Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Collections
Publication
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (2009), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 370 pages
Description
Nya, a fifteen-year-old war orphan, becomes a pawn in a bigger political game when her uncanny--and dangerous--ability to draw out people's pain and then give it to someone else turns out to be the only weapon she has to save her sister.
User reviews
LibraryThing member JRlibrary
Interesting idea; that someone could touch a person in pain, and pull that pain out of their body and deposit the pain into an object or displace the pain into another person.
I liked the story but didn't like that it was book one of a series. Honestly - it would be refreshing if someone could just
I liked the story but didn't like that it was book one of a series. Honestly - it would be refreshing if someone could just
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write a stand alone book these days! Show Less
LibraryThing member ShadowKissed
This is a young readers book but good all the same. I've never read a story like this before. The shifters work as doctors in this world. They transfer the pain from the sick and hurt into a special stone that holds it. The only problem is they are running out of stone, the village is at war, and
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the main characters are on the run. Fun and interesting, great read Show Less
LibraryThing member stephxsu
I guess there isn't anything particularly wrong about this book. The world-building is pretty good, and the characters will likely appeal to younger teen readers. Maybe it was just that I was reading this on my Kindle and this was the kind of story that I needed in physical form in order to keep on
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reading. I may pick it up again someday but I don't think I'll be in a rush to do so. Show Less
LibraryThing member seekingflight
An interesting young adult fantasy about a girl named Nya who has a special talent. In the society she lives in, healers are able to shift pain from a person into a stone to heal them, but Nya instead has the ability to transfer pain from one person to another. A lot of people would like to harness
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these abilities for their own purposes, placing her in danger, and raising a number of ethical dilemmas. Meanwhile, there is a mystery about disappearing healers that she needs to solve. An interesting premise, and reasonably good for its genre. Show Less
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
I really enjoyed this read about a girl who can take pain from someone and transfer it to someone else. She isn't supposed to be able to do this, healers in this world take pain and transfer it into a stone, which is very valuable and is getting rarer. Nya lives in a world where they're at war, the
I really liked this one, reminded me of the Circle series by Tamora Pierce and the characers were well drawn. Some of the secondary characters were a little sameish but overall it was well done. Nya's issues with the healing she did and the consequences weren't just a momentary thing, she did feel for the people and have problems with some of the things that went wrong. This is an author I want to read more by.
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duke won the war against her state but he's still working on other places. Apprentice healers are going missing and she's worried about her sister. When she accidentally reveals her skills she becomes a wanted person and she has to make choices that will echo.I really liked this one, reminded me of the Circle series by Tamora Pierce and the characers were well drawn. Some of the secondary characters were a little sameish but overall it was well done. Nya's issues with the healing she did and the consequences weren't just a momentary thing, she did feel for the people and have problems with some of the things that went wrong. This is an author I want to read more by.
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LibraryThing member ladycato
I have wanted to read this book for years because I love healer characters, and yet it's languished in my to-read pile. I am glad to finally get around to it.
The worldbuilding is especially strong in regards to the healing. Nya lives in a conquered city where the economy relies on Healers and Pain
The moral complications here are complex and feel real. Nya is a good person in terrible straits. At the start, she's starving and desperate for food. Through the course of the book, she makes many decisions in which there is no real right or wrong answer, and suffers the consequences. This makes the novel quite dark, but I think this is also a good thing for kids in the target age group.
The main problem I had was that I was getting annoyed with a particular setting. The characters escaped, then returned, and escaped, and returned. It made the bad guys look incompetent in a ridiculous way, and it felt like it dragged on too long. I loved the first 3/4 of the book and then found my enthusiasm dimming as I read. Because of this, I likely won't pick up the sequel.
The worldbuilding is especially strong in regards to the healing. Nya lives in a conquered city where the economy relies on Healers and Pain
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Merchants. It's fascinating. It also has many implications that aren't explored, and likely can't be explored in a middle grade book such as this; really, with Healers so few, they shouldn't be allowed to wander the city at all because of their high value.The moral complications here are complex and feel real. Nya is a good person in terrible straits. At the start, she's starving and desperate for food. Through the course of the book, she makes many decisions in which there is no real right or wrong answer, and suffers the consequences. This makes the novel quite dark, but I think this is also a good thing for kids in the target age group.
The main problem I had was that I was getting annoyed with a particular setting. The characters escaped, then returned, and escaped, and returned. It made the bad guys look incompetent in a ridiculous way, and it felt like it dragged on too long. I loved the first 3/4 of the book and then found my enthusiasm dimming as I read. Because of this, I likely won't pick up the sequel.
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LibraryThing member lyndasisson
This book was a good read to fit the dystopian theme that is popular with young readers today. Set in a society that has gone awry, one of the main characters has to hide her real identity as she is being hunted by community leaders. She possesses special healing talents that enables her to pull
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pain out of other people's bodies. This puts her in high demand, and is a gift that enables her to earn a living after their world has been shattered by war. Show Less
LibraryThing member Goldengrove
Enjoyable young teen fantasy about a world where illness is dealt with by healers who can draw pain from another's body, putting it into a special type of stone. The Pain Merchants of the title are not healers as such, but buy pain to use in the making of powerful weapons. The central character - a
A competant fantasy, with some likeable characters, and a really good central idea. that is well-developed and explored. I liked it enough to read the other two books in the series.
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girl called Nya - has an unusual, and suspect, gift. This, as one would expect, gets her into trouble and leads to her involvement in national politics. A competant fantasy, with some likeable characters, and a really good central idea. that is well-developed and explored. I liked it enough to read the other two books in the series.
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LibraryThing member mephistia
Well written, good pacing and great concept. The idea of magical healing is prevalent in fantasy, but it's generally presented as mostly harmless to the healer and finite in nature relative to the healers ability.
Conventionally, the harm to the healer is understood to come from the magical drain
That's why I liked "The Shifter" so much. Good fantasy books take an accepted trope and twist it ever so slightly. Paired with good writing and decent to excellent pacing, you end up with a good book. And this is a pretty good book.
In Nya's (the protagonist) world, it's perfectly normal for people to have the ability to Take pain and Heal wounds. Those with the talent are trained from young apprentices (Takers) into Healers. Of course, nobody could simply hold onto all that pain, so they dump it into a specially mined ore called pynvium.
I wasn't quite clear whether raw pynvium accepted the pain, or whether it only accepted the pain after Enchanters worked it, but either way, pynvium is extremely valuable -- both empty of pain and full of it. Once it's full of pain, it can't be emptied and re-used, but it can be made into weapons.
Nya's family was composed of Healers and Enchanters. Her parents and grandmother died in the recent war against the Duke of Baseeri, which her country is still recovering from. Her sister is learning to be a Healer. Nya herself, however, couldn't join the Healers League because her healing ability is . . . warped.
While Nya can heal, she can't dump pain into the pynvium. She can't even feel the "call" of the pynvium. The most she can do is shift the pain into another person, which her mother warned her never to do.
This premise sets the stage for an incredible, twisting ride of adventure and ethical questions that keep you leaping from moment to the next. The only thing I wished was that the book was a little longer and a little darker. I wanted to explore the characters more, I wanted to understand their dilemmas and fears a little more.
It was a good book, really. I think if it had been aimed at an older audience and been a little darker, a little more in-depth, it could have been a great book. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
Conventionally, the harm to the healer is understood to come from the magical drain
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of healing, not from taking on the pain and "psychic wounds," I guess, of the harmed person.That's why I liked "The Shifter" so much. Good fantasy books take an accepted trope and twist it ever so slightly. Paired with good writing and decent to excellent pacing, you end up with a good book. And this is a pretty good book.
In Nya's (the protagonist) world, it's perfectly normal for people to have the ability to Take pain and Heal wounds. Those with the talent are trained from young apprentices (Takers) into Healers. Of course, nobody could simply hold onto all that pain, so they dump it into a specially mined ore called pynvium.
I wasn't quite clear whether raw pynvium accepted the pain, or whether it only accepted the pain after Enchanters worked it, but either way, pynvium is extremely valuable -- both empty of pain and full of it. Once it's full of pain, it can't be emptied and re-used, but it can be made into weapons.
Nya's family was composed of Healers and Enchanters. Her parents and grandmother died in the recent war against the Duke of Baseeri, which her country is still recovering from. Her sister is learning to be a Healer. Nya herself, however, couldn't join the Healers League because her healing ability is . . . warped.
While Nya can heal, she can't dump pain into the pynvium. She can't even feel the "call" of the pynvium. The most she can do is shift the pain into another person, which her mother warned her never to do.
This premise sets the stage for an incredible, twisting ride of adventure and ethical questions that keep you leaping from moment to the next. The only thing I wished was that the book was a little longer and a little darker. I wanted to explore the characters more, I wanted to understand their dilemmas and fears a little more.
It was a good book, really. I think if it had been aimed at an older audience and been a little darker, a little more in-depth, it could have been a great book. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
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LibraryThing member CharityBradford
This was thoroughly enjoyable from the first page. The characters were endearing, believable and real. Nya rushes headlong into her decisions like most teens and has to deal with the consequences. I love the idea of the Healers/Takers and Shifting in general. How imaginative! I also love that
I can't wait to read Blue Fire!
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Janice was realistic about how valuable this gift is and that people would fight over the use of the commodity. I can't wait to read Blue Fire!
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LibraryThing member CharityBradford
This was thoroughly enjoyable from the first page. The characters were endearing, believable and real. Nya rushes headlong into her decisions like most teens and has to deal with the consequences. I love the idea of the Healers/Takers and Shifting in general. How imaginative! I also love that
I can't wait to read Blue Fire!
Show More
Janice was realistic about how valuable this gift is and that people would fight over the use of the commodity. I can't wait to read Blue Fire!
Show Less
LibraryThing member Evalangui
If Nya is immune to flashed pain, why does she get hurt when she kicks the guard in the shin outside the Luminary´s office_
Language
Physical description
370 p.; 8.52 inches
ISBN
0061747041 / 9780061747045
Local notes
Nya, a fifteen-year-old war orphan, becomes a pawn in a bigger political game when her uncanny - and dangerous - ability to shift pain between people turns out to be the only weapon she has to save her sister.
Signed by the author. Remaindered.
Signed by the author. Remaindered.