2008 Young Adult Challenge2 out of 6 for the Young Adult Romance Challenge
8 of 11 for the Summer Reading Challenge
RATING: 5/5
This book has been recommended to me by many people. I wondered if it would live up to my expectations and what do you know? It totally did.
Yelena is "rescued" from execution when she is given the opportunity to be the food taster for the Commander. Which of course, means, that if someone attempts to poison the Commander, she's poisoned first. She decides the trade off is worth it and enters life in the castle. She works under Valek, the second in command, who teaches her the skills she needs to detect poisons.
Life in the castle isn't as simple as just that. Her escape from execution didn't please a few key people - and Yelena has to be constantly on guard. As she makes friends, learns to defend herself and finds skills she never knew she could control, she becomes privy to much of the political intrigue in the country.
Poison Study's plot is intricate and action packed. We get magic, a society with exacting rules and punishments, murders, power hungry fiends and, don't you worry, love. My sister, who read this before me, promised it would be a good book for my young adult romance challenge. It took a fair amount of reading before romance entered the scene, but when it did, it was gratifying. I enjoyed trying to figure out which man would be a good fit for her as the other action was happening. Yelena is a force to be reckoned with and this book grabbed me and wouldn't let me go until I finished it.
4 comments:
I starred this one in Google Reader. sounds like a good one.
Ooh, it looks like you're almost done with some of your challenges! Way to go! This book looks really good.
So, I had my own secret summer reading challenge--to read 10 books on my TBR shelf that don't belong to a book group. So, ummmm . . . TOAFK totally messed me up. I'll make that a challenge in the fall. :)
I'm so excited to find a review for this book. A friend just gave me this book as well as Magic Study and Fire Study. I haven't been able to determine which comes first, but I'm guessing this is the one.
Jessica:
Yes - it's first :)
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