Young Adult Book Reading Challenges discussion
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Poison Study
Poison Study
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Final reactions (spoilers)
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Tatiana
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rated it 4 stars
Mar 01, 2010 05:16AM
Did you enjoy “Poison Study”? Did you think it was an original, noteworthy fantasy novel? Or was it a Harlequin romance disguised as a fantasy novel for you? Are you interested in reading more about Yelena and Valek? More fantasy written by Snyder? Would you recommend this book and the writer to your friends?
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I'd definitely recommend this book. I'm not sure how I feel about the direction it's going in but I suspect I'd also like the other novels. I don't normally like romance novels but I enjoyed this one.
I enjoyed the book very much. To be honest, I really wasn't expecting to. I thought the premise sounded a little boring (food taster?) and that it might be a too Harlequiny (lol, yes I just made that up) for me, but I was very wrong. I literally couldn't put it down. It was very original, the characters were multi-dimensional, and the plot twists were great! I didn't know what was coming next. Will definitely be checking out the remainder of the "Study" series.
The novel was published under MIRA--a part of Harlequin that publishes stuff other than straight romance. They do suspense/thriller/mystery, sci-fi/fantasy, paranormal stuff.And Borders classifies it as Fantasy whereas I think other big bookstores call it Romance. I personally think Fantasy is the better label since the romance is not the main focus--Yelena's adventure is.
Mod
Mod
I've always imagined it as some kind of chocolate.
It's definitely chocolate. "a high-quality variety of cocoa" is one of the dictionary definitions.When I make "criollo" I usually use Martha Stewart's fudge recipe, though it varies a lot from the book description--I just happen to like fudge. :D
I finished the book recently and I am officially in love with it. I can't wait to read the rest of the series. I loved that I didn't know where things were going and it always stayed interesting. The twists were really well written. I was sad when she found out Rand betrayed her because of his dept with Star, and how that played out in the end for Rand. It was tear worthy.When they confessed their feelings, it felt like that things went a little too fast, but I liked how the romance wasn't the main focus. But I'm interested in seeing what happens with Yelena and Valek.
Anyone have a guess of their age? I don't really know if it was ever said for sure. Yelena, I'm guessing 19 or 20. Valek, older, because he has some gray hair (I think) then again, my bf does too and he is 24.
I think I'm done with Poison Study (p188! So I broke the halfway mark). It was fun discussing it with you guys. :) I found it very predictable and really weak in fantasy (for example, not setting up a magic system until half-way through the novel).I like the idea of a poison taster, and growing up watching such classic wuxia adaptations as Demigods and Semidevils, I've watched some *cool* imaginary poison stories out there. (For example, the main character "lucks out" and escapes a slow poison death by counteracting it by eating a poisonous frog. Or the bad guy time jails him in a cavern with his newly discovered half-sister... and poisons their food with a dangerous aphrodisiac.) In other stories, there were often quests to create poisons using farfetched ingredients (often animals) or antidotes from plants that only bloomed during the full moon on the steep side of cliff. *That's* a poison story. Just about the only thing Yelena *doesn't* describe that she's reading is the stuff on poisons!
This has food, but other than the chocolate, it doesn't really go into detail about any of it. I don't even know about their cultural palate. Are they into spicy foods? Sweet and sour? Pungent? Savory? Raw? Crunchy?
Granted, I haven't read through a straight-up romance novel since I was... 12? (Unless we can count Flowers in the Attic, but that's really gothic melodrama, right?) But in general, I thought they were more salacious. I'm in the middle of the book now, and the romance part is starting, but it's rather sudden. I don't feel like the relationship between Valek and Yelena has really been fleshed out enough for her to be "confused" about how attracted she is when "they argue so much" (which I haven't found to be the case)- especially since I haven't seen them really interacting on any equal level.
So um, it's not a book about poison, it's not about food, it's not about magic (though gods know how Yelena didn't pick up anything about magic when she was a guinea pig for a year), it's not about romance. It's somewhat about acrobatics/physical fighting. There doesn't seem to be any real concept behind the story.
(I'm the only person who didn't like it? That's dire.)
I finished it over the weekend and though I enjoyed it, I did not enjoy it as much as I was hoping. It may be because I read Graceling this week as well and absolutely loved it! If I would have read Poison Study first I may have enjoyed it more.My opinion is that it fits the 'fantasy' genre not romance.
Criollo is definitely a form of chocolate.
I will read the next in the series...
I loved the book until the last five pages. This says spoilers, right? Really, an execution order right in front of the women who from what I understood was her leader, queen, whatever head of government in Sitia? Since Yelena was kidnapped, she's not a citizen of Ixia but Sitia. Why not kill Irys and all the other orphans? Not a smart tactical move from someone who was smart enough to take over a nation. I thought all the twists were fantastic until that one, too contrived.Leigha, Yelena is 16 when Reyad started abusing her. That went on for 2 years until she killed him and then spent a year in the dungeon. She's 19 at the beginning of the book, which covers 6 months, so possibly 20 by the end. We never find out Valek's exact age, but she guessed the commander was 37, I believe, which she guessed was now I can't remember how many years older than Velak, but it would have put him in his early thirties. I thought the romance scenes did race through too quickly too. When something finally happens with Yelena and Valek, I'm not really sure what happened, just a lot of metaphors and illusions (and I kept thinking that she just threw up! Even if she did rinse her mouth, I'm sure she still smells).
Kaion, from the food described in the book that Yelena tests for poison, it was my understanding that their diet was very close to ours. She talks some about poisons, but the book's more about fantasy and mystery and romance. I thought it was marketed as fantasy, not romance. The part you're at is where the acknowledgment of her attraction starts, not the relationship. It starts to develop there from fear and fighting into something else. As the book develops, magic plays a more powerful role. Yelena does have magic; she's used it several times. Her guinea pig experiments were not intended to make her aware of her magic, quite the opposite. You find out what her purpose at the orphanage was later in the book. I think it gets more exciting as you get more into the book, but if you're not liking it, I doubt you'll like the ending either.
Laura, I thought of Graceling too when I read this.
Lisa, my sentiments exactly.
My first thaughts when I finished this book were COMMANDER WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!!!!But I guess if she/he never done that Yalena would have never gone to find out her next stage in her life.
I was sad about Rand being killed and i was happy how their love transformed from lust but it didn't over ride it.
I like how the ghost signified Yalenas battle of her demonds and that she won.
I got so rapped up in this book, I don't no why lol. *love love love*
i enjoyed the book, i gave it a 3 in star rating, but it did its job. it entertained me, i have the other 2 in my amazon cart and i look forward to reading them :) i did feel **spoiler** rand's death was a little anti-climatic, he was the only friend i think we really connected with and betrayal aside, i didn't see much mourning on yelena's side. maybe a tear or two would've sufficed :)
Im Sticking to my gunz on this lol the Commander is so in LOVE with Valek.
that could be possible lol
he/she is a very jelous man/woman
Mod
I love how you said the book is not really about poison. I didn't think of that before. You are right there wasn't enough description about the whole poison part. The one thing I love about wikipedia is that you can look anything up, so if you don't want to finish a book you can still find out what happens.
