Poison Study by M. Snyder

I didn’t think I was going to like this book as much as I did, and that was such a pleasant surprise!

Locked in a coffin-like darkness, there is nothing to distract me from my memories of killing Reyad. He deserved to die—but according to the law, so do I. Here in Ixia, the punishment for murder is death. And now I wait for the hangman’s noose.

But the same law that condemns me may also save me. Ixia’s food taster—chosen to ensure that the Commander’s food is not poisoned—has died. And by law, the next prisoner who is scheduled to be executed—me—must be offered the position.

I love the authors character, world building and the way she writes; I found myself not wanting to put Poison Study down. Considering Yelena’s status in the story, it was a pleasure to see the reactions from each of the characters and to see them grow throughout the book. I especially loved the relationship building between Valek and Yelena. I also enjoyed reading about the guards and seeing the relationships and trusts grow.
Valek pleased me the most, as I really didn’t expect his growth to be so significant.

The plot in Poison Study was very unique in that it wasn’t your traditional “boy meets girl” or “heroine saves the day” story. It’s not often that a plot comes around and actually surprises me in which way the author is going to go with it. Poison Study definitely had me guessing what was going to happen next (often times I was wrong!) and the story was definitely well written. I got so hooked on this world and its characters that I found myself staying up all night to read as much as I possible could!  The ending was something I wasn’t happy about because I felt the Commander could have done things differently considering what Yelena sacrificed for him.

I was so pleased with Poison Study that I plan to go to the store and pick up the next book in the series, and that is a rare thing for me to do right away.

Read Order:
Poison Study
Magic Study
Fire Study
Power Study
Assassin Study
Ice Study (serial being published in Snyder’s newsletter and will appear on her website later)

Also reviewed by:
Jackie’s review on Literary Escapism
Nefertiri’s Book Blog
Bookalicious
Emily’s Reading Room
Story Wings
Flipping Pages For All Ages

4 Comments

  1. This is one of my favorite books and series as well. Occasionally Yelena will do something tstl for, but otherwise I generally agree with her actions.

    And between you, me, and the internets–I prefer Ixia and the Commander. I like structure and could learn to live with the other rules if I had to!

Comments are closed.