Yelena has been banished from Ixia after having discovered that she has forbidden magical abilities and now heads to Sitia to be trained in their academy. She is also meeting her real family for the first time since she was kidnapped when she was 6, but the reunion isn’t as perfect as she hoped when she sees the resentment her brother holds for her. Meanwhile a killer has been stalking Sitia, torturing and raping young girls, and it looks like Yelena may be next on his list of victims.I liked this book, but for some reason I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first Poison Study. However, this didn’t stop me from devouring the pages! I think what diminished my enjoyment of this story was that it got too bogged down with different plot elements, I think too much was added. Although nothing was left unresolved everything seemed rushed and there was very little detail in her explanations. For example, when Yelena and her brother reconcile, there was only a page spent on this despite the fact that it had been a theme throughout the book.

But despite feeling a little rushed, I did like it, it introduced some new characters such as Kiki, Yelena’s horse and Cahil Ixia who is supposedly the dead King of Ixia’s nephew and is desparate to win back his crown and wrestle Ixia away from Commander Ambrose.

I am greatly looking forward to the next and final book in the trilogy to see how everything is resolved.

Did you like this review? If so, please tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

[about-author author=”Maria V. Snyder”]

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2 Comments

  1. I totally agree with you, I really liked the first book too, but something was missing in this one, I’m still intrigue enough to continue the series.

  2. My sister in law introduced me to this series, but I haven’t had a chance to read them yet. Glad to know the first one is really good.

    Thanks for the review!