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Monday, September 29, 2014

Read This F@!%ing Book (26)


Welcome to a feature I'm going to post on Mondays called:
Read This F@!%ing Book!
This is a feature for me to push my favorite reads that just aren't getting enough attention! 
I'm also opening it up to anyone who would like to guest post. Do you have a book that you just LURVED but feel like its not getting the play it deserves? Email me to let me know and I'd be THRILLED to have you post about it here! Especially if its something I haven't reviewed yet - that's even better (but not necessary)! If you're interested email me:
Goldilox3weres@hotmail.com

This week's post comes from our very own: 
Rose Red!


Read This F@!%ing Book Post 26: The Study Series by Maria V. Snyder

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60510.Poison_Study    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1265703.Magic_Study   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1966969.Fire_Study

(Click book cover to go to Goodreads page)

Read The Synopsis And Tell Me You Wouldn't Want To Read This!
Murder, mayhem and magic…

Locked in a coffin-like darkness, there is nothing to distract me from my memories of killing Reyad. He deserved to die—but according to the law, so do I. Here in Ixia, the punishment for murder is death. And now I wait for the hangman's noose.

But the same law that condemns me may also save me. Ixia's food taster—chosen to ensure that the Commander's food is not poisoned—has died. And by law, the next prisoner who is scheduled to be executed—me—must be offered the position.

How Much Are You Willing To Risk In Order To Delay Death?
For Yelena, a soon-to-be-executed murderer, the answer is everything. To prolong her life for an indeterminable amount of time, she is willing to participate in a gamble and accepts the offer to become the Commander's food taster. The prize? The possibility of living just one more day after each successful tasting. The stake? Her life and death by poison.

Come for Yelena. Stay For The Side Characters.
The characters Maria V. Snyder writes are amazing and you quickly become attached to them! I loved Yelena! She may have ended up as the Commander’s food taster, but she continued to grow as a person despite the threat of death always looming before her. She’s intelligent and does everything she can to help herself. Despite facing numerous threats, she refuses to give up and keeps working towards strengthening herself both physically and mentally. She never loses hope that she will have a better life and not just an insecure existence as a food taster.

As much as I adore Yelena, I loved most of the secondary characters just as much. I especially loved the moody spy master and assassin, Valek! This trilogy has been complete for years now and I still want to know more about him! Also, Janco and Ari were adorable throughout the whole series! Yelena and they don’t get along at first for a really hilarious reason, but they soon become her protectors. I dare you not to love them! Seriously. I could read a whole book of just Ari and Janco’s interactions with each other. They have a very interesting friendship to say the least. Kiki and Moon Man are also favorites, but we don’t meet them till later in the series.

ZOMG! The World Building!!!
These books take place in a fascinating world that is filled with mystery, violence, and magic. The setting is the two neighboring countries, Ixia and Sitia, which couldn’t be more different. Ixia is a country ruled by a military dictatorship while four powerful magicians govern Sitia. I love how Maria V. Snyder created an interesting world where magic is honored in one country but feared and despised in the other. There is a lot of political intrigue in this series and it's one of the things I love about it.

The world building is full of such intricate details from the geography to the weather and to the different cultures in both countries. And the magic system is intriguing and varies person-to-person! Every time I read this series I get completely lost in the world.

Poison Study was definitely my favorite book in this series, but they were all unputdownable! The best news is that Maria V. Snyder has sold three more books in this series! So we get even more of Yelena’s adventures! While those books are going to build on this series, the story arc in these three books wraps up nicely by the end of Fire Study.

The mix of political intrigue and magic with a little bit of romance work together to make a series that you can easily binge read in a few days. I’d highly recommend them to anyone looking for a great fantasy series to start.


Have you read this book?
Did we persuade you to add it to your TBR mountain?
Let us know in the comments below!

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