Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey (Resurrection of Magic, book 1); dark fantasy, horror, young adult; 368 pages (about 10 hours on CD)Skin Hunger is two stories, told in alternating chapters: In one, Sadima is a gifted girl growing up in a world where magic has been outlawed. Her own hidden magical abilities make her an outcast in her own family, so she seeks out a small group trying to recover the ancient lost spells, and perhaps pass them on to future generations. The second story is that of Hahp, one of ten boys attending a school for wizard training, hundreds of years after Sadima's time. The training is brutal and needlessly cruel, and the boys (many of whom where sent there against their will), know that only one of them, if any, will live to graduate.
I LOVED this book. This was one of those where I got so wrapped up in the story, I failed to notice that I kept missing turns, or taking long routes so I could listen to just one more chapter. There's not a lot of action here, but the quiet personal stories more than make up for that. Lest I make this sound sappy, there's also a growing sense of fear and dread as we get to know certain characters, and realize just how determined/stubborn/crazy they are. There's a lot of deep themes explored here, too: love, abusive relationships, revenge, long-term exposure to cruelty and it's effects on the psyche. Things just kept getting darker as the book went along, but I was so wrapped up in the characters that I couldn't look away. I can't wait for the second volume to arrive.
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