Fire Study (The Chronicles of Ixia, #3) (Study, #3)

by Maria V Snyder

THE APPRENTICESHIP IS OVER NOW THE REAL TEST HAS BEGUN When word that Yelena is a Soulfinder - able to capture and release souls - spreads like wildfire, people grow uneasy. Already Yelena's unusual abilities and past have set her apart. As the Council debates Yelena's fate, she receives a disturbing message: a plot is rising against her homeland, led by a murderous sorcerer she has defeated before. Honour sets Yelena on a path that will test the limits of her skills, and the hope of reuniting with her beloved spurs her onward. Her journey is fraught with allies and enemies. Yelena will have but one chance to prove herself - and save the land she holds dear. '...a compelling new fantasy series. Snyder has a lovely, light touch, but manages to make Yelena's journey and her back story so engrossing' Rhiana Pratchett, SFX

• ISBN10: 0778302652
• ISBN13: 9780778302650
• Publish Date: 16 January 2009 (first published 1 March 2008)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 2 May 2015
• Publish Country: CA
• Imprint: Mira Books
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 448
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[alindstadtcorbeax]

5 Stars :-) i love this series so much. On to shadow study !

[Nessa Luna]

Oh my gods, this book was a rollercoaster ride! It stayed thrilling until the end and I had SO MANY feelings throughout this entire book. I'm happy I reread the previous two books before heading into this one, though a lot of the events from the previous books were explained (much to my annoyance, if I may be honest) again. Can't wait to pick up more books in this world, because damn this world is just amazing!

[Vicki]

2.5 stars

[nightingalereads]

This series just went in a direction I didn’t care for. I really missed the castle-life and characters of the first novel, and wish we would’ve stayed focused on them. Instead, the entire plot seemed to shift to the clans in the south. Not to mention the fact that Valek almost feels like a different person throughout this book and the previous one. I felt like his character development basically ended after the first book. The storyline revolved more around the characters introduced later in the series, and I frankly just didn’t care about them very much.
They weren't bad books, though. And I'll always have Poison Study to reread and treasure.

[nitzan_schwarz]

*sigh* i want more Valek and Yelena!!

[Chelsea]

I was really excited to FINALLY read the final book in this series however I ended up being slightly disappointed. I did love it but not even close to how much I loved the other two. I found that the start was really boring and hard to get through. The characters were all whiny and annoying plus there was a lot of repeating events.

BUT, thankfully, it started to get better. The pace started picking up a little and Yelena quit being so annoying. I did find the ending was a little rushed but other than that it was perfect. I liked the loose threads that were left and it made it so there’s a possibility that there could eventually be a 4th book.

[ladygrey]

I really wanted to give this one three stars, because I like [a:Maria V. Snyder|445303|Maria V. Snyder|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1224476079p2/445303.jpg] and I feel bad being disappointed in one of her books. But this is just so exposition heavy in the first two-thirds that it was almost painful. And it wasn't just massive amounts of expositions to explain this book, or to recount the first two books, it was repeatede exposition. Like, "my friends Ari and Janco" - "Ari and Janco, my friends from Ixia" - "Janco taught me to fight because he's my friend, him and Ari." It wasn't that pedantic but it was the same information over and over again as if we hadn't heard it the first time or frikkin read the first two books.

It did get better in the last third of the book when things finally started happening. But when there's a glaring discontent in a book it makes all the other flaws so much easier to see and be annoyed with.

Like how Yelena is insanely, ridiculously, annoyingly stupid. She's never really bothered me but in this book there were moments I wanted to strangle her.

Or the isolation. I have not met a book yet where I enjoyed extensive periods of someone being isolated from other characters and so all we had to read were their thoughts for pages and pages. Isolated characters are not ever fun. You know what's fun? Yelena and Valek taunting danger and taking risks because they're awesome. Also? Ari and Janco doing pretty much anything, but mostly being a step faster than the bad guys and surprised by how awesome Valek is and teasing Yelena. Even Leif and Irys are fun. But Yelena all by herself with her thoughts and fears and bad decisions? Not fun.

And that, I think was the biggest disappointment. Because the other books were fun, even though they were sometimes dark and full of danger and hard to read. The characters were engaging and the world was interesting. And this was all repetitive exposition and Yelena by herself and cliches of what the other characters bring to the story (she argues with Leif, she fights with Ari and Janco, she sleeps with Valek - the end).

[Angie]

I hate to say this, but I was a bit disappointed with this final installment of the Study series. While the previous book was fun, exciting, and action packed, this one was action packed but in an almost boring way. It seems like the characters were just going in circles for the first 300 pages. Yelena and Co would travel, get ambushed, fight, move on to next location, get ambushed, fight some more, go to another location, and so on. Sure we learn more about Sitian history and the powers of the different clans, but I felt like we got nowhere with the story.

The plot also got extremely convoluted and I had trouble keeping up. There were too many characters with their own plans and agendas, and they were connected in various ways that were hard to keep track of. In fact, with all of the location jumping, I would forget about what was happening in previous locations until Yelena and Co went back there. Yelena was constantly making promises to help everyone everywhere, which just added to the too many separate plots list. I eventually gave up trying to keep everything straight, and just kept reading without absorbing much.

I did like how fire played a different role than what I was expecting. I don't want to spoil anything, but it involves yet another one of Yelena's unique abilities, which I wish had been explored more. This series could have benefited from an extra book or two rather than being a trilogy. We would have gotten to see Yelena grow into her powers, and Fire Study wouldn't have felt like too much information in too few pages (even at 441 pages!).

The ending was fitting though. I liked watching Yelena go from being unsure and afraid of her powers to embracing them and becoming a kick-ass magician! I also loved the reveal of the origin of the Commander's secret; very interesting! Overall, this one wasn't as good as the previous two books, but it was a pretty good ending to the series.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[liz089]

It really sucks that this is the last book ! I fell completely in love with the first book, and it continued in the other parts. I love the way she wrote it, and I can't wait until I have enough money to buy the Opal Cowan series !!