Last word first: This has the potential to be my latest great obsession (5/5).
Description: Yelena is a murderer. It doesn't matter that Reyad deserved to die; according to the law of Ixia, Yelena must pay with her life. So when Yelena is offered a position as poison taster to the ruler of the land, it looks like a reprieve. Unfortunately, there are people who want Yelena dead, and they aren't willing to wait.
My thoughts: I must get myself to a bookstore pronto. I NEED to have the next book in this series.
A maze of loves, hatreds, intrigues and friendships, Poison Study is absolutely riveting. Yelena is a strong, practical heroine who made me want to jump out of my chair and cheer her on. Her integrity and the resourceful way she wends her way through the minefield before her are countered by her self-doubt and vulnerability, making her extremely easy to like. I also loved Valek, the chief of staff who becomes Yelena's boss, and the friends she makes along the way. Snyder has done a great job on making the interaction between characters meaningful and natural. There were a couple of moments where a character would spout some seemingly out-of-character, sentimal line of dialogue and I cringed, but other than that, all the characters were bang on.
As Juju might ask: Did I love the love? OH. MY. GOSH. YES. While the romance in this story was not the main course, it made for a swoon-worthy dessert. That's all I'm giving you though- I don't want to spoil anything for you.
Lest you think this novel is all talk and no action, I have to mention it's also suspenseful and action-packed. Cloak and dagger is mixed in with outright battle. There are even some fight scenes that get the Joe stamp of approval (hard to come by).
One thing: Is this a YA novel or an adult novel? The edition I have (cover shown) is marketed toward a younger audience than the original edition. The main character is technically a teenager, therefore putting this into the YA realm, I suppose. However, I definitely think this novel has enough depth to appeal to an adult audience. Best of both worlds! I'm excited to see where this series is going.
Content warning: This story contains violence, torture, sexual situations and a ton of moral issues. The only scene that I found upsetting was one graphic torture session which included a rape.
About Maria V. Snyder: Her research on food tasting methods with an expert chocolate taster, her husband, turned out to be a delicious bonus while writing Poison Study. Maria has a brown belt in Issinryu Karate, and has enjoyed "acting out" the complex fight scenes in her books. Playing volleyball, scrapbooking, and reading are her other hobbies. -from the bio on her website. Go check it out!
Click the book cover image to purchase from Amazon.
15 comments:
Wow great review! I own this book and really want to read it soon.
I've wanted to read this book for ages, and now after reading your review, I want to read it more! It sounds amazing, I so can't wait until I get my hands on it!
This series was one of my greatest discoveries this year. I luckily bought the first two books at the same time and was able to devour them in the span of a weekend. I bought both because I had read they were repackaging them as YA with new covers and I really liked the older covers.
I *believe* this series has always been marketed as adult fantasy since it was published in North America and then was just this year re-marketed as YA with the surge of YA sales, etc. I think it works either way, myself. Yelena does age over the course of the series and though she starts off as a teen she grows up. Sort of like the Belgariad series by David Edddings as we watch Garion grow up.
I love all of Maria's books! Poison Study is definitely the best out of the series I think, but I'll be waiting to see what you think of her other books!
After seeing the author being featured on Kristen's site (Kristen who's right above me! :D) I was curious about the idea of being a food-taster so I had to read it. I'm SO HAPPY I read Poison Study! it is easily one of my favorite finds of the year.
I bought this book about 2 years ago (maybe). I found it in the adult section of the store. I enjoyed it a lot, except I don't remember the torture/rape scene. (could be a bad memory starting-or the fact that I'm 49 and have read thousands of books since I was eight years old?) Now I want to read it again. I was wondering why Magic Study was in the Young Reader section of the bookstore-althought for some reason I havent' bought the sequels to this book.
I liked this book too. Gave it a 4 out of 5 score. In fact got 9 copies on my shelf and giving away one at http://cherrymischievous.blogspot.com/2009/11/poison-study_02.html. I will be giving away the rest of the 7 copies but I gotta think up an excuse for a contest first.
I'm so glad you like this! And the description of
"swoon-worthy dessert"
I think is spot on :)
LOVE this one. I found the second book more of a bridge, but it's so worth it to read the whole series. And the new one based on this--the Glass series...it's fantastic, too. In order of books I like, I love Poison Study best, then my next fave is Storm Glass, the first of the next companion series.
I have never heard of this one! Thank you for your great review and I look forward to reading it!
Ooo this one looks good! I've heard a lot about the author.
Okay, that review was pitch-perfect how I feel EXACTLY. This book was CRAZY good. This was the first book in a long long long time that kept me up to the wee hours of the morning because I could not put it down. That good. I think this was the best of the three though, but like you, I had to run (literally - the minute it opened) to the library to get the next one.
And your line: "While the romance in this story was not the main course, it made for a swoon-worthy dessert" - oh my gosh I was laughing so hard. So true. :)
Oh thank you so much for the content warning!
I love those.
Great review.
Yes, yes, yes! It was all that and more. Now, get those next books so I can read your reviews.
The cover is gorgeous! And the description sounds soooo good! I definitely need to read this!
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