Poison Study - Maria V. Snyder Book Review

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"Poison Study"
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Review Summaries

"Yelena is waiting to be executed for murder, when she is offered the chance to become the food taster for the Commander of Ixia. Unfortunately the training itself could kill her. She agrees and training begins. Valek, the advisor to the Commander, is in charge of her training. The first thing he does is dose her with Butterfly Dust. If she takes the antidote everyday she will be fine. However, if she tries to run away, she will die. To start her training, he teaches her the deadliest poison first. In order to recognize each poison she must be able to recognize the taste. Valek figures that if she doesn't survive he won't have wasted much time on training her. So she takes a taste of True Love poison. After a few days she regains consciousness. On her way to clean up, she runs into Duke Brazell's soldiers. Since she killed Duke Brazell's son, they try to grab her. As she flees, she runs into Valek. He tells the soldiers to leave the new food taster alone. After a few weeks she passes all of Valek's tests, so he assigns her to work with the Commander. Slowly she begins to make friends with the cook, Rand. When she finds a note saying "Murderer the noose awaits you," Valek decides to move her into his suite of rooms for extra protection. A little while later she is allowed to go to the annual Fire Festival. Once she leaves the castle walls several men detain her and take her to see a southern magician, who orders her killed. Only the quick intervention of Valek, who has been following her, keeps her alive. She learns that rebels are trying to kill the Commander. As his food taster, she is right in the middle of any plots against his life. Now she must decide who she can trust. "
Michelle, Resident Maria V. Snyder Scholar

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Overall Review

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 20%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 10%

Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy world/fantasy past
Political power play Yes
Political plotlets - saving govt/kingdom from external overthrow
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Female
Profession/status: - accused criminal
Age: - 20's-30's
Has magical/special powers? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - wealthy
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant

Setting
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - humans in a primitive/fantasy society
Planet outside solar system? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

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The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay

Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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