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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
Read the Poison Study trilogy AND the Glass trilogy before reading this book!
This is technically thr fourth book in the Yelena Zaltana series but the seventh book in the Chronicles of Ixia. Unfortunately i read this before picking up the Glass trilogy, which focus on Opal, so Shadow Study takes place six years after Fire Study and references a lot of things and characters that happened and appeared in the Glass trilogy. In saying that though, despite some initial confusion I was 100% okay with this story, and i was able to figure out a lot of what they were talking about when referencing things from Glass.
I loved seeing Yelena a little bit older, but obviously a magnet for trouble as always. I did like that Yelena and Valek are both dealing with different things now they're older. Yelena is getting questions about marriage and children from all sides but also thinking about it herself, while Valek is a little bit older and creakier now and possibly not the best fit anymore to be the Commander's Head of Assasins and is more vulnerable to younger, fitter and quicker upstarts than he was before.
Yelena loses her magic during this book for an unknown reason and it was very moving and interesting to read her feeling more vulnerable than ever before. It reminded me of the Yelena we met at the start of Poison Study, and it was great seeing her rely on her own intuition and physical skillset again instead of her magic. I did figure out the reason behind Yelena's magic loss about halfway through and I'm really glad I was right. I can't wait to see what happens!
This is technically thr fourth book in the Yelena Zaltana series but the seventh book in the Chronicles of Ixia. Unfortunately i read this before picking up the Glass trilogy, which focus on Opal, so Shadow Study takes place six years after Fire Study and references a lot of things and characters that happened and appeared in the Glass trilogy. In saying that though, despite some initial confusion I was 100% okay with this story, and i was able to figure out a lot of what they were talking about when referencing things from Glass.
I loved seeing Yelena a little bit older, but obviously a magnet for trouble as always. I did like that Yelena and Valek are both dealing with different things now they're older. Yelena is getting questions about marriage and children from all sides but also thinking about it herself, while Valek is a little bit older and creakier now and possibly not the best fit anymore to be the Commander's Head of Assasins and is more vulnerable to younger, fitter and quicker upstarts than he was before.
Yelena loses her magic during this book for an unknown reason and it was very moving and interesting to read her feeling more vulnerable than ever before. It reminded me of the Yelena we met at the start of Poison Study, and it was great seeing her rely on her own intuition and physical skillset again instead of her magic. I did figure out the reason behind Yelena's magic loss about halfway through and I'm really glad I was right. I can't wait to see what happens!
I originally rated this book 3/5 Stars but after much consideration and a discussion with a friend I've decided to take off a star. My original rating was because I was being generous because of my love and nostalgia for the original trilogy.
Full review as posted on Spines and Covers:
Shadow Study is the first book in the Soulfinders series by Maria V. Snyder. This is actually a continuation of Snyder’s original Study series that features Yelena and Valek. I would recommend starting with the original trilogy and its companion trilogy before reading this book. Don’t assume that it can be read without reading the Study or the Glass series. It can’t. You might not need to read the Glass trilogy but the story will make a lot more sense if you do.
Overall, I thought Shadow Study was an okay book but yet I was severely disappointed with it. I was hoping that it would be as good or better than the original trilogy. It felt like I was reading only half of the book or someone’s fan fiction instead of a full length novel. Everything felt disjointed and a lot of that has to do with how the story was told I think. It didn’t feel like there was as much excitement or adventure as the previous books. In all honesty, I didn’t care for the direction of the plot even though it was heavy on deception and political intrigue. The mystery was pretty boring to me.
Yelena’s magic becomes blocked shortly into the book and she spends most of her storyline trying to figure out who did it and how to fix it. I felt bad for her. Not having her magic was a devastating blow. She didn’t realize how much she relied on it until it was gone. But it doesn’t stop her from doing everything in her power to find out the cause and to search for a solution. This puts her in a lot of danger and Yelena is very vulnerable without her magic. Valek and Yelena are apart for most of the story which the norm for their relationship since Valek’s primary focus and loyalty is to his job and the Commander as it was in previous books. In fact, Valek spends most of the book in Ixia tightening up security at the Commander’s Castle and having flashbacks of his past.
One jarring difference in the narrative in this book compared to the original trilogy is that the story alternates between Yelena, Valek and Janco and is not just told from Yelena’s first-person perspective. With Shadow Study, Snyder alternates between Yelena (first person), Valek (third person), and Janco (third person). While Yelena is the one who drew me into this series, Valek’s sections steal the show here. We finally get to learn more about his past via flashbacks. We get to see his early days as an assassin-in-training at the School Of Night And Shadow to when he first meets the Commander to the moment where he finally gets to enact his revenge against the person who stole his brothers from him. It’s a fascinating trip down memory lane that explains Valek’s unique and lethal skill set as well as his logic, meticulousness, and cunning. We get to see Valek discover that his loyalties have become divided. Everything isn’t about just serving the Commander anymore. (FINALLY!) I enjoyed learning his history up until he joined up with Commander Ambrose. I wasn’t as interested after that and maybe it’s because I already knew the outcome. I still don’t like how Valek is almost blindly loyal to him.
Janco’s POV, on the other hand… Sometimes he was so funny that I’d burst out laughing. Other times, he was downright annoying, and I wanted to smack him. I didn’t think I’d find a way to dislike Janco but reading from his perspective in this book about did it. He definitely needs Ari to balance him out. I see why Janco’s perspective is necessary since he’s in a number of important scenes where Yelena and Valek aren’t present. But at the same time, I feel like I learned very little about Janco, especially in comparison to what I learned about Valek.
As much as I liked learning more about Valek, I hated the changing perspectives in this book. Maybe if they’d all been told in first person instead of switching back forth. It was jarring and it kept taking me out of the story. I also wasn’t a big fan of almost every chapter having a cliffhanger ending. It just made it so I wanted to skip the next few chapters to find out what happened next. I think it would have been much better to have a single perspective.
Shadow Study is an okay book. There are parts that I really enjoyed and others that were just okay. It held my attention but I was glad when it was done. The story is filled with danger, misdirection and adversity. There wasn’t much to lighten it up so it had a slightly negative tone and the book ends with, in my opinion, a pretty predictable teaser for the next installment. I will say that if that teaser ends up being the answer to why Yelena’s magic is blocked, I will be angry.
And as much as I love how strong Valek and Yelena are independent of each other, I would love to see them working together in future books, as opposed to being apart for most of it and only joining together towards the end. As for the book’s conclusion, it resolved the main conflict of the book but it also left a lot of questions unanswered. I haven’t decided if I want to read the next book but curiosity will probably push me to it. I can’t help it. Even though I didn’t enjoy this book as much as the original trilogy, I still want to know what happens to Yelena and Valek.
Initial Thoughts- 2/22/15: I have a lot to say about this book, but overall it was just meh. Full review to come soon.
*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley.
Full review as posted on Spines and Covers:
Shadow Study is the first book in the Soulfinders series by Maria V. Snyder. This is actually a continuation of Snyder’s original Study series that features Yelena and Valek. I would recommend starting with the original trilogy and its companion trilogy before reading this book. Don’t assume that it can be read without reading the Study or the Glass series. It can’t. You might not need to read the Glass trilogy but the story will make a lot more sense if you do.
Overall, I thought Shadow Study was an okay book but yet I was severely disappointed with it. I was hoping that it would be as good or better than the original trilogy. It felt like I was reading only half of the book or someone’s fan fiction instead of a full length novel. Everything felt disjointed and a lot of that has to do with how the story was told I think. It didn’t feel like there was as much excitement or adventure as the previous books. In all honesty, I didn’t care for the direction of the plot even though it was heavy on deception and political intrigue. The mystery was pretty boring to me.
Yelena’s magic becomes blocked shortly into the book and she spends most of her storyline trying to figure out who did it and how to fix it. I felt bad for her. Not having her magic was a devastating blow. She didn’t realize how much she relied on it until it was gone. But it doesn’t stop her from doing everything in her power to find out the cause and to search for a solution. This puts her in a lot of danger and Yelena is very vulnerable without her magic. Valek and Yelena are apart for most of the story which the norm for their relationship since Valek’s primary focus and loyalty is to his job and the Commander as it was in previous books. In fact, Valek spends most of the book in Ixia tightening up security at the Commander’s Castle and having flashbacks of his past.
One jarring difference in the narrative in this book compared to the original trilogy is that the story alternates between Yelena, Valek and Janco and is not just told from Yelena’s first-person perspective. With Shadow Study, Snyder alternates between Yelena (first person), Valek (third person), and Janco (third person). While Yelena is the one who drew me into this series, Valek’s sections steal the show here. We finally get to learn more about his past via flashbacks. We get to see his early days as an assassin-in-training at the School Of Night And Shadow to when he first meets the Commander to the moment where he finally gets to enact his revenge against the person who stole his brothers from him. It’s a fascinating trip down memory lane that explains Valek’s unique and lethal skill set as well as his logic, meticulousness, and cunning. We get to see Valek discover that his loyalties have become divided. Everything isn’t about just serving the Commander anymore. (FINALLY!) I enjoyed learning his history up until he joined up with Commander Ambrose. I wasn’t as interested after that and maybe it’s because I already knew the outcome. I still don’t like how Valek is almost blindly loyal to him.
Janco’s POV, on the other hand… Sometimes he was so funny that I’d burst out laughing. Other times, he was downright annoying, and I wanted to smack him. I didn’t think I’d find a way to dislike Janco but reading from his perspective in this book about did it. He definitely needs Ari to balance him out. I see why Janco’s perspective is necessary since he’s in a number of important scenes where Yelena and Valek aren’t present. But at the same time, I feel like I learned very little about Janco, especially in comparison to what I learned about Valek.
As much as I liked learning more about Valek, I hated the changing perspectives in this book. Maybe if they’d all been told in first person instead of switching back forth. It was jarring and it kept taking me out of the story. I also wasn’t a big fan of almost every chapter having a cliffhanger ending. It just made it so I wanted to skip the next few chapters to find out what happened next. I think it would have been much better to have a single perspective.
Shadow Study is an okay book. There are parts that I really enjoyed and others that were just okay. It held my attention but I was glad when it was done. The story is filled with danger, misdirection and adversity. There wasn’t much to lighten it up so it had a slightly negative tone and the book ends with, in my opinion, a pretty predictable teaser for the next installment. I will say that if that teaser ends up being the answer to why Yelena’s magic is blocked, I will be angry.
And as much as I love how strong Valek and Yelena are independent of each other, I would love to see them working together in future books, as opposed to being apart for most of it and only joining together towards the end. As for the book’s conclusion, it resolved the main conflict of the book but it also left a lot of questions unanswered. I haven’t decided if I want to read the next book but curiosity will probably push me to it. I can’t help it. Even though I didn’t enjoy this book as much as the original trilogy, I still want to know what happens to Yelena and Valek.
Initial Thoughts- 2/22/15: I have a lot to say about this book, but overall it was just meh. Full review to come soon.
*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley.
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content
I enjoyed getting back to these characters. A lot of threads left open, so hopefully there will be another in this series.
Really enjoyed this book, especially the rotating perspectives, even when it chopped up the story a bit. Overall solid read. Full review to come someday when I get around to catching up on my full reviews... ;-)
*fangirl flail*
(Slight spoilers who haven't read this series, so keep scrolling past if you haven't read them)
Oh man was it nice to see all my favorite characters again!! Valek and Janco POVs, too! I couldn't be happier!!!
Worth the wait of six years, or technically ten since the last official Study book. SO GLAD I procrastinated till the next one's release though, that ending would have driven me to insanity if I had read it right away.
These books are such fun! Though I still find it amusing they're considered young adult...Yelena is 27 and her mate Valek is 41...but this series is too unique to fit in a certain genre at a bookstore or library.
(Slight spoilers who haven't read this series, so keep scrolling past if you haven't read them)
Oh man was it nice to see all my favorite characters again!! Valek and Janco POVs, too! I couldn't be happier!!!
Worth the wait of six years, or technically ten since the last official Study book. SO GLAD I procrastinated till the next one's release though, that ending would have driven me to insanity if I had read it right away.
These books are such fun! Though I still find it amusing they're considered young adult...Yelena is 27 and her mate Valek is 41...but this series is too unique to fit in a certain genre at a bookstore or library.
This book at the end left me hanging even though I had my fingers crossed throughout the whole book hoping for a certain thing and when it played out I was soooo happy, and then the book ends. I loved seeing Valek and Yelena still in the middle of chaos even after 6 years. Comparing both of them to the first book the character growth is so visible.
