbing novel that grips you from the initial pages till the cliffhanger end. The characters are well drawn, with their flaws and their strengths and are worth rooting for. The story is never condescending and is intelligently told. You genuinely want to know what happens to Sadima and Hahp and how their lives will finally intersect. Even readers not particularly fond of the fantasy genre will appreciate the well told story of two people trying to make their way in a difficult world.