Poison Study (Study, #1) (The Chronicles of Ixia, #1)

by Maria V Snyder

[ladygrey]

This is an incredibly well evoked world with really good characters. It reminiscent of The Sword of Truth but maybe only because of its subtle brutality. But it is subtle and yet real enough that it blurs the line of whether this is actually a young adult book or not. Sometimes I'm not sure I can tell.

The interesting thing about Maria V. Snyder is that her romances aren't particularly romantic. It's almost like falling in love through sheer exposure in the two books I've read thus far. But it works. It's not flowery or impassioned but you can see it clearly in the characters and it's easy to believe.

And I liked Yelena as a heroine a lot. I liked the complicated dynamic she's caught in that is this plot and her ever precarious situation. And I liked that she wasn't foolish or making stupid choices for the sake of the plot. She was weak and she acted in spite of her fear and she was interesting. And Valek, however emotionless she tried to describe him you could tell there was so much thought and complexity under the surface. His self-control made him interesting.

Despite the magic and the intrigue, this is a book that feels very real which makes it a little bit awful, but bearable so, and helplessly engaging.