Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Poison Study 

by Maria V. Snyder

Goodreads Blurb: 

Choose: A quick death... Or slow poison...

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve.  She'll eat the beset 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 Ixea 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...

Recommended for: YA fantasy lovers

read count: 4

Rating:  

I bought the second book in this trilogy on a whim while passing through the store about five years ago, completely oblivious to the fact that it was the second and not the first book. When I realized my mistake, I put it on my bookshelf and promptly forgot about it for the next year. (If only I had known what I was missing.) After reading the back cover multiple times, I finally decided to pick up Poison Study... and promptly devoured it in one sitting.

This book has everything you could want in a YA fantasy novel. A great plot, a mystery that keeps you hooked, amazing side characters that aren't cardboard cutouts, and a couple that finds love together that isn't instant. In fact, the main character starts the book hating him.

Maria V. Snyder is great at showing, not telling. We see through Yelena's actions how she starts to become a confidant and powerful woman that doesn't need a man to kick ass, but doesn't refuse help when she knows she's in above her head.

The book starts off from Yelena's point of view as she's dragged from a dungeon where she has been imprisoned for the past year.  Assuming she's about to receive her punishment by execution, she's extremely surprised when she is offered a deal.  Choose to be her leader's food taster and risk death with every bite, or choose her execution immediately.

The story is fast paced and quickly races on delving into Yelena's somewhat murky history as an orphan, why she was imprisoned in the first place, and her daily fear of death by poison.  Instead of being cut and dry and describing every single meal, Snyder throws in a dash of romance, a pair of friends that aren't there just to have extra characters, and a mystery that will draw you in so deep you don't realize that you've laid in bed reading and suddenly it's 5am and starting to grow light out.

I've now read this entire trilogy 3 times, and each time I pick the books back up, it's like going home to a world and friends that I love dearly.

I highly recommend you give this book a try!