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Guests | December 7, 2009

The Cornucopia of Home Science

1 comment By Theodore Gray

Reading old books of science experiments for children, it's easy to become nostalgic for the days when you could buy jugs of sulfur and mercury at... Continue »

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1. 
   $20.96 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

   The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe

   Theodore Gray

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BookwyrmChrysalis, January 30, 2009

Awaiting execution for murder, Yelena is given the choice of dying tomorrow or a life

After committing murder, Yelena is given the choice of death by execution or a life of constant risk as the Commander's food taster.

Yelena decides to choose the risky life, because at least she'll be alive, but she quickly finds there is little chance for escape as she must daily receive the antidote to a slow acting poison that the Commander's spy master (and her food tasting teacher) gave her as her first lesson. Without the antidote, she'll die painfully in a few days.

Now Yelena must deal with the ghost of the man she killed, battle foreign magicians, gain control of her illegal magic, not fall in love with the enemy, and stay alive to keep fighting the next day.

This was my first all nighter book of the new year. I'd been putting off Poison Study despite hearing wonderful things, intending to read it once all three books were out, because there's nothing I hate more than having to wait after a cliff hanger. And I was right to wait, as each book ends with Yelena starting her next adventure. Even now, the third book is out, but it seems difficult to find (I think they are rereleasing it in a new paperback edition, since the other two books just came out as such), and I had to order a copy on Amazon. Thus, to fill the few days until I get the third one (yes, I had to get it on 2 day, instead of waiting till free shipping got around to getting it to me), by writing this review.

Snyder does a wonderful job of blending characters and plot with world building and magic creation, so I can clearly picture the world and society, yet never felt like I was lectured to. So many magic heavy books need to spend pages explaining the world to the character, and while there were a few spots where Yelena had to learn what the reader and she didn't know, the spots flowed so smoothly between the story, I barely noticed.

If I had one complaint, it's that I felt like Snyder didn't really describe the characters. We heard some distinguishing traits, hair color or eye color, but not much to really tell me what they looked like. In fact, I thought that one of the main characters (Valek) was old when he first showed up, like in his 50s, cause all the descriptions she gave matched more the wise old man than young (30s) handsome love interest. And part of that could be that I don't always pick up subtle descriptions, but the character's narration voice just made it hard for me to be sure what things looked like, unless it was something she really spent a lot of time describing, because most of the time it was just a trait or two.

Read in depth review at Bookwyrm Chrysalis - http://yafantasy.com/ poison-study/

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