Magic Study

Yelena has moved South, left her job as food taster, and her love, Valek.  She meets her familly and learns about her magical abilities. 

A definite drop in score for Magic Study. Even though I took issue with Poison Study for its simplistic writing style I still had a pretty serious book crush on it. I was leery of book #2 as I usually am.....and I was right.


I personally don't take change easily in my own life or when I come to know a character in a book. I was not excited that Yelena had to leave behind Ixia and travel South. The story ended up not being half bad. I just had to get used to it. But I did miss Valek with a heated passion.

Later things began getting sketchy. I appreciated that even though there was a rape in Poison, it was written with some dignity. But please......Snyder, don't make this a running theme. I don't want to hear about anymore brutality. STOP with the raping. Yelena went from a sharp awesome character to a nut job that forged ahead without thought. When Valek finally shows up later in the book.....after the magic and the characters have taken a nose dive...he is unrecognizeable. I don't know who he is any more. I am glad he loves Yelena...but he is a simpering sissy that says 'my love' all of the time. Once made my heart beat rather quickly....the successive times made vomit come up in my mouth a little bit.

I still think the writing style is very simple...like grade 5. Then Snyder throws in some sex and rape. Choose an audience!

After all of the complaints, I still liked the book and will continue the series to see if Valek ever mans up or Yelena gets control of her teen rebellion.
 
Rating 3 Not enough manly Valek and I don't like that Yelena doesn't think before acting.  The friendships are endearing, including the horse.
Rating PG 13 More rape and brutality, sex.

Poison Study

Up front I have to say that this isn't a clear 4 stars and I have a hard time pinpointing why. I loved the characters. I felt like the author had a great grip on who they were. Exploring the physical and psychological issues was accomplished very well. The fantasy was just enough but not so much that I lost interest (I can only delve so deep into fantasy lit.........shudder). The main character Yelena was extremely smart and strong. I loved her. The whole idea of the book was just smashing.

Here's the problem. Lots of times I felt like I would love to have my 10 year old daughter read this and then there would be a little swearing, eventually a rape (which was written not overly graphically). I believe the reason I kept thinking that it would be a great book for my girl was because it was written in such a rudimentary way. Maybe that sounds harsh. The writing was very simple but involved some adult themes. I questioned whether I was reading a book for 5th graders or young adults. It bothered me.

Still, I was charmed by the main idea (Yelena being saved from the gallows to become a food taster for the Commander and having to learn to identify poison.) This also included how not just the poison in the food but how we can be poisoned by lies, secrets, and abuse.

So there. I leave it at a 4 and hope that the writing for the next books becomes more intricate and developed.

 

Rating 4

Rating PG 13  language, rape, alluding to sex