Review of Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Yelena, convicted of murdering the son of a powerful general, awaits execution. But with only a few hours
left, she is offered an incredible reprieve -- and agrees to become the new food taster for Commander Ambrose, the military leader of Ixia. Living in a palace and eating only the best meals is a dramatic change for Yelena, who spent the last year locked up in a rat-infested dungeon, eating gruel. But she soon realizes that she has more to worry about than ingesting potentially lethal poisons in the commander's meals. The general whose son she murdered has vowed bloody vengeance, and everyone in the commander's retinue look at Yelena as an untrustworthy criminal. The longer she stays alive, however, the more she begins to understand her own perplexing abilities -- all of which will be put to the test when cunning rebels plot to take control of Ixia.

You know those books that you see for ages and ages and ages and then one day you just go, 'I'm sick of seeing you! I'm going to buy you!' Well this was one of those books for me. I bought it quite cheap and wasn't expecting much from it but I was pleasantly surprised - I loved it!

Yelena is a character that is impossible not to love. She gets herself in some pretty awful situations yet never asks for help, just gets on with it and fights or gets the hell out of there. She can look after herself, basically. Valek is one of those characters that is easy to fall in love with, yet you don't really expect him and Yelena to end up together at first. When they did I felt like cheering, it was perfectly written. All of this story is beautifully written though.The story completely sucked me in and I didn't want to stop reading it. When I did I immediately downloaded the sequel as a Kindle version just so I could read it quicker! I wouldn't recommend this to the younger end of YA readers, probably 16+ as there are scenes on this which are quite adult.

5/5