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Poison Study
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Review
'Overall, this is an impressive debut and a strong start to what should prove to be a compelling new fantasy series.' --Rhianna Pratchett, SFX
'This is an excellent first novel, full of atmosphere, intrigue, and adventure with some interesting twists and a strong heroine determined to rise above her many problems.' --Locus Magazine
'Poison Study is an action-packed debut to a new fantasy series, involving intriguingly different forms of magic.' --Book Loons
'This is an excellent first novel, full of atmosphere, intrigue, and adventure with some interesting twists and a strong heroine determined to rise above her many problems.' --Locus Magazine
'Poison Study is an action-packed debut to a new fantasy series, involving intriguingly different forms of magic.' --Book Loons
'This is an excellent first novel, full of atmosphere, intrigue, and adventure with some interesting twists and a strong heroine determined to rise above her many problems.' --Locus Magazine
'Poison Study is an action-packed debut to a new fantasy series, involving intriguingly different forms of magic.' --Book Loons
'This is an excellent first novel, full of atmosphere, intrigue, and adventure with some interesting twists and a strong heroine determined to rise above her many problems.' --Locus Magazine
'Poison Study is an action-packed debut to a new fantasy series, involving intriguingly different forms of magic.' --Book Loons
Product Description
Choose: A quick death...or a slow poison...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 agonising 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...
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First Sentence
Locked in darkness that surrounded me like a coffin, I had nothing to distract me from my memories. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Locked in darkness that surrounded me like a coffin, I had nothing to distract me from my memories. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
87 of 89 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
So what would it be like to be a food taster for a man of importance? Yelena, about to be executed for murdering the son of a General, is offered a reprieve - if she becomes poison tester for the Commander. Her training is hard and immediate - she herself is poisoned and has to receive the antidote daily, thus imprisoning her without cells and chains. Constantly in danger of revenge for the murder that she committed, with the risk of ingesting poison from the Commander's food, she tries to find her position in the castle, to be good at her job, to make friends, to experience a little of life and to try to come to terms with the murder and some other strange things that have been happening to her.
We learn gradually about Yelena's former life at the hands of General Brazell and his evil son Reyad throughout the book. We also see her learning to become stronger, both mentally and physically, and to take some responsibility for her safety and future. Her poison testing master, Valek, is an enigmatic man, a former assassin who leaves her in no doubt of her likely fate in her current role, and yet is he really as cold-blooded as he seems? Even the Commander has more to him than people initially see.
The society in which events are taking place is similar to communism, having overthrown a corrupt monarchy, but there isn't any annoying political subtext to this book - it just makes for a different setting than the traditional monarchy in a castle like so many other quasi-mediaeval fantasies. There's also an amusing appearance of a type of food which sounded suspiciously like chocolate to me!
This book is billed as a romance and there is a gentle love story in it but that's a minor part of the story - there is far more to Poison Study than girl meets boy. It's a beautifully written and interesting story of a harsh life in a harsh time where it's hard to know who to trust but where a girl can overcome her disadvantages and make something of herself.
There is a sequel, Magic Study, that I've ordered in hardback on the strength of this book (and I believe there's another to be released later in 2007). I can count on one hand the number of hardbacks I've bought in the last couple of years so this is a very high recommendation indeed.
We learn gradually about Yelena's former life at the hands of General Brazell and his evil son Reyad throughout the book. We also see her learning to become stronger, both mentally and physically, and to take some responsibility for her safety and future. Her poison testing master, Valek, is an enigmatic man, a former assassin who leaves her in no doubt of her likely fate in her current role, and yet is he really as cold-blooded as he seems? Even the Commander has more to him than people initially see.
The society in which events are taking place is similar to communism, having overthrown a corrupt monarchy, but there isn't any annoying political subtext to this book - it just makes for a different setting than the traditional monarchy in a castle like so many other quasi-mediaeval fantasies. There's also an amusing appearance of a type of food which sounded suspiciously like chocolate to me!
This book is billed as a romance and there is a gentle love story in it but that's a minor part of the story - there is far more to Poison Study than girl meets boy. It's a beautifully written and interesting story of a harsh life in a harsh time where it's hard to know who to trust but where a girl can overcome her disadvantages and make something of herself.
There is a sequel, Magic Study, that I've ordered in hardback on the strength of this book (and I believe there's another to be released later in 2007). I can count on one hand the number of hardbacks I've bought in the last couple of years so this is a very high recommendation indeed.
117 of 123 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I discovered this book quite by accident whilst out shopping in a bookshop with my mum, like you do. Sadly she was looking at the romance section, which is so not my thing, and the attractive coloured cover of this book caught my eye. When I saw the title 'Poison Study,' I thought that doesn't sound like a romance book and I became even more convinced of this theory when I read the blurb on the jacket.
Our heroine of the story, Yelena, is about to be executed for murder (which she does commit) when she is offered a reprieve as the food taster to the Commander. What follows is the simple but engaging story of why she committed the murder, and her subsequent fight for survival against enemies.
By this point I'm convinced the book has been filed on the wrong shelf and I buy it on a whim to see if my theories are correct. Worth every penny! So much so that after finishing it, I couldn't get it out of my head, and had to go back and read it again a week later.
Maybe I'm over-reacting because this book is no great literary masterpiece and is unlikely to win awards, but it's an easy read, the characters are engaging to the extent that you care what happens to them, and the love story, thankfully, develops slowly and doesn't overwhelm the main plot. It's also set in an interesting society which feels like the cuddly side of communism - but still not a perfect world. There is a sequel (Magic Study), which I have read and enjoyed, and now I'm eagerly awaiting the third in the series (Fire Study).
If you're female and you like Fantasy Fiction, then the chances are you'll love this. Fantasy Fiction especially for women? - It's about time.
Our heroine of the story, Yelena, is about to be executed for murder (which she does commit) when she is offered a reprieve as the food taster to the Commander. What follows is the simple but engaging story of why she committed the murder, and her subsequent fight for survival against enemies.
By this point I'm convinced the book has been filed on the wrong shelf and I buy it on a whim to see if my theories are correct. Worth every penny! So much so that after finishing it, I couldn't get it out of my head, and had to go back and read it again a week later.
Maybe I'm over-reacting because this book is no great literary masterpiece and is unlikely to win awards, but it's an easy read, the characters are engaging to the extent that you care what happens to them, and the love story, thankfully, develops slowly and doesn't overwhelm the main plot. It's also set in an interesting society which feels like the cuddly side of communism - but still not a perfect world. There is a sequel (Magic Study), which I have read and enjoyed, and now I'm eagerly awaiting the third in the series (Fire Study).
If you're female and you like Fantasy Fiction, then the chances are you'll love this. Fantasy Fiction especially for women? - It's about time.
43 of 45 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Poison Study is a genuinely different fantasy novel, which manages to create a fresh setting, give the heroine a novel occupation and have a compelling, emotionally charged plot.
The action takes place in Ixia, a country ruled by a fairly benign military dictatorship - headed by Commander Ambrose. The command structure and regimented approach to managing the lives of its citizens with uniforms and pre-determined job roles is well described and make an interesting change from all those books where the monarchy or aristocrats rule.
One of the features of the Commander's rule is a Code of Behaviour with specifies strictly applied punishments for every crime. Causing a death is rewarded with execution and self-defence or an accident are not permissible defences.
Yelena is an intriguing heroine, she's a condemned murderer who is saved from execution (or at least puts it off) by agreeing to become the food taster the the Commander, a risky position as many people would like to kill the Commander.
Yelena did kill someone, but her very good reasons for doing so are slowly revealed through the book. The book is written from her first person perspective and she has a very strong personality that really jumps out from the book. Her capacity for action and intelligence make her a very engaging lead character.
Yelena has a fascinating relationship with her immediate boss, Valek, the Commander's spy master. It's Valek who offers her the chance to be the food taster and as the threats on her life continue he becomes a sort of protector, but he is also the man who has to give her a daily antidote to a poison he dosed her with to stop her running away.
Valek is a curious character. He's an assassin who's fanatically loyal to the Commander, but the author slowly reveals that there is rather more to Valek than meets the eye, which make him all the more intriguing. And it's difficult to avoid being swept along with Yelena's evolving view of the man.
The Commander is another interesting character with an unusual secret.
There are some lovely minor characters like Ari and Janco, soldiers that Yelena befriends.
And there are a number of threatening characters, not all who turn out to be bad guys, but those who do are really, really bad.
I did find the casual brutality of parts of the book, in particular the frequent use of violence or threat of rape against Yelena, rather uncomfortable.
But overall this is a great book. Well written, compelling and different.
The action takes place in Ixia, a country ruled by a fairly benign military dictatorship - headed by Commander Ambrose. The command structure and regimented approach to managing the lives of its citizens with uniforms and pre-determined job roles is well described and make an interesting change from all those books where the monarchy or aristocrats rule.
One of the features of the Commander's rule is a Code of Behaviour with specifies strictly applied punishments for every crime. Causing a death is rewarded with execution and self-defence or an accident are not permissible defences.
Yelena is an intriguing heroine, she's a condemned murderer who is saved from execution (or at least puts it off) by agreeing to become the food taster the the Commander, a risky position as many people would like to kill the Commander.
Yelena did kill someone, but her very good reasons for doing so are slowly revealed through the book. The book is written from her first person perspective and she has a very strong personality that really jumps out from the book. Her capacity for action and intelligence make her a very engaging lead character.
Yelena has a fascinating relationship with her immediate boss, Valek, the Commander's spy master. It's Valek who offers her the chance to be the food taster and as the threats on her life continue he becomes a sort of protector, but he is also the man who has to give her a daily antidote to a poison he dosed her with to stop her running away.
Valek is a curious character. He's an assassin who's fanatically loyal to the Commander, but the author slowly reveals that there is rather more to Valek than meets the eye, which make him all the more intriguing. And it's difficult to avoid being swept along with Yelena's evolving view of the man.
The Commander is another interesting character with an unusual secret.
There are some lovely minor characters like Ari and Janco, soldiers that Yelena befriends.
And there are a number of threatening characters, not all who turn out to be bad guys, but those who do are really, really bad.
I did find the casual brutality of parts of the book, in particular the frequent use of violence or threat of rape against Yelena, rather uncomfortable.
But overall this is a great book. Well written, compelling and different.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Better than expected
I have to say that when I began reading this I was not expecting anything particularly gripping. However, I was drawn in very quickly, the plot was something different to the... Read more
Published 5 days ago by S. J. Parkin
Fantastic!
To be honest, i had never heard of this book or the author before i saw it on the kindle daily deals. It sounded interesting and for 99p it was a bargain. Read more
Published 28 days ago by Nats
unputdown-able
I really enjoyed this. the romance is a gentle, evolving one but its definitely there, and not to be ignored. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Rayyana
Very good author
A very well written and interesting book, I found it hard to put down, I have also read other books by Maria V Snyder and have found them all very good indeed. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jersey Kev
Brilliant - thoroughly enjoyable
This is well written and very enjoyable to read. I read quite a lot of fantasy and sci fi and before I read it wondered if this would be another too familiar plot. Read more
Published 1 month ago by jillgath
The Poison Study
So bad I couldn't finish it.
I admit I like the occassional mindless wish fulfilment fantasy, but I just wish I hadn't bothered with this one. Read more
I admit I like the occassional mindless wish fulfilment fantasy, but I just wish I hadn't bothered with this one. Read more
Published 1 month ago by The Reader
Fabulous
The first of three, compelling reading. The background is full, deep, easy to visualize from the story. Read more
Published 4 months ago by book_joy
Maybe More of a Guilty Pleasure...
I originally bought this book having never read any other books by the author, but decided to give it a go based on the good reviews. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Ms. N. Reeder
Magic mystery and more!
A great read I loved the character of Yelena, poor girl is there anyone who doesn't want to kill her. Read more
Published 5 months ago by drewood
Light and entertaining... but that's it
If you want a light, quick fantasy series then this is for you. The world in which this take place and characters aren't too deep/involved but there is good humour throughout... Read more
Published 7 months ago by CPW
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