Early Review – Dawn Study (Soulfinders, Book 3) by Maria V. Snyder (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 480 pages
Publisher: MIRA
Release Date: January 31, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-0778319856
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the Soulfinder trilogy
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Despite the odds, Yelena and Valek have forged an irrevocable bond—and a family—that transcends borders. Now, when their two homelands stand on the brink of war, they must fight with magic and cunning to thwart an Ixian plot to invade Sitia.

Yelena seeks to break the hold of the insidious Theobroma that destroys a person’s resistance to magical persuasion. But the Cartel is determined to keep influential citizens and Sitian diplomats in thrall—and Yelena at bay. With every bounty hunter after her, Yelena is forced to make a dangerous deal.

With might and magic, Valek peels back the layers of betrayal surrounding the Commander. At its rotten core lies a powerful magician…and his latest discovery. The fate of all rests upon two unlikely weapons. One may turn the tide. The other could spell the end of everything.”

I got this book to review through NetGalley. I really loved the original Study trilogy but haven’t enjoyed Snyder’s other series all that much. I haven’t been a huge fan of the Soulfinders extension of the Study series either but this book did a decent job of finishing up this series.

The high point of this series has been learning more about Valek. This book doesn’t focus quite as much on Valek as previous books. This book is more balanced between Yelena, Valek, Leif and Onora. Valek is still having some issues damping down his incredibly alpha tendencies (which popped up in the last book in this series). However, him and Yelena have come to the realization that they don’t trust and listen to each other enough. So some of the book focuses on them finding a balance.

I continue to dislike Yelena intensely (she is just so dumb and makes such bad decisions all the time). This book starts out with Yelena doing just that; she ignores everything she knows about Valek and everything he’s said to her and makes a very rash decision with broad-reaching consequences right from the get-go. I just really don’t like how little Yelena uses her brain and past experiences when making decisions. She is just so rash and stupid.

The story ties up the whole deal with the Cartel enthralling those in power and trying eliminate magic. Things are tied up well. My main problem with this story is that it was just plain boring. This just kind of lays out the rest of the story, no huge surprises or anything. I ended up skimming some portions of the book because there are large sections where not much happens. However, it was nice to see the storyline tied up and our characters left in a good spot.

Overall this is an okay book in this series and does a good job of tying things up. If you liked previous books in this series you will probably like this one. I personally won’t be reading any more of Snyder’s books because they have been more miss than hit for me.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– New Release Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge
– YA Reading Challenge