Magic Study

This was a great follow-up to the first book. I really thought I was going to miss Valek in this one because they were separated, but there was enough going on, especially since their romance was so peripheral in the first anyway, that I didn't even notice the absence. Besides, Snyder cleverly brings Valek back around sooner than anticipated, and in a sneaky way that is quite fulfilling.

The ritualistic plot point in this one is hard to handle. Once again, we have a man committing terrifying and grotesque sexual assault, but this has a motive outside of desire or revenge, which is disturbing.

Cahill was actually an interesting character in my opinion, to where the end made me so disappointed in him. Approving of rape is never okay. I hope show more Yelena kills him and the rapist next book.

I also liked the random moment where Yelena is suddenly accosted by someone wanting revenge for the murder she committed. It's interesting to see how her past can continue to haunt her, even as justified as it was.

Leif was pretty intolerable most of this book, but I appreciated that he and Yelena finally worked things out, and that she feels some connection to her family despite the lost memories. The setting of Sitia is rich and inviting in a wild sort of way that trumps traditional European fantasy settings any day, in my opinion.

Lastly, I didn't "like," per se, but I did appreciate that Yelena fails. We even see that she would have failed worse had she stayed, but the irony is horrible while also serving as a good dose of reality. I know there is a companion series based on the sisters, and I'm interested in reading it now.

I give Kristin Atherton 4.5/5⭐. I only docked the half point because I have to listen on 1.5x speed in order to not feel like the performance is dragging. Otherwise, I've grown to love her narration. show less

This second installment was better than the first! I was very impressed by Maria Snyder's writing style and her incorporation of all the characters from the previous novel.

In this second book, Irys takes Yelena away from Ixia, to the Citadel in Sitia where Yelena is to learn the ways of magic. On the road to the Citadel, Yelena reunites with her loving parents and guilt ridden yet spiteful brother, Lief, who conspires to thwart Yelena's chances of becoming a trained magician, saying she is a spy sent by the Commander in Ixia in order to glean information to conquer Sitia.

Once at the Citadel, not only are the current students jealous of her powers and her close ties to Cahil, the heir to the Ixia throne, but they are also envious of her show more link with Irys, a Master Magician who has never seen fit to mentor a student until Yelena. While making friends and enemies, a young girl is brought to the infirmary, beaten within an inch of her life and driven out of her mind. Now Yelena, with the help of her friends, must race against time to keep the killer from kidnapping another girl. And ultimately Yelena must decide if she's willing to walk into the killer's den and sacrifice herself to keep the killer from striking again...

What I Liked: The best part about this book is that there are no love triangles!! Woot woot!! So many YA novels nowadays incorporate a love triangle that is totally unnecessary. I'm so happy that Yelena stayed strong and true for Valek, and he the same for her. Yelena is INDEED a strong heroine and I absolutely love her resolve to help people no matter the threat to herself. She's very self sacrificing and I like her character all the more for it. I'm also very glad that Ms. Snyder brought back Yelena's friends from the first book as well as added new friends in this one.

A big aspect that struck me in this novel was that no matter where Yelena goes, she always has a strong "mentor"-type person that aids her in whatever adventures she has. In the first novel, it was Valek while in this novel, it was Irys. Plus, Yelena always seems to make cheery friends whom I absolutely adore *giggle*. I love Yelena's interactions with everyone. LOVE IT!

What I Didn't Like: There wasn't a thing I didn't enjoy about this novel. The story flowed well and the characters stayed true to form. Ms. Snyder is indeed a master story weaver and I loved every moment of it.

Great book! Get it!

5 stars out of 5. show less

Not as good as the first novel in the series, the protagonist is now a full-on Mary Sue and the author is unapologetic about it. The plot is thin, the world-building vastly less interesting than in Poison Study, the villain is the SISTER of the villain in Poison Study for um no apparent reason?, all the characters progressively get more boring and seem to be more like caricatures than actual interesting people. A lot of the interactions read like a shitty rpg session.

I will read the next novel purely because I already own it.

After learning all about poisons and then realizing that she has magical abilities, Yelena now has an execution order in Ixia against her. So, she runs off with Irys to Sitia to finally find the truth about her childhood and her family. Even though her parents are ecstatic, it’s her brother Leif whose hatred she can’t understand. Just like Yelena is accustomed to, she is kidnapped again by Prince Cahil to determine if she is a northern spy. When her loyalty is discerned, she become Irys’s apprentice and finally gets a chance to learn more about her abilities. Ixia is trying to establish trade with Sitia, Cahil is planning his occupation of Ixia and there is a new monster magician hell bent on imbibing souls to become the all show more powerful ruler of the two lands. And Yelena is a Soulfinder – only one in the last hundred and fifty years and trying to figure out what it means. Will she be able to entangle all these webs? How will she remain in Sitia while remaining loyal to her friends and heartmate from Ixia?

This book was again just as fun as Poison Study. Watching Yelena kick ass with both her physical skills and magical abilities is superbly entertaining to read about. She seems quite aloof in the beginning, trying to get her bearings in Sitia but as always, she is extremely confident and compassionate even in the most trying times and manages to make friends with the most unlikely people. However great the story was going, I squealed with delight when the Ixian delegation arrived bringing all my favorite characters along. This book would not have been the same without the brotherly banter of Ari and Janco or the silent love of Valek. I really enjoyed watching Yelena make important decisions and getting close to finding her place between the two lands. Although, I would like it better if she stopped getting kidnapped so much.

Special mention has to go to Yelena’s super awesome horse Kiki. Their conversations are pure fun and the names Kiki gives everyone are hilarious. show less

3.5 stars.

This magic system is so cool and I can't wait to find out even more! I'm sometimes struggling to follow why Yelena throws herself into danger the way she does (and I gotta admit it's not my favorite plot type) but it's still overall very enjoyable. The character motivations and politics are so interesting, too.

For some reason, I'm struggling to sum up how I feel about this one. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it - just not as much as the first and I'm not sure why - hence the struggle. I actually suspect I just missed some of my favourite Ixian characters from the first...

The story moved from Ixia to neighbouring 'country' Sitia which was fantastic for a couple of reasons. One: there was a lot of character development as family members were discovered and relationships developed; two, there were (and forgive the potential over-analysis going on here) some really interesting political points being made.

Upon arriving in Sitia's main city, our favourite lead female encounters a group of beggars and fails to grasp the concept - why? Because it show more seems beloved Ixia is in fact a communist state - where "basic necessities are provided to all by the Commander's military". The Sitians fail to comprehend how this is possible because the beggars surely were just lazy and got themselves into their plight? Add into this some discussions on the nature of crime and punishment - Ixia: all judged by the Commander with capital punishment prevalent; Sitia: all judged by a group of officials with high-tech prisons the norm. All of which led me to love the book all the more - not just your average fantasy fodder!

Political undertones aside, this novel is also brilliant as a fantasy tale - the magic element is the focus here and the mix of new characters and old favourites is perfect! Again, we have a truly bad 'baddy' - a serial murderer/rapist no less - and it makes parts of the story really strong.

Overall: A fantastic sequel for those who loved the first -again, prepare for more than just light and fluffy magic spells - it gets dark but it's awesome for it! Roll on #3: Fire Study. show less

I fear that I’m in deep trouble of turning into a rabid fan girl about this series. I loved this whole freakin’ book. So much, in fact, that I was sad to see it end and actually made myself start reading it slower. Anyway, this is series I don’t recommend reading out of order, because Magic Study picks up almost exactly where the previous book left off.

Yelena has once again gotten the shaft in life. Just when she has made friends and started to feel all cozy in Ixia she’s forced to leave because of the whole “all magicians will be killed on sight” rule. So now she has no choice but to go on down to Sitia, where she’ll start learning about her magic abilities and meet the family she was supposedly stolen from years ago. show more Only her welcome isn’t too friendly when she finally arrives on her lost family’s doorstep. Her brother has decided that she’s an impostor who was sent to Sitia to spy for Ixia and he’s determined to see her punished for it. So he starts taking every opportunity to rattle off his theory about her to anyone who will listen.

This, of course, doesn’t make Yelena the most popular girl in Sitia. In fact, she’s back to being shunned by everyone around her except for a few people, but even they are leery of her and her strange powers. Then there’s the fact that one of the people who have listened to her brother’s ramblings about her is the lost prince of Ixia who sees Yelena as his golden ticket into reclaiming the throne. And if that isn’t enough, Yelena also finds herself getting more and more involved in Sitia’s problem with a crazy ass guy who’s romping around near the plains, abducting young women and then stealing their souls.

It was great to dive back into the rich world that Snyder is building in these books. Once again she manages to not go into information overload, but still give us enough information where we can see the differences between both Sitia and Ixia. I think I would’ve liked to have seen more about the politics of both countries, but I also believe it would’ve interrupted the flow of the book if Snyder had tried to cram more information in.

Sitia is a really laid back country when compared with Ixia, so it was interesting to watch Yelena trying to adjust to the different customs and laws. The hostility between both countries is still going strong, so Yelena ends up taking a lot of crap from people who see Ixia’s ways coming out in her actions. And the bad vibes and rumors only increase around Yelena with the arrival of Ixian representatives in the place where she’s studying, which apparently is kind of like the capital of Sitia.

This, of course, brings some characters from the last book into the midst of things, which I was really happy for. It was great to see the power twins, Valek, and the Commander involved in this book’s plot. The new characters that were introduced were also great. They all meshed together nicely and none of the characters just felt thrown in for the sake of having fresh meat in the story. I also really appreciate the fact that everyone under the sun doesn’t adore and love Yelena to bits, I really don't like it when series end up doing that. The worse part about this book is that yet again, it ends with giving us a taste of the plot for the next book leaving me wanting the next one now. show less