Poison Study (Study, #1) in What's the Name of That Book???

Jul 28, 2007 Wealhtheow rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

The main character is clearly a Mary Sue, her love interest is excrutiatingly obvious, and the writing style is workmanlike at best. This story contains no flair, no ingenuity, and certainly no well-written characters.

10 likes · Like · see review

Mar 27, 2007 Holly rated it it was amazing

Shelves: not-for-kids-only, fantasy

Well told YA story of a young woman, about to be hung for murder, gets offered the job of food taster for a military dictator. Never takes the easy route and the main character is quite endearing.

5 likes · Like · see review

Feb 28, 2009 Lisa Vegan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, zz-4star, readbooks-female-author-or-illust, novel, goodreads-author, young-adult, z2010, reviewed, speculative-fiction, groups-buddies

This book completely hooked me right from the beginning. I was intrigued by the idea of a woman choosing to be the leader’s food tester in order to escape execution by hanging. This was a rollicking good story with interesting characters. Although I did guess one important plot twist, there were a few surprises along the way. I now want to read at least the second book, Magic Study. I want to see what the main character finds out about her past and how her relationships with certain characters d ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Nov 05, 2009 Sara ♥ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: action-adventure, challenge-winter-2009, fantasy, romance, 2010, challenge-fall-2010, 2012

April 28-29, 2012

It was great again!

October 1-11, 2010

I think I liked this book more the second time around... I think I liked it enough to rate it high enough that it would round up to 5 stars!! I don't know if I was more in the mood for it or what, but I'm really feeling the Valek love right now!!! I reread this book in preparation for reading Magic Study and Fire Study, and I'm sooooooo excited to see how the story progresses! Yay!

February 11-13, 2010

I really quite enjoyed this book! 4 stars! April 28-29, 2012

It was great again!

October 1-11, 2010

I think I liked this book more the second time around... I think I liked it enough to rate it high enough that it would round up to 5 stars!! I don't know if I was more in the mood for it or what, but I'm really feeling the Valek love right now!!! I reread this book in preparation for reading Magic Study and Fire Study, and I'm sooooooo excited to see how the story progresses! Yay!

February 11-13, 2010

I really quite enjoyed this book! 4 stars! I would have read it in one sitting if I hadn't had plans to go out for Valentine's Day! ;) It was really interesting the whole time. Not RIVETING, but interesting enough to keep me wanting to keep reading.

So this book is about a 19-year-old girl, Yelena, who, at the beginning of the book, has spent nearly a year in prison (well, the dungeon of the castle, anyway) for murdering a man. (She was found straddling his body with the bloody knife in her hand and his throat slit, so she definitely did it!) She's next in line to be executed, when she receives an incredible opportunity to LIVE.

The Commander (military dictator of the 8 districts that make up the country) is always in danger of being poisoned, so he enlists food tasters to test his food out before he eats. This food taster is always a criminal (i.e. an expendable) and when he dies, the next person in line to be executed is offered the position. And, alas, the last dude just bit the big one.

So she chooses to taste the Commander's food. She's trained by the Commander's advisor (and former(?) assassin), Valek, to detect all the different poisons that anyone knows of, and nearly dies learning. Plus, the-guy-she-killed's dad, who is a General in charge of one of the regions is out to get her, since she killed his only son, so she's at risk from that angle as well.

Anyway, it's just really good how she rises from this emaciated, dirty, smelly, mess of a prisoner to a beautiful, intelligent, powerful, self-confident woman. :) I'm excited to see what happens to Yelena in books 2 and 3! ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 21, 2008 Trin rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, fantasy

This book struck a rare balance for me: the prose was weak, but the plot and setting and characters were actually enough to pull me along anyway. I even liked the romance, at least until the main characters started getting all soppy and declarative. The supporting characters had enough spark to make me care about them, too, and there was some interesting and surprising stuff about gender. Maybe I was just in an unusually good mood when I read this, but I had a great time with it and gobbled it u ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 14, 2007 Debbie is on Storygraph rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, 2005, 2009, library

Just reread it and it was better than I remembered. What's more, I don't have to wait for the next books in the series now!

Review from 12/13/05: A very good story about a woman who is about to be executed for murder given another choice: to be the ruler's food taster. This book had it's flaws, which is to be expected since this is Synder's first novel. Still, a fascinating read. I'm looking forward to the sequel. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 06, 2007 Chelsea rated it liked it

Shelves: 2006, own, recced, advance, fantasy, historicalfiction

A fun, quick fantasy romance. Nothing wildly original in this one, but enjoyable none the less. And, okay, I kind of love Valek.

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 14, 2009 Nadine in NY Jones rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy-and-sci-fi, fantasy-romance, ex-con, lily

Strong story but weak writing. At first I was really distracted by the writing - I was just so painfully aware that the author was WRITING this, the words kept jumping out at me and I couldn't get into the story. But finally the strong plot and characters sucked me in, last night I stayed up far too late reading.

Basic plot: protagonist murders a guy who was abusing her (we're not TOLD at first what happened, but you'd have to be brain dead to not be reading between the lines), after a year or so ...more

Like · see review

Jun 02, 2010 Marianne rated it really liked it

Poison Study is a fantasy about a girl who saves her own life by agreeing to be the food taster for the Commander. This book has fantasy, adventure, and romance. I'm usually not a fantasy reader, but I liked this one. ...more

Like · see review

May 01, 2009 katayoun Masoodi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, don-t-own

writing a couple of lines so to explain the three stars, it's definitely three stars because i liked it and i would definitely would be reading the other two. it was an entertaining and fun read, just not "wow" (for four stars) or the perfect five stars! and i would recommend it to anybody just would add that if you were not to read you wouldn't be missing out anything though if you were to read it you'd have some enjoyable hours (except the really bad and funny love paragraph, but then thankful ...more

Like · see review

Apr 30, 2010 HeavyReader rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, fantasy

I thought I had this book all figured out, but in the end, I didn't.

While not at heart a romance novel, there is a romance involved.

I enjoyed the protagonist, a rebel and a fighter, a survivor, a killer, a prisoner, an intelligent young woman who only wants to be free.

I traded the copy of American Gods I had been given for a copy of this book. ...more

Like · see review

Nov 22, 2013 Sara ♥ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, romance, suspense, 2013, 2015, audiobook, 2017, challenge-audio-1000-2017

February 2-5, 2017

Man... It's amazing how Maria V. Snyder can make you care so much about an assassin. Like SERIOUSLY. VALEK!!!!! :)

April 1-3, 2015

Ah, that was lovely. Great re-listen! :) Loved it!

November 22-23, 2013 ...more

Like · see review