Review: Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Series: Study book #1
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 361
Rating: 5 Stars
How I Got It: Borrowed from the Library
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, New Adult
Publisher: Luna

Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads

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

Where has this book been all my life? I must have the next book now, but I can't because it's late at night as I write this. And I feel a serious book hangover coming on.

I didn't read the synopsis before going in and I think that was the best decision. I had no idea what was going to happen. The tension was really high because of that. And I never knew who to trust or like. I still don't completely know.

Yelena was an amazing protagonist. I don't even know if I can explain why I love her so much. She wasn't perfect, but I understood why she did everything she did. And she didn't frustrate me at all which is pretty rare.


The other characters were also great. They were well-developed and intriguing. I want to know more about so many of them like the Commander. I basically want them all to have their own books.

And of course, Ms. Snyder did a good job with the world-building. Especially the government and politics. It felt very real and made sense. It was also different than I normally expect in these kinds of stories. She also laid a lot of groundwork for the magic system which I'm sure will be explored in the rest of the series.

I was hoping writing this would calm me down so I could go to sleep, but it hasn't. I can't wait until I get out of work tomorrow so I can go to the library and get the second book. I would've bought the whole series, but my local Barnes and Noble doesn't have them. Boo!

I haven't felt this way about a book in a long time. Curse you Maria V. Snyder and whatever crack you put in this book.

Thanks for reading!
Holly