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Poison Study

Poison Study

AdventureFantasy
Pages
431
Published
2005
Language
English

Synopsis

Choose: A quick death… or slow poison...

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear...

Prose complexity
4/10

Vibe

TenseDarkAdventurousRomantic
Enemies to LoversReluctant HeroSurvival

Genres

Adventure Fantasy High Fantasy Paranormal Romance Romantasy Young Adult YA Fantasy

About the author

M
Maria V. Snyder

Maria V. Snyder is an American fantasy and science fiction author best known for her Study series (Chronicles of Ixia and Sitia), beginning with Poison Study (2005), which won the 2006 Compton Crook Award. She holds a B.S. in Meteorology from Pennsylvania State University and worked as an environmental meteorologist before turning to fiction. She later earned an M.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, where she now teaches in the low-residency MFA program. She lives in Pennsy...

Characters

YelenaProtagonist

A convicted murderer given a reprieve from execution to become the Commander's food taster, tasked with detecting poison in every meal she is served.

General BrazellAntagonist

Father of the man Yelena was convicted of killing, and the director of an orphanage-workhouse, who has vowed revenge against her for his son's death.

ValekSupporting

The Commander's chief of security and leader of Ixia's intelligence network, who arranges for Yelena to become food taster and trains her to detect poison.

MarenSupporting
Randall ScottSupporting
All characters in Poison Study

Frequently asked questions

  • Does this book require reading other titles first?

    This is the opening volume of the Chronicles of Ixia series and serves as the entry point for the entire narrative arc.

  • Are there companion books that offer a different perspective?

    The author has released companion novels such as The Study of Poisons that retell the events of this story specifically from the viewpoint of the character Valek.

  • How does this book fit into the broader series structure?

    The series expands beyond the initial trilogy to include additional arcs and short stories that follow the same cast of characters through further developments in Ixia and Sitia.

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