Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Title: Poison Study

Author: Maria V. Snyder

Series: Poison Study #1

Publisher: Mira

Publication Date: October 1, 2005 

Source: Purchased

Oh Poison Study....

I don't know how I shall ever find the words needed to express my thoughts completely for this book.

First, I guess I should let you know that this is actually my second time reading Poison Study.  I read it many years ago at the recommendation of a friend.  He was absolutely fascinated with it, so I had to check it out for myself.

Over the years, I found myself not really remembering everything that happened in Poison Study.  However, I knew I liked it (okay loved it) and had been recommending it to people far and wide as a book that they should read.

This book, this series, has made me a forever fan of Maria V. Snyder.

Anyways, I felt I should reread it (and soon hopefully I will get to the rest of the series) before reading the new books that have come in the series very recently.  When I had heard that Maria V. Snyder was returning to this world I knew I needed to reread the books that already existed.  Unfortunately, I am very slow about fitting rereads into my my reading schedule since there are so many unread books still out there.

So, I decided to make this book my very first book to read for the year 2016.  And it was, and then I proceeded to sit on my butt and not write the review for a good 5 months.  The only real reason for this was laziness.  That and I kept reading and writing reviews for other books.  But here it is, finally.

Poison Study.

We start out with Yelena.  An extremely dirty, skinny rat of a girl being taken to her execution.  But first she has to stop and meet with Valek (swoon!) the chief of security.  Valek then offers her a way to avoid death, he offers her the position of being the Commanders personal food tester.

Yelena is given the option to trade death by execution, a death that she knows when and how it will happen, with a death that could happen at anytime by any possible number of poisons.

She chooses to be the food tester.

Of course, she plans to figure out how to get herself out of this situation.  Unfortunately for her, a whole lot of things keep happening to and around her.

The plot of Poison Study is wonderful.  It is definitely something that I suggest you read.  It has a lot to it.  Magic, deception, love, friendship, etc etc.  It really is quite fantastic.

However, what I haven't quite been able to get over is that I don't think I loved it as much as I did through my first initial read.  Why?  You know....I have no idea.  I had actually forgotten so much of what happened in this story.  And I really found it enjoyable.  And I still read through it just as fast as I did the first time around if not faster.

What I think maybe it could have been after so much thought is that I love this series.  Not any one book in it.  That I love the story as a whole.

My appreciation for this book didn't drop very much, but it was noticeable for me.  However, my love for this world is still very strong and I will still recommend it to everyone and anyone that I come across.

And I mean....Valek (sooooo hot!)

My Rating

4 Stars

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All thoughts and opinions are mine and mine alone.  They were not influenced by any outside parties.