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Poison Study (Study, #1)

Maria V. Snyder

Start date: March 1, 2016

Finish date: March 31, 2016

Discussion: Series

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What Members Thought

Feb 18, 2012 Sasha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Poison Study was a book that completely enthralled me in its uniqueness. The premise was absolutely intriguing: the idea of a woman being saved from certain death by execution. The catch? She has to serve as a poison taste-tester for the Commander of her country, a job that puts her life in danger on a daily basis. Furthermore, to prevent her from reneging on her deal, each day she is fed a poison called Butterfly’s Dust, ensuring that she must appear for her antidote in order to live.

Like most Poison Study was a book that completely enthralled me in its uniqueness. The premise was absolutely intriguing: the idea of a woman being saved from certain death by execution. The catch? She has to serve as a poison taste-tester for the Commander of her country, a job that puts her life in danger on a daily basis. Furthermore, to prevent her from reneging on her deal, each day she is fed a poison called Butterfly’s Dust, ensuring that she must appear for her antidote in order to live.

Like most female protagonists of a fantasy series, Yelena is no ordinary girl. Her resilience and quick thinking on her feet is not the only thing that gets her out of several life-or-death situations; it is also the fact that she is unknowingly one of the last possessors of magic in Ixia, a place which forbids the use of any magical abilities on punishment of death. I really liked this element of the story, especially the fact that the neighboring country to Ixia is a magic-using country, which causes all kinds of problems politically. Another thing I really appreciated about Yelena as a character was that she didn’t stand by and let others do the fighting for her. Once she was freed from prison, she began learning how to defend herself from those who wanted to harm her. She took charge of her situation as best she could and that, combined with her intelligence, ended up saving not only her life on several occasions but also the lives of her countrymen. You know me; I love my strong female characters! Yelena is no exception, and that made this book all the more enjoyable to read.

Snyder’s prose is simplistic and to-the-point. There is no need for flowery speech or eloquence, and for some reason that makes the story better, somehow. It proves that you don’t have to be longwinded in order to construct a wonderfully dynamic set of characters and a detailed world with your words. The world of Ixia isn’t as fully developed as I would have liked to read about, but by paying attention to the details you read about, you could pick up enough to discover a world with lots of potential to be explored. I hope that Ixia and the surrounding countries are delved into more deeply in future books.

The dynamic between Yelena and her somewhat captor, sometimes champion Valek is an interesting one. The battle of wills between the two of them is white-hot, and the respect between them is what drives their chemistry, which they try and fail to deny by the end of the book. The other characters are equally interesting to read about, such as Yelena’s guard friends Ari and Jenko, or the mysterious mage Irys, who attempts to teach Yelena about her abilities. I hope to see more of them in future books.

Poison Study was a quick, fun read that kept me eagerly turning the pages. You can read this book in one sitting, and it contains all the elements necessary for a good read: action, romance, a strong heroine, a compelling love interest, and a rich world in which the plot takes place. Snyder has created something quite special here, and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

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Jul 26, 2011 Amanda R rated it really liked it

Re-read - the first one, I did over 10 years ago. It was good revisiting this book and I liked it as much this time as the last. Now I'm familiar with the story again and ready to continue on in the series! ...more

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