Magic Study
You know your life is bad when you miss your days as a poison taster…
With her greatest enemy dead, and on her way to be reunited with the family she’d been stolen from long ago, Yelena should be pleased. But though she has gained her freedom, she can’t help feeling isolated in Sitia. Her Ixian background has changed her in many ways—and her newfound friends and relatives don’t think it’s for the better…
Despite the turmoil, she’s eager to start her magic training—especially as she’s been given one year to harness her power or be put to death. But her plans take a radical turn when she becomes involved with a plot to reclaim Ixia’s throne for a lost prince—and gets entangled in powerful rivalries with her fellow magicians.
If that wasn’t bad enough, it appears her brother would love to see her dead. Luckily, Yelena has some old friends to help her with all her new enemies…
I love the Poison Study series. I could read them over and over again and never get tired of them. I love the characters, the world, the writing, everything. If you haven’t read my Poison Study review, you should. I gave it rave reviews and consider it among my favorites. Comparing the two books, I have to say that I liked Poison Study more than Magic Study but I still enjoyed it nonetheless.
In Magic Study, Yelena leaves Ixia and returns to her homeland, Sitia, to study magic from Master Magician Irys. Yelena must control her magical abilities or risk her life and everything she knows. Prior to her magic studies at the Citadel, she meets her family for the first time since she was a littler girl. All might sound like things are going well for Yelena but despite her returning to her home country she is still technically a foreigner. She doesn’t receive as warm of welcome as you would expect from her brother. On top of that, upon arrival at the citadel, she is met with distrust from the other Master Magicians for her connections to Ixia. Even her classmates, who are a few years younger than her, give her hard time.
Despite the not so good start to her life in Sitia, Yelena earns respect from the others through her actions. She is a talented magician, skilled fighter, and among the few who can stop a magician that’s been killing young girls for power.
Magic Study is a fun fantasy read. Yelena is a strong heroine and one of my favorite heroines of all time. Only in this book her actions are a little more frustrating for the reader. She frequently does things that she shouldn’t which often results in her being kidnapped. And that’s another thing, kidnappings seem to be a common theme through the Poison Study series and it does get a little old after awhile. With Poison Study being as awesome as it was, book two fell a little short of what I was hoping for. Regardless, I still had a ton of fun reading it and had a hard time putting the book down.