About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace-and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust-and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear.

I don't know what to think about this book...the beginning was slow, for the first half of the book I was nay, but then it started to pick up and the last half of the book was yeah! The story itself was good it was full of twist and turns, suspenseful action, but it kind of messed with my mind. The lead character, Yelena, was strong and could hold her own against a world run by men. But...I had a hard time connecting with her. The male lead, Valek was a strong, silent, artistic type, oh yeah also a assassin. One moment I liked him and the next I detested him. There was a love interest between the two (of course) but they were just little snippets here and there, just a couple of flyby sentences. I think if there was more interaction between Yelena and Valek it really would of made the book a whole lot better. Would I recommend this book? I think you just have to read it for yourself.

After being imprisoned for murder in a society that does not accept self defense or accident as reasons for killing someone, Yelena is offered a choice: hang or become the Commander's new food taster. As the Commander's security chief and the leader of the intelligence network of Ixia, Valek undertakes her treacherous training in poisons, tasting and smelling the toxic substances. To ensure that Yelena doesn't run away, Velek gives her Butterfly Dust, a deadly poison that will kill her if she does not receive her daily dose of antidote.

So begins Yelena's life in the castle, never knowing if her next bite of food will be fatal. Baxel, whose son she killed, is plotting to kill her, she exhibits magical powers which she must control because all magicians are summarily put to death, and a rebel plots threatens Ixia and the Commander whose food she is required to taste. Through all of this, Yelena must make choices, for her own actions, whether to trust others, and even whether to trust herself.

I loved reading this book and could hardly put it down - it was recommended to me by two different people when I asked about strong female characters. It is well written and captivating. Yelena is a strong heroine, even if she doesn't always know it herself, but part of her development in the book is weighing the implications of her choices. I liked her strength and passion, and even her lack of confidence at times because they seemed so natural and normal. I really felt her humanity as she constantly weighed the consequences of her choices in impossible situations.

The world that Maria Snyder created was vivid and enjoyable, I really had a sense of it, though the book is written in a straightforward manner and is not flowery at all. Yelena's life is described matter of factly and she accepts her situation without a lot of sentiment, but she lives in a society without a lot of sentiment. This is a society that is streamlined and functional, the Commander having overthrown the opulent and excessive King. For example, people are only trained for the jobs they will perform and wear uniforms to indicate these jobs, people can be reassigned anywhere without choice, and can only travel with permission.

Poison Study also presents some other interesting moral dilemmas, primarily the idea of justice being blind and the circumstances of a crime having no bearing on the punishment. Like many good fantasies, this one presents questions about humanity and encourages us to look at ourselves.

The story is full of intrigue and plot twists, and even some romance. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy, though some of the content is intense and violent. This is one of those books that blurs the lines between young adult and adult fiction, and there are a couple of scenes in particular that make this book difficult to classify as young adult, though I think that more mature teens as well as adults would both like this book.


There are are two more books in this series, Magic Study and Fire Study. There also appears to be a couple of short side stories, Assassin Study (Study 1.5), Power Study (Study 2.5), and Ice Study (Study 3.5) to go in between the main novels.

Book Club on Facebook introduced me to Maria's books and am I ever glad that they were on the suggestions page. Poison Study is set in a very interesting world with magicians who have been exiled from Ixia and Ixia has a strict political system.

Yelena is about to be executed but has a 2nd chance of life to be a food tester. Yelena is a very strong character she was put through hell during her teenage years and did the unimaginable to save herself which landed her in the dungeon. She doesn't put up with any crap from anyone. If someone tries to pull a fast one on her, she hands it right back.

I do love me some Valek. He is one hot assassin. He is also very protective of Yelena, when no one else is. I must have a thing for fictional characters that are protective of the female lead. I;m starting to see a pattern here.

I did not want to put the down this book down. Maria kept my attention; I always wanted to know what was going to happen to Yelena next. I just couldn't wait for work to be over so I could read at home.

Yelena is a murderer, and she knows that she will die because of it...But, when she is given the ultimate desicion, there's no rethinking her choice; she is to die as planned, or become the Commander's food taster, where she will have to taste whatever he will eat...which could be poisoned, or not. Yelena becomes the food taster, but it's not as easy as it sounds...she has to take Butterfly Dust, a poison that must be taken daily to delay the poison from causing a painful death. Yelena knows that she will die without this antidote, so she has no choice but to stay in the castle, where Valek, the Commander's personal security chief, teaches her everything there is to know about poison. As Yelena's new life in the palace continues, things start to happen, an old enemy has come back to haunt her and she is suddenly gaining magical powers that she has no control over. This is the story of Yelena's sudden change in life, where she is put in a difficult situation where she could die today, or tomorrow, not knowing what the Commander's food could contain, along with coping with new people that she learns to trust, but ends up being betrayed...Poison study will leave you hooked with Yelena's strength, courage and love.

I absolutely loved this book! I was hooked from the moment I started reading, Snyder wastes no time pulling you into this brilliant story, with amazing characters. The action keeps you grasping this book until the end, and you'll become attached to Yelena, Valek, Janco, Ari, and a few others, as soon as you read about them. This was a brilliant story, and I can't wait to read the sequel, Magic Study.