Title: Poison Study
Series: Study, #1
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Publisher: Mira
ISBN: 9780778324331
Tags: New Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Magic, Adventure
Source: Library
Hearts: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
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Choose: A quick death…Or slow poison…
About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She’ll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.
And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly’s Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.
As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can’t control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren’t so clear…
Review
It’s summer. Summer means vacation and vacation means: LOTS and LOTS of time for me to read ^^ So when I went to the library to check out as many books as I could, I saw this book standing on a shelf. As soon as I read the blurb I just knew I had to take this book (and the other two books in the series that were fortunately standing next to it) with me. I’m so glad that I made that decision! It’s a fantastic book that sucked me right in.
The first reason why this is such a good book was easy to find: Yelena (like the name very much ^^). She’s about the be executed and gets the following choice: to die or live a little longer as the food taster of the Commander of Ixia. With the hope to live, to escape, Yelena chooses the latter, not knowing what the consequences of that decision will be… As reader you follow every step she makes on her journey. From learning how to be a taster to performing life threatening missions. You’ll see how Yelena, despite everything she encounters, stays strong, how she won’t let anything get the best of her. She’s obviously a real fighter. Who’s able to keep her cool in even the most dire situations and finally, she’s someone with a heart of gold. Aka my favorite type of main character ^^
Another reason is that Maria V. Snyder managed to create a fascinating world. Where a dictator has seized the power. This time, however it’s not as bad as it looks. It’s even a vast improvement for the “common” people compared to when they were ruled by a king. The dictator himself, the Commander, too is unlike other tyrants you may have heard about. He has some aspects that will simply blow your mind. It was also intriguing to read about the magic that you can find in this world. I’m looking forward to get to know more about it in the next book, Magic Study, that will probably answer all my questions regarding magic ^^
The last but not least reason: the writer wrote a very captivating story. Where nothing is as it seems and with amazing twists. With an endearing romance, that for once is not as important as the story. It’s more in the background. You read about it between the lines and all the big events. It felt like a rather nice bonus, especially that lovely romantic scene at the end!
Conclusion
4 HEARTS. A great story with an amazing lead cataract, a captivating story and an intriguing world. What more can a girl want when on holiday? I definitely look forward to the next book!
Do you agree with my opinion, or not? Would you read this book?
Feel free to leave a comment!
Study
- Poison Study
- Magic Study
- Fire Study
- Assassin Study (Book 1.5)
- Power Study (Book 3.5)
- Ice Study (Book 3.6)
Witchmag's Boekenplank 
This is one of my all time favourite books. It is such an easy read, the story just flows and you feel yourself captivated even on the 5th time reading this book. Looking forward to seeing your reviews on the rest of the series. There is also a spin off series set in the same world but a different main character. The glass series, the magic in that series is even better than the first.
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Yeah, I completely agree with you, it’s so easy to get lost in it. My reading counter is on 3 already ^^ And I still learn new stuff every time I reread the book!
I know about the spin-off, it’s on my TBR-pile ^^
Oh and did you know? According to goodreads Maria V. Snyder decided to write more books about Yelena, Valek and the rest! I’m so looking forward to that! The first “new” book will be out somewhere at the end of 2014 ^^
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I am ashamed to say I am at about 10 reads so far and still love it. No I did not know, but I am very excited to find that out, But another year to wait 😦
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10! Wow…. I believe I’ve never read a book that often, not even my favorite books….you must totally love it then 😉
And don’t worry, before you know it the year is over and you have another book that you can reread for more than 10 times 😉
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Haha, I like the sound of that. I suppose I have enough books to keep me going until they come out 🙂
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