Excellent book. The characters and storyline suck you in. I highly recommend it. It's downfall, for me, was that it was portrayed as a romance but had almost no romance to speak of until the very end. Still, well written and captivating book. ( )

The literary equivalent of a soap opera, in that romance is a major (yet shallow) component, and that we're always told exactly what our protagonist is thinking. Reminded me of those close-ups on Days of Our Lives where John Black furrows his brow while the voiceover tells us what's going on in his head.Not that I've watched a lot of Days or anything. I've just heard, you know, stuff. ( )

I was a bit surprised by how much I enjoyed this story - I've rated very few books with 5 stars recently. The characters were well developed; the plot was interesting and complex; it wasn't overly predictable. The dust jacket summary didn't accurately summarize the story. I will actively look for the second and third books in the series. I would also recommend this as a good read to others. ( )

A couple months ago I had a Borders Gift Card burning a hole in my pocket and as luck would have it, there's a big fat Borders store a short walk from where I work. So I was browsing again and came across this title. I'm much better about impulse buys than I used to be so I checked out the comments on Amazon before snagging it. Well, as of this writing it's rated 4 and a half stars out of 5 from over 200 reviews. And sure enough, I was hooked by the second page. The plot concerns a young woman named Yelena sentenced to be executed for murder. But she's given an option: die by execution, or become the Commander's food taster, a life-long position (which is currently available since the last food taster died from poisoning.) Yelena chooses not to die and then gets caught up in the political intrigue surrounding the land known as Ixia. It's a breeze to read and the pace rarely flags although the rest of the story is not as strong as the first third. This book can stand alone but there are two more "Study" books featuring Yelena. They're on my list. 4 stars. ( )

Quite an enjoyable book. The characters were good and the story was very interesting. It is about a girl who is sentenced to be executed but is given a reprieve because she agrees to be the "Commander's" food taster. This book reminds me a little of [The Mistress of the Art of Death], but with some more fantasy aspects. (The world is imaginary. There is magic involved.) ( )