Reviews with content warning for Torture - Poison Study

I don't have much to add that hasn't already been added but I guess I'll do a quick rundown of what I did and didn't like of the book.

What I liked

The castle staff felt believable and you could really get a sense of both their overall dynamic serving the Commander and their individual dynamics within their colleague groups. It really helped set up a lot of the intrigue that came later as Yelena navigated her new life.
I was always excited to see what Yelena would do next or what she was planning. I also liked seeing her reflect on how far she'd come and survived at the end of the book.
I liked the fact that
the Commander was transgender and although he had inner conflict stemming from the fact he could be potentially outed, it was not presented as a negative and I thought it was sweet the way Yelena helped him through his inner dysphoria. I think the way he was initially described could have been avoided to have less gender essentialism to it, I think the inclusion of a transgender character was a pleasant surprise.
I really liked the plot twist with the
Criollo. The way it was seemingly benign only for its true horrific potential to be revealed later was good.

What I didn't like

Valek reciprocating Yelena's feelings came out of nowhere for me. And the same could be said for the random sex scene towards the end of the book (because clearly nothing screams sexier than sex in a cold dank rat-infested dungeon).
The villains weren't particularly strong characters and felt like they were cut from the same cloth of evil.
Mogkam especially felt like a stereotypical evil magical advisor to his boss, as if he did what he did just for the sake of being evil instead of having a clear reason
.
One of the side characters, Rand, seems to get left by the wayside after he died - which felt disproportionate to how much a part of Yelena's life in good and bad ways.

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sienna1508's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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cedence's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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zimmerlemon's review

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adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes

3.5

It was definitely engaging and I read it quickly, but I think the only way through it was fast. It was decent but the development of the romance was a little iffy (I'm into the combo of characters, it just felt rushed at times/like it skipped some steps) and the MC backstory is seriously dark.

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aseel_reads's review

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

this had so much potential and it just flopped so bad. the magic system was quite vague and i don't see the point of its addition. the story was quite predictable as well.

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tamjane_'s review

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4.5

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siglerbooknook's review

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adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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lisa_m's review

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Don't get me wrong, this was a good book. I might even say it was a great one but it was just nothing special. I really wish I would have enjoyed it more. This could have been a five star read but something was missing. I liked the writing, loved the characters, loved the plot and magic system. My only real concern was that the romance felt rushed and underdeveloped. Since the rest was good I don't really mind though.

I think the reason I didn't like it as much as I could have is how much YA Fantasy I have already read. At some point it just starts to become repetitive. I really hope that is not true though because I love YA Fantasy. :( If I read this book 2 years ago I would have probably liked it more.

Another concern I had was that certain serious topics where discussed quite graphically which I don't like and which always makes me uncomfortable. It was used to establish Yelenas character and her past trauma but still I wished it had been less graphic.

Nonetheless I will definitely be reading the following books of the series. I also hope Ari and Janco will be in the next booka as well since they were my favourite characters. (Btw. I thought their friendship could have been established better. They basically went from not knowing Yelena to wanting to die for her which felt very rushed.) I guess I just wished it was longer but since it is the first book of a series that's not really a big issue.

Edit: One more thing. I didn't expect the romance to be Between thlse two people for two reasons. 1. it was underdeveloped and 2. he is 33 and she is 19!! I didn't even realise it that much while reading the book but at first I did think he was going to be a sort of mentor/father figure. When they started hinting at a romance I aged him down in my mind but now that I finished the book I looked it up and he really is 33! Idk what to think about that tbh

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