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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Shadow Study was much smoother than Fire Study, but the years between the books and the change in writing style made it a little difficult to get in to and to keep straight. Still good! And I'm glad I still have the will to finish this series.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Actual Rating: 4.75
Its been five years since I read the last book in the original Study Series. Five years since I fell in love with these characters. Five years since I really realized how strong and powerful a female character can be while still being able to give her heart to another. Five years of not being able to read about Yelena and Valek. While there have been different characters and stories to come along and steal my heart, I will always love the characters in this series and I’m so glad Maria decided to add more to the story.
I’m not going to lie, when I started this book, I was annoyed. This series started off as three books and then there was a spin off series featuring one of the minor characters. After falling in love with Yelena and Valek and their relationship, I didn’t have any interest in reading any other stories in this world if they were going to be focused on a different set of characters. So I didn’t read the Glass Series. But it was very evident from the beginning of this book that in order to follow along with what was happening, those books should be read first. That being said...I’m still not reading the Glass series and I did spend quite a bit of time playing catch up, trying to fill in the blanks and differentiate if I was confused at certain points because I didn’t read the spin off series or because I forgot what happened in the original trilogy. I just didn’t like that its essentially imperative that you read the spinoff series in order to fully understand what was going on with in continuation.
Besides that, I really did enjoy this book. Yelena is in trouble. WHAT’S NEW!?! Her magic is blocked and seeing as she’s one of the most powerful magicians ever and has put a lot of people away in her position as Liason and Soulfinder, she has a lot of enemies. So being so vulnerable after all of this time and not knowing why or how to fix it was quite the problem and made her a huge target.
The story is told from three different perspectives. Valeks, Yelena’s and Janco’s. Valek’s point of view focused a lot on his past, how he and the commander became a team and how he came to be the assassin he is today. I was never really interested in his origin story because I loved that he was so mysterious but it was nice to see what drove Valek to BE the Valek that I love. Yelena’s pov focused on her journey to figuring out who tried to kill her and how and if she can get her magic back. We also follow Janco on the missions he’s sent on by Valek and the chaos he causes while one them.
I enjoyed the multiple perspectives because you’re able to see whats going on from all sides but you don’t know when certain things are happening in relation to what’s happening to the other characters. Which was both frustrating and made for brilliant suspense. There were times when something major would happen at the very end of a chapter and I immediately wanted to read the next chapter to see what the outcome would be...and the perspectives would switch. OMG was that annoying but it definitely amped up my anticipation and excitement for the story.
One thing that is certainly evident in this book is that fact that absolutely NO ONE is loyal. There was so much sneaking around, secrets being kept, plotting, scheming and lying. By the end of the book I could count on one hand the number of people I could absolutely trust. Which says a lot for the direction this series is taking and I couldn’t be more excited for it. There’s so much potential and with the way Shadow Study ended. Yelena and Valek have plenty of battles to fight and changes to endure in the future. I just hope that they’re both strong enough to make it through.
I enjoyed this book but I’m SO upset I have to wait a year (i>or more) for the next book to be released. WHYYY!!!
While I would have appreciated more of Yelena and Valek TOGETHER in this book...I won’t be nitpicky. I’ll take what I can get...FOR NOW! If you are a fan of the original trilogy you will enjoy this continuation.
Its been five years since I read the last book in the original Study Series. Five years since I fell in love with these characters. Five years since I really realized how strong and powerful a female character can be while still being able to give her heart to another. Five years of not being able to read about Yelena and Valek. While there have been different characters and stories to come along and steal my heart, I will always love the characters in this series and I’m so glad Maria decided to add more to the story.
I’m not going to lie, when I started this book, I was annoyed. This series started off as three books and then there was a spin off series featuring one of the minor characters. After falling in love with Yelena and Valek and their relationship, I didn’t have any interest in reading any other stories in this world if they were going to be focused on a different set of characters. So I didn’t read the Glass Series. But it was very evident from the beginning of this book that in order to follow along with what was happening, those books should be read first. That being said...I’m still not reading the Glass series and I did spend quite a bit of time playing catch up, trying to fill in the blanks and differentiate if I was confused at certain points because I didn’t read the spin off series or because I forgot what happened in the original trilogy. I just didn’t like that its essentially imperative that you read the spinoff series in order to fully understand what was going on with in continuation.
Besides that, I really did enjoy this book. Yelena is in trouble. WHAT’S NEW!?! Her magic is blocked and seeing as she’s one of the most powerful magicians ever and has put a lot of people away in her position as Liason and Soulfinder, she has a lot of enemies. So being so vulnerable after all of this time and not knowing why or how to fix it was quite the problem and made her a huge target.
The story is told from three different perspectives. Valeks, Yelena’s and Janco’s. Valek’s point of view focused a lot on his past, how he and the commander became a team and how he came to be the assassin he is today. I was never really interested in his origin story because I loved that he was so mysterious but it was nice to see what drove Valek to BE the Valek that I love. Yelena’s pov focused on her journey to figuring out who tried to kill her and how and if she can get her magic back. We also follow Janco on the missions he’s sent on by Valek and the chaos he causes while one them.
I enjoyed the multiple perspectives because you’re able to see whats going on from all sides but you don’t know when certain things are happening in relation to what’s happening to the other characters. Which was both frustrating and made for brilliant suspense. There were times when something major would happen at the very end of a chapter and I immediately wanted to read the next chapter to see what the outcome would be...and the perspectives would switch. OMG was that annoying but it definitely amped up my anticipation and excitement for the story.
One thing that is certainly evident in this book is that fact that absolutely NO ONE is loyal. There was so much sneaking around, secrets being kept, plotting, scheming and lying. By the end of the book I could count on one hand the number of people I could absolutely trust. Which says a lot for the direction this series is taking and I couldn’t be more excited for it. There’s so much potential and with the way Shadow Study ended. Yelena and Valek have plenty of battles to fight and changes to endure in the future. I just hope that they’re both strong enough to make it through.
I enjoyed this book but I’m SO upset I have to wait a year (i>or more) for the next book to be released. WHYYY!!!
While I would have appreciated more of Yelena and Valek TOGETHER in this book...I won’t be nitpicky. I’ll take what I can get...FOR NOW! If you are a fan of the original trilogy you will enjoy this continuation.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Disclaimer: I didn't realise that the short stories existed or that they were crucial to the plot of this new trilogy!
Unfortunately what this meant is that I spent a huge portion of this book feeling a bit lost; who were the antagonists and why did Yelena, etc. feel so challenged, given what they'd faced in the previous trilogies? It genuinely felt like I was reading the second book of a series rather than the first, and this seriously subtracted from my enjoyment of the book.
Additionally, I feel like Yelena had substantially less agency than in previous books. She still shows a certain level of resourcefulness but most of the major conflicts are resolved by whoever is rescuing her, with Yelena scrambling around on pure instinct. A core theme of the book is how powerless she feels without her magic so perhaps this is appropriate - but she headed a bit too far into damsel territory for my comfort.
I've loved Snyder's other works and still enjoyed this - but to be brutally honest if this was the first of her books that I'd picked up, I probably wouldn't have continued!
Unfortunately what this meant is that I spent a huge portion of this book feeling a bit lost; who were the antagonists and why did Yelena, etc. feel so challenged, given what they'd faced in the previous trilogies? It genuinely felt like I was reading the second book of a series rather than the first, and this seriously subtracted from my enjoyment of the book.
Additionally, I feel like Yelena had substantially less agency than in previous books. She still shows a certain level of resourcefulness but most of the major conflicts are resolved by whoever is rescuing her, with Yelena scrambling around on pure instinct. A core theme of the book is how powerless she feels without her magic so perhaps this is appropriate - but she headed a bit too far into damsel territory for my comfort.
I've loved Snyder's other works and still enjoyed this - but to be brutally honest if this was the first of her books that I'd picked up, I probably wouldn't have continued!
HOLY MOTHER OF HELL THIS WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD. Definitely my favourite of the series right after Poison Study. That ending 😩😩 i need more nowwwww thank goodness im not waiting for the next books to come out and I can start the next one now
After reading 5 pages of this book I was just so happy to be back in this world. Everything from the previous books came flooding back and I sped through it when I could. I really enjoyed the twists this new book has brought to the story and am very intrigued to see where they go, and I loved having Valek's backstory threaded through. I love any books about assassins so this just pleased me so much. I love Yelena and Valek as a couple, I love Ari and Janco and I love the horses....yes the horses are characters!