Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

I am apalled. How could I not pick up this book earlier? Instead I spent all of last night and today reading it! I honestly should have read this book a long time ago! I feel so sad that I waited until now. 4.5 out of 5 stars!

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
4.5 out of 5 stars
Published in 2004
Summary from Goodreads: Choose: A quick death…Or 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 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…

Yelena. I was very impressed with her. I know Maria V. Snyder always creates really strong female protagonists, but she really outdid herself with Yelena. Yelena surpassed my expectations of what I thought characters should be like. She was strong, brave, smart and stubborn. Now, I know that she committed a murder. However, she had her reasons for doing so. While I was a little unsure because she admitted to being a criminal, I couldn't help but really admire Yelena. You see, she's a true heroine!

Valek, our swoon-inducing assassin, our one and only love interest, our cleverly manipulative, good-looking guy. Oh, and did I mention assassin? I have this thing for assassins, especially swoon-inducing ones. Valek was pretty amazing, especially with the descriptions of him. I'm all for blue eyes, especially sharp ones! It was hard to accept his age, but not I'm offically all for Valek!

This book was magical.... literally. There was a bit of magic in this story, but definitely enough to create a base for the sequel. While I loved the magic, I loved the poisons even more. There's something about all of the poisons and the process of finding them... I loved the descriptions of every single one and the meticulous descriptions of the intense action! This plot is hot! Tons of fights and tons of twists! I so did not see the treachery and the secret of the Captain, or the truth of the whole entire story! So many twists, so much suspense, I am officially in love with Maria V. Snyder's books!!!!!!!!!!

Then there was the setting of Poison Study. The world Yelena lives in... is simply uncomparable. Every place, every building, every wall, is immaculate, gleaming with utter perfection. There's something about it all that makes me think it's not possible to have such an awesome world, but I know better. Instead I'm kind of jealous of Yelena and the marvelous setting, courtesy of Maria V. Snyder!

Quite simply, this book is pure magic. Don't make the same mistake I made and not read Poison Study soon! You must read it now! It is a marvelous confection of poison, magic and romance! Total swoon and praise worthy!