For me, the Study series has been on a descending scale of awesomeness.


A jaunty, double-spaced, fried zombie? Where?!

The first book, Poison Study, was awesome and gave you that happy-go-lucky feeling at the end and you want to yell "weeeeeee". The second book, Magic Study, was "eh". It felt somewhat disconnected from the original but still good. This third one, Fire Study, was just plain worn-out and over done, too much going on without much really happening. It had it's moments but mostly it w More...

I felt a bit blue last night as I finished Fire Study, the third and final volume in Maria V. Snyder's Study Trilogy. Though she is currently working on a new series following a side character from the Study books, this is the last one to center on the adventures of Yelena, the convicted murderer, turned poison taster, turned diplomatic liaison. I felt blue because I'd been expecting more and I ended up finishing it more out of a feeling of obligation than because I was truly engrossed.

The stor More...

3.5

Wow. So, this book was kind of difficult to get through. Up until about three-quarters of the way through, I was afraid I was going to end up hating it. Part of it was some of the negative reviews, but more of it was the fact that everyone was really being annoying.

There was some of this in the second book, too. People were holding unrealistic expectations of other people, people were demanding trust while being mistrustful, etc. And there's a lot more of that in this one, to the point where More...

I'm afraid the third book in this trilogy disappointed me, mainly because it had a different tone or style from the other two. I loved the first two books so much I guess I had high expectations that just couldn't be met. Oh well. :)

I think part of me wanted some more drama between Valek and Yelena.

*****slighly spoilerish below*****

I always thought that Valek should have found the execution order in Yelena's backpack in book 2. That would have set the ball rolling on some crazy action/angst. Or, More...

Unfortunately, this series has gone the way of many "chicks-who-kick-butt" stories go, where apparently no one is capable of doing anything (or thinking, or even desiring to think, for that matter) except for the unflappable, clever, sarcastic heroine. The voice has become modern/mainstream enough that it kills the other-world feel (this Pegasus is lacking true wings). There's some creativity to the world and magic system, so I still enjoyed the book, even if the characters have become flat as t More...

I was a bit disappointed with Fire Study. While Snyder is a skilled writer, the plot in this book was so disjointed and all over the place that I felt it hard to keep up. And sometimes, I didn't even want to.

As with the other two books there is an underlying Big Issue that Yelena is trying to overcome that sometimes takes a backseat while other minor events go on. The difference with Fire Study is that these minor events that were sprinkled throughout the story were either completely pointless, More...

I have more than a few bone to pick with this book.
I still can't shake how disappointed I am!
All the worries about the last book having a bad review were merely a start. I have Just another book that made me feel this way... 'Breaking Dawn' grrrrrrr (anger of some sort)

To give myself a closure from one of my favorite seires, I reluctantly started reading the kindle version, for I couldn't wait for it to deliver. I was wrong, maybe I should've waited for much longer.

This book is filled with blo More...

The truth is now out, and everyone knows that Yelena is a 'Soulfinder'. Most people don't like this, as the last known Soulfinder, only used his powers for evil, everyone sees only the evil possibilities, necromancy etc. The council must debate what to do with Yelena.

Meanwhile Yelena has heard that Ferde the Soulstealer is back, and sets out to hunt him down, only to learn that there are more enemies now than those she's fought before.

This book was a little disappointing after the decent start o More...

What a pity. This is the only coherent thought in my mind after finishing the Study series. After an oustanding debut followed by a mediocre sequel, the final installment was NOT the proper ending to something that could have been memorable. Not because of the way it ended, because that was pretty satisfying. In fact, it got 2 stars from me instead of one just because Snyder eventually delivered what is so painfully expected throughout the whole - excessively long - book.
If I had to describe in More...

dont read this if you dont want the book to be spoit .



i love all 3 books. i felt so sad when i read the last page.i liked the ending but i wanted something more from it.



the book starts of as she recives a message from moon man wanting to meet with her because he may have information on were the soulsteater is. shes travels to meet him. there is a new treat that the evil magicin are use it called the efie richel .she learns more and more about her soulfinder ablitlys and soon things there a caus More...

Ugh. Well, I was obsessed with Poison Study, and Magic Study was pretty good, but this book really didn't satisfy. I found myself skimming it a lot, and I felt bad doing it.

For some reason the whole reason I liked the series in the first place dwindled throughout this concluding novel to where I forgot what charmed me in the first place. It wasn't horrible, just not the direction I wanted or expected it to go. I guess an author has to do what he/she thinks the series should do, but it went so f More...

2 stars is still pretty generous for this book. Bleh. I was so disappointed. Reading these 3 books was a similar experience to the Eragon books ... LOVED the first one, thought the second one was good but not as good as the previous, and forced my way through the third one while skipping massive pages and not caring what I missed.

Comparing POISON STUDY to MAGIC STUDY and FIRE STUDY, I think what I didn't like the most was the 1st book was so different from the last 2. I loved the mystery of Yele More...

I liked this book, though not quite as much as the other two. There is something about a woman needing a man that appeals to me and in this book, she is becoming much more independent and doesn't need Valek nearly as much. :( But I still enjoyed her adventures to save her world.

Well, I don't really regret finishing the series. It was pretty good, and a mostly entertaining story. Some of my hopes as I finished the second book weren't met, but at least Valek's presence wasn't nearly so gag inducing. Lots of "love"s again--my solution? Give him a thick Cockney accent every time he said it. Problem solved.

The first book is probably the best in the series, and I don't know that the rest add enough that you've gotta read 'em. The first 1/3 of this book gets a low 2, things m More...

Review:
Stunning conclusion to the Yelena Zaltana (or Study) trilogy. I like this author’s “voice”. It “feels” easy to read and the story flows smoothly. The only thing I find a bit annoying is the plot. The author has the tendency to make her characters act stupid in a blatant effort to add a bit more drama to the story. I blame that more to the weak plot rather than a character development flaw. And that is the only reason that this book got a less than 5, otherwise this book is a really great More...

*mild spoilers for book one, Poison Study.

Joint Review for Magic Study AND Fire Study

A Brief Summary of the Magic Stories

Once upon a time, lived a girl named Yelena Zaltana. Well… actually you might just know her as Yelena and she found out that she had magic, so she must flee her home and the one she loved.

She went on a journey of self-discovery battling the villains and other magicians that tried to stop her whilst she developed her magic and grew as a person. She made some new friends, kept More...

This is the third and final book in the Study series. I have to say I was a little bit disappointed as I thought this book would follow a similar format to the others. The first one was Poison Study and it was about Yelena's job as a food taster for the Commander of Ixia. In the second book Yelena goes to learn about her magical ability with the magicians in Sitia. I thought the third book would be about Yelena studying fire, but it really was a continuation of Magic Study and Yelena's journey t More...

I had heard from the friend who let me borrow this series of books that the third wasn't as good as the first two, so I was expecting to be a little disappointed in this story. That, however, didn't happen.

I mean, true, the story did get a little bogged down in Yelena's stubborn streak and her complete inability to listen to those who should have been teaching her, as well as the strained relationships she had with the people who should have been most important to her, but despite all that, I st More...

After enjoying the first two in this series, I'm finding the third hard to get through. The language is stilted and boring, I'm not interested in the characters, and various betrayals and deaths just don't spark any emotion in me. It's too bad, too, because her world and the mythology behind it - the history of Soulfinders and the connection of the magical world, the regular world, and afterlife - *should* be interesting. Reconciling the two realms - fascist, magic-hating Ixia and magic-soused, More...

First, let me start out by saying that I loved Poison Study. It's one of my favorite books ever. It was dark, dangerous, mysterious, romantic, and just amazing. So what on Earth happened? Fire Study just wasn't very good. The plot was dull and progressed slowly and don't even get me started on Valek. (Did he forget Yelena's name or something? Because the entire book he just called her "My Love". Seriously Valek, what happened to your heart of steel?) Overall, this book was a sad, disappointing c More...

I was chomping at the bit to get the final installment of Snyder's Study trilogy. Fire Study not only wraps up the overall story, but it also takes us back to all the people we've met and places we've been in Poison Study and Magic Study. I don't want to say too much about the specific plot, because that would not only spoil this book, but the previous one as well, so I'll try to be general. While seeking to apprehend the enemies from Magic Study, Yelena discovers there's a new dark magic, a mag More...

Quick review: The second book (Magic Study) is not as good as the first and third books, and the third book (Fire Study) is not as good as the first book. They are, however, entertaining books. I found the story very interesting. Honestly, I picked up the third book, intending to read the third chapter in the tub, and I oh god, I'm so ashamed ended up reading the entire book in the bathtub. I looked like I was considering a career path as a California Raisin when I got out. Four hours of my life More...

The third book in the trilogy is supposed to be the most epic (or so that's what I always felt like it should be). However, it ends up that this book contained way too new material without fleshing out some of the plot. We are left with too much of the protagonists self pity and the whole "ahhh I'm not as strong as you think and I can't do it" phase and not enough of the side characters who have become my favorites.

Understandable since the writer is new and obviously targeting the female teen a More...

Really this book, to me, is a closer to a 4, but I felt that the last book was partially rushed too much and disjointed. It seemed like the author may have been rushed into creating the 3rd installment before she had gotten all the kinks worked out. (?) I still immensely enjoyed the book but the ending left something greatly to be desired.

Also, while I understood why "fire" had been chosen for the title by the end, I felt that a different title may have been a better summation.

While I apprecia More...

This is an enjoyable read, filled with non-stop action. It moves quickly, but after awhile I started thinking, "Haven't I read this?" There is one battle after another, and it seems like Yelena reminds the bad guys in each one that they aren't allowed to kill her, so what's the point of all the battles? It ends up being a lot of riding from one place to another with some mix of the supporting characters going through pretty much the same things: being paralyzed, captured, rescued, finding people More...

Actually I would give this 0 stars if I could. This book was horrible. Worse than horrible, because it pretends to have some sort of connection to Poison Study, a book that I adored. Did the same author really write this crap?

Why this book sucks:

--The dialogue as well as Yelena's narration is downright corny. I don't get the reason for this dumbed-down style of writing - is it supposed to be cute? Funny? It ended up just being annoying. It was completely juvenile and almost embarrassing to read. More...

Fire Study by Maria Snyder is the final book in her Study Series. I read the first one last year as part of the Vaginal Fantasy Hangout group on Goodreads and I actually really enjoyed it. (Although there were some pretty healthy criticisms to be had about the love interest). Anyway. Just as a warning this review will contain some spoilers for the two earlier books.

This book picks up about two months after the previous book. Yelena is still living in Sitia the southern country she was born in More...

The tension in this third book of the series builds up rather quickly and enters a plateau of sorts staying constant for a while until maybe 3/4 into the story. This might be a deterrent for some. I found myself constantly checking the progress on my kindle and realizing I'm not even halfway into the story and yet I am already expecting it to end soon. Yelena is under constant pressure and yet she doesn't break or yield, so if you associate yourself with her as a reader and the pressure is too m More...

Wow. Okay, let me just say that I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this series, and the second was pretty good as well. This book was a disappointment until about two-thirds of the way through it. The only thing that kept me reading was the fact that I had invested enough time in reading the series that I hated to see it wasted by not finishing. It was as if Maria Snyder kind of "gave up" in a sense––just going through the motions of writing the book. Fire Study started as though she just wr More...

I am happy to say that I enjoyed Fire Study just as much as the first two books in the series. (Although Poison Study is probably my favorite of the three books, by a slight margin.) Snyder's writing style feels so effortless and natural that I was swept into the story upon reading the first few words. The pacing is just right, with twists and turns in the plot that urge you to press further on to discover what happens next. Snyder also has a gift for writing strong characters; whether you love More...