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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
Amazeballs!!
Maria V Snyder is without a doubt the Queen of High Fantasy!! OMG I devoured this book in no time. It brought back the love and the memories I have for the Poison Study series! The characters, the plot…Terrific!
Ms. Snyder… I’m your fan forever!!!
Maria V Snyder is without a doubt the Queen of High Fantasy!! OMG I devoured this book in no time. It brought back the love and the memories I have for the Poison Study series! The characters, the plot…Terrific!
Ms. Snyder… I’m your fan forever!!!
I really enjoyed this book, the character development, the twists, it all kept me on my toes waiting to find out what would happen next.
I had no expectations when I picked up this book, and I enjoyed it! Haha!
Another fantasy under my belt, another fairly average feeling read. Once again giving me hope that my book doesn't have to be perfect to be published XD
I enjoyed my time well enough with this book, but it never rose above average. I do like a healer MC and dealing with someone whose main motivation is helping people. I think we need more heroes like that. We have plenty of assassins. More healers please.
This is a classic, journey book. If you're not a fan of watching characters travel through a fairly typical fantasy land, this book will not convince you to love it. I tend to like journey books so this one was fine, but aside from seeing some weird plants and hearing about deadly animals I can't even remember if we got to see, the world wasn't terribly interesting. The draw was more about the politics as various leaders are vying for power and want to snatch up the healer to use for their own ends. As a result the MC spent 90% of this book being kidnapped. She starts out being kidnapped by her eventual found family and just... doesn't ever stop. Sometimes she frees herself, but generally "the guys" (aka the first group of men who kidnapped her) will come to her rescue.
I wish that her found family got a little more attention. Only three of the characters got any personality and one of them didn't last the book soooooo...
The plot was bland and the romance was slow burn and hate-to-love, but it was SO UTTERLY PREDICTABLE. It was the whole "I'm not getting feelings for so-and-so. I hate so-and-so!" and repeat until the end of the book. This book took one look at originality and decided it wasn't for it. This is fine, ultimately. There is something to be said for a pleasant, inoffensive fantasy that doesn't rely on sex, sexual violence, and super dark themes to get the story across.
Look for a full review coming later on my youtube channel
I enjoyed my time well enough with this book, but it never rose above average. I do like a healer MC and dealing with someone whose main motivation is helping people. I think we need more heroes like that. We have plenty of assassins. More healers please.
This is a classic, journey book. If you're not a fan of watching characters travel through a fairly typical fantasy land, this book will not convince you to love it. I tend to like journey books so this one was fine, but aside from seeing some weird plants and hearing about deadly animals I can't even remember if we got to see, the world wasn't terribly interesting. The draw was more about the politics as various leaders are vying for power and want to snatch up the healer to use for their own ends. As a result the MC spent 90% of this book being kidnapped. She starts out being kidnapped by her eventual found family and just... doesn't ever stop. Sometimes she frees herself, but generally "the guys" (aka the first group of men who kidnapped her) will come to her rescue.
I wish that her found family got a little more attention. Only three of the characters got any personality and one of them didn't last the book soooooo...
The plot was bland and the romance was slow burn and hate-to-love, but it was SO UTTERLY PREDICTABLE. It was the whole "I'm not getting feelings for so-and-so. I hate so-and-so!" and repeat until the end of the book. This book took one look at originality and decided it wasn't for it. This is fine, ultimately. There is something to be said for a pleasant, inoffensive fantasy that doesn't rely on sex, sexual violence, and super dark themes to get the story across.
Look for a full review coming later on my youtube channel
4 stars
I'm once again ensnared by Snyder's words. Her fantasy worlds are just so good and her characters are just great players against all difficult chess-plot plays. So be expecting to see the rest of the books of this trilogy on my read books list by the end of the week.
I'm once again ensnared by Snyder's words. Her fantasy worlds are just so good and her characters are just great players against all difficult chess-plot plays. So be expecting to see the rest of the books of this trilogy on my read books list by the end of the week.
Good as far as YA sci-fi goes, great characters, interesting set-up
I have avoided this book for so long. I loved Poison Study but was pretty meh about the other Study books, so I put this one off.
I'm so glad I decided to read it in the end!
Finally an original plot! Pair that with a kick-ass heroine and I am in heaven. I liked Avry. To me, she was the only character with any real depth. She made her own decisions, stepped into a leadership role when she needed to, and she used logic in tough situations. She is one of very few YA heroines out there these days that can stand up for herself without being a bitch.
I think the world Snyder developed is also great. I honestly felt as if I was living in it and walking around with the characters. I like the 15 realms idea along with the types of magic and how people developed that magic.
I can't say that I was in love the writing or the dialogue. The writing seemed a bit childish at times. It seemed as if a teenage girl was talking to you instead of a 20 year old woman. The author was constantly pointing out things to the reader using Avry's pov. Every time something strange was going on that the reader should be alerted to, Avry alerted us to it by blatantly stating that it was strange. For me, I enjoy a bit of intrigue, I enjoy those "OMG, so THAT's what that was!" moments when you realize something was important in the end.
The other characters were also basically flat. Their actions were very predictable and the dialogue between them was almost cliche. I can understand Kerrick, and I like that he and Avry are an item, but I just can't get over that slap! It stayed in the back of my mind for the entire book. Every time he did something nice, it still irritated me.
I'm not sure why characters that do horrible things are so easily forgiven. Tohon is described as a horrible person, but Ryne isn't exactly an angel. I'm hoping this is going to be addressed in the next book...
Overall: A great book with an original plot and a great lead. Needs some work in the character development and writing department.
I'm so glad I decided to read it in the end!
Finally an original plot! Pair that with a kick-ass heroine and I am in heaven. I liked Avry. To me, she was the only character with any real depth. She made her own decisions, stepped into a leadership role when she needed to, and she used logic in tough situations. She is one of very few YA heroines out there these days that can stand up for herself without being a bitch.
I think the world Snyder developed is also great. I honestly felt as if I was living in it and walking around with the characters. I like the 15 realms idea along with the types of magic and how people developed that magic.
I can't say that I was in love the writing or the dialogue. The writing seemed a bit childish at times. It seemed as if a teenage girl was talking to you instead of a 20 year old woman. The author was constantly pointing out things to the reader using Avry's pov. Every time something strange was going on that the reader should be alerted to, Avry alerted us to it by blatantly stating that it was strange. For me, I enjoy a bit of intrigue, I enjoy those "OMG, so THAT's what that was!" moments when you realize something was important in the end.
The other characters were also basically flat. Their actions were very predictable and the dialogue between them was almost cliche. I can understand Kerrick, and I like that he and Avry are an item, but I just can't get over that slap! It stayed in the back of my mind for the entire book. Every time he did something nice, it still irritated me.
I'm not sure why characters that do horrible things are so easily forgiven. Tohon is described as a horrible person, but Ryne isn't exactly an angel. I'm hoping this is going to be addressed in the next book...
Overall: A great book with an original plot and a great lead. Needs some work in the character development and writing department.
I very much enjoyed this book. The characters were all extremely lovable and the action grabs you and keeps you reading until way past your bedtime! I loved the main character Avry and though I didn't care for him at first, I grew to love Kerrick as well as the other group of scraggly men. The book is rife with adventure and magic.
The one negative thing I could say about it is that I didn't care for her writing style at times. It seemed a bit stop and go in certain areas. For example, instead of explaining what was going on in Avry's head as she realized they were surrounded in the woods, or even the sound of the forest as it quieted down and awaited the intruders to attack it was like, "we were surrounded". She used very short sentences and when I realized that was it, I had to re-read it to make sure I didn't miss anything. The writing style wasn't so serious that it put me off, just gave me twinges of annoyance. Aside from that, excellent book and I can't wait until the next comes out...in 2013!
The one negative thing I could say about it is that I didn't care for her writing style at times. It seemed a bit stop and go in certain areas. For example, instead of explaining what was going on in Avry's head as she realized they were surrounded in the woods, or even the sound of the forest as it quieted down and awaited the intruders to attack it was like, "we were surrounded". She used very short sentences and when I realized that was it, I had to re-read it to make sure I didn't miss anything. The writing style wasn't so serious that it put me off, just gave me twinges of annoyance. Aside from that, excellent book and I can't wait until the next comes out...in 2013!
Pretty good! Avry is an interesting character to spend time with. I liked her tenacity and fire. Can't wait to find out what happens next.