Book Review: Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Title: Poison Study
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Publisher: Mira Books
Genre: YA (fantasy)
Why I read it/how I found it: I've heard from people this is a good book before, and I've just gotten around to it.

Description:
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:
This is an awesome book. I feel that the world is very concrete and detailed, we understand the nature of their government and lifestyle, along with the magic system. I love how well thought out the system is. And the characters are fleshed out as well. I liked Yelena as a narrator, but the supporting characters really make the story lush and exciting. Valek, Ari, and Janco especially kept things fun and intriguing with their relationships to Yelena. It was a little slow at the beginning, but picked up soon enough that I wasn't horribly bored. Overall, the plot was amazing and I didn't see a lot of the things happening, but at the same time, other pieces were so painfully obvious I wished the characters would've picked up on them sooner. This book is awesome and I look forward to the sequel.


Other information: This is the first in a trilogy. The next two are Magic Study and Fire Study. Maria V. Snyder's website is here.