Poison Study by Maria V Snyder

One of the more recent books I read was Poison Study by Maria V Snyder. It is the first book in the Study series. The next two books are Magic Study and Fire Study. Poison Study details the life of Yelena who goes from a murderer about to be executed to the palace's food taster. Every times she tastes the Commander's food she'll be at risk of dying from poison. Not only that but the Chief of Security Valek has given her a poison called Butterfly's Dust. Yelena will need to see Valek every morning for the antidote or else she will die a slow and painful death. Along the way, Yelena meets several friends in the palace, from Rand the prodigy cook to Ari and Janco the power twins, as she runs errands for Valek and soon uncovers a plot that her old nightmare plans to use to take over the kingdom.


I really enjoyed this book, giving it about four and a half stars out of five. It is a perfect blend of adventure, fantasy, suspense, and romance. There's humor along the way too, to lighten up the mood when necessary. Snyder does a good job of characterizing the silent killer Valek (who, by the way, is my favorite character) but I find Yelena to be quite annoying. All she can reminiscent are her childhood acrobatics. The brief mentions of rape are not necessary. We already know just how evil a man Reyad is without emphasis on rape. These things set aside, I do plan on finishing the stories. The next book is Magic Study.