Review – Magic Study by Maria Snyder (4/5 stars)

This sequel to Poison Study starts off shortly after that book ended. Yelena is on her way to Sitia to meet her family and to start her studies in magic with Iris. Of course nothing goes as planned and Yelena is having a hard time focusing on her studies because of all the things that keep happening to threaten the realm. Once again a threat rises that could be detrimental to both Sitia and Ixia and Yelena finds herself in the middle of it all; trying to find a way to save everyone.

This was a great book, if not quit as astounding to me as the first book. There are a number of new complex characters introduced throughout the book. Unfortunately I didn’t find many of the new characters to be nearly as likeable and engaging as the characters (from Ixia) in the first book. In fact I feel like this book really comes alive once the characters from Ixia join the plot again.

The above being said the book is non-stop action and the plot a complex set of intertwining political and personal events. This is another book that keeps you thinking during the read and wondering how all of the different strands of story will be neatly tied up by the end of the novel.

I think my main complaint about this novel would be an aspect of Yelena’s character. Yelena seems to rush off all the time into extremely dangerous situations without any thought as to the danger of them. I think this aspect of her character is played on too strongly and too often throughout the book. I mean Yelena is supposed to be very smart, yet I found her reasoning and logic as to why she had to be the one to put herself in danger to be unbelievable and not in keeping with her character.

Anway, this is a great book. Well written, smart, sassy, and high action. Valek is still my favorite character of the bunch; he is just so awesome. I am highly anticipating the next book of the series.

Here is a link to the book on amazon: