Poison Study
(Study, #1)
By: Maria V. Snyder
Publisher: Mira
Published: Nov. 18, 2008
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating:
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…
Yelena is charged with murder and is awaiting noose. When a guard comes and leads her to the chief of security’s office, she is expecting the end. What she doesn’t expect is for Valek to offer her a job instead. If she accepts his offer, she will be the food taster for the commander making sure that his food isn’t poisoned, and if it is identifying it in time so that Valek can find the culprit. For her “services” her life will be spared from the noose and she will live a rather comfortable life in comparison.
I really enjoyed this story and the magical world the the author has created. There are magician, spies and Valek… someone whom cannot be effected by magic. I liked the addition of the secondary characters and the author did a great job keeping them interactive throughout the duration of the story.
Another aspect of the story that I really enjoyed was the connection between Yelena and Valek. They don’t start off on good terms. In fact, he is very cold and distant to her. Which is understandable since she is someone who he pulled from deathrow only to be the food tester for the Commander. So her chance of survival is pretty low. As the story progresses though you start to notice Valek softening around Yelena but when he is around her he tries to maintain an uninterested demeanor. Their relationship was definitely a slow building interesting one. There is no insta-love. This was definitely an interesting story.
“Yelena, you’ve driven me crazy. You’ve caused me considerable trouble and I’ve contemplated ending your life twice since I’ve known you. But you’ve slipped under my skin, invaded my blood and seized my heart.” -Valek
I can’t tell from your review but I’ve been told that this is similar to SJMaas series?
I have no idea. I’ve never read anything by them.
This sounds interesting Kristin. I am glad to see you enjoyed it overall.