Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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My attempt at fantasy failed

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

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This review is a bit reflective of my experience with this book – fragmented and maybe incomplete. I started Poison Study years ago on audio book and for whatever reason, didn’t finish until just a few days ago. Excuses aside, the story didn’t invest me enough to overcome them. So what follows will be a really bare-bones review of what this book is about. Poison study is a fantasy novel (and the author’s first!) that takes place in Ixia – a society that seems like […]

Not for me

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

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Note: This review contains a discussion of violent acts against a woman, which is depicted in the book.   I saw this book, Maria Snyder’s Poison Study, on display at my local library under a section of their librarian’s favorite books. And I can see why someone would find this dear to them. The protagonist is a realistic heroine, Yelena has magical abilities, but in order to fight her way out of the terrible situation she is, she has to train. She isn’t just suddenly […]

Just a real bummer here, as this first trilogy sputters to a close.

Fire Study (Study, #3) by Maria V. Snyder

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What a bummer of a book. In more than one way! It’s a bummer in that I didn’t like it and it didn’t live up to how good the first one was, and the second to an extent as well. And a bummer because seemingly nothing good ever happens to these characters, only bad things, horrible things, and everyone spends the whole book arguing basically. The plot was also messy as hell. It supposedly focuses on Yelena and Leif, along with Marrok, Moon Man and […]

Not as good as the first; in retrospect, better than the third.

Magic Study (Study, #2) by Maria V. Snyder

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I liked this book and enjoyed reading it. I basically read it in a day. I did think it was a little scattered, but that was probably inevitable as Snyder builds up her world, and Yelena isn’t confined to the castle in Ixia anymore. But that does mean that it wasn’t as purely pleasurable as that first book, which was so well constructed and centered. I think this book does manage to avoid second book syndrome. Things I liked: *The worldbuilding in Sitia, Yelena’s homeland, […]

“To Yelena, our newest food taster. May you last longer than your predecessor.”

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I’d been meaning to read this for years, ever since Malin reviewed it back in like CBR4 or something, but I just never got around to it until now. And I should have read it sooner, because I really liked it! Poison Study takes place in some unnamed world where about fifteen years previously, the corrupt monarchy was overthrown by a man named Commander Ambrose, who disliked the abuses they committed on their citizens. The government he instituted is a bit of a dictatorship (citizens […]

Went downhill, but I don’t regret finishing

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The Study series is three books: one that’s great, one that’s decent, and one that kind of lost its way. Those descriptions are in book order. I’ll get more into the issues where it’s appropriate as I’m discussing each book, but I can vaguely say, without spoilers, that the problems are those that pop up frequently in fantasy novels, where there is a lot of questing back and forth chasing after MacGuffins. While stuff does happen in the literal sense on these journeys, in retrospect, […]



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