by Maria V Snyder
My 15 year old niece recommended this series to me (and lent it to me, actually). Since she was so spot-on about the Twilight series, and the Uglies series, I gave this a try and I loved it. I don't necessarily agree that it's for young teens, though, there is A LOT of sex in these books.
It's a trilogy - Poison Study, Magic Study and Fire Study. The books revolve around Yelena Zaltana, a young girl with magical powers who finds herself arrested and convicted of murder and forced to join the Commanders staff as his Poison Testers. It's that or death by execution. She's soon to learn that her status as a measily staff member is only a piece of her story. The books are set in the lands of Ixia, under iron rule of the Commander, and Sitia, run by a group of clan councilmen. The two counties have an uneasy peace between them that can be easily shattered, particularly since Sitia is run by magicians and Ixia has outlawed magic. Yelena is the tie that binds these two countries together, and the only hope to save them both. But to do so, she must rely on the people she first thought of as her biggest threats - the Commander's head of security Valek and Sitia's 4th Magician, Irys.
Yelena is an interesting character and the banter between her and Valek adds a nice touch of humor to this series. They are well written, particularly in the action sequences. The poison tester training in the first book was interesting and there are so many facets to Yelena's life and personality to be explored throughout the series. Of course I love Valek and his soldiers Ari and Janko, they are so much fun. I was completely wrapped up in their world.
There is a spinoff series to this one that I've started, based on one of the characters from this trilogy.
Cherry Garcia
Thanks for the review! This sounds right up my alley. I loved the twilight series and I'm looking something new!
Cherry Blossom
Thanks for posting this, I'm a huge twilight fan. I will have to check these out. A book that I loved is by Maggie Stiefvater -- called Shiver--- really good!
Cherry Blossom
I just got this whole series in the mail yesterday. Just finishing up a book and I'm going to start on these!
Cherry Blossom
I read the first 3 and then read storm glass, can't wait for the rest to come out, really really good books!!
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