Reviews with content warning for Torture - Poison Study

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

42 reviews

deenice2819's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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reynoldsreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

An utterly engrossing fantasy!

After wasting away in prison for a year while awaiting her execution for murder, Yelena is surprised to be offered a second chance at life as the new food taster for the Commander. She accepts the job, but there is a catch: the Commander’s right-hand man, Valek, immediately poisons her with Butterfly’s Dust, so she must return daily to take the antidote and postpone the poison’s effects by another day.

In addition to the potentially lethal training she must endure to learn to identify poisons by taste and smell, her new position holds other dangers. The father of the man she killed is hellbent on vengeance; she doesn’t know who among the castle servants she can truly trust; and now there is a mysterious woman with powerful magic trying to kill Yelena too!

It’s absolutely gripping and I flew right through it! Although I do wish someone would #GiveYelenaABreak from being attacked every other chapter, poor girl deserves a chance to just breathe for a moment (literally!)

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aklovekorn's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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soniajoy98's review

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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mindsorceress's review

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

5.0

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ergative's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This was perfectly fine. More satisfyingly poisonous than City of Lies, and with a reasonably lively plot. I liked the complexity of the military dictatorship, which in some ways seems to be an improvement over the previous monarchy that it deposed, and in other ways is, well, a military dictatorship. I can't decide whether to be charmed or delighted by the fact that chocolate is a substance that renders you vulnerable to magical influence and so must be banned, but I did love the conversations in which people talk about how much they like it and wonder whether it's addicting or not.

I don't love how the trans character is described with inaccurate pronouns when we see him before he transitioned, even though during that whole period he is repeatedly stating that he is not a woman and has been born in the wrong body. The author has him explicitly say that he's a man, but then uses female pronouns the whole time, as if the pronoun is determined by how other characters see him at the time rather than how he defines himself, which isn't great. I wonder whether that's because it was published in 2005? The book is otherwise entirely respectful of this dude's identity in present-day scenes, and language for discussing transgender issues has definitely changed over the last decade and a half, so maybe this is just clumsy, rather than ignorant.

I also don't love the fact that our young female protagonist's tramatic backstory has to include rape--why must they always include rape?--especially given that there is a perfectly plot-relevant reason to give her trauma that doesn't at all require sexual assault; and I really don't love the obligatory romance between 30-something captor and something-teen captive who is kept around because she's been fed poisons that make her physically dependent on daily medicines. We see it all from her perspective, so she certainly thinks she's consenting to the relationship, but my dear: The guy is 33 and you're a teenager, and he's simultaneously your (1) boss; (2) mentor; and (3) CAPTOR. Good grief--these are not the power dynamics of a healthy relationship! On this basis alone I don't think I'll finish the series. I don't trust the author to write sensibly about relationships and consent, or to avoid gratuitous sexual assault. There are plenty of other books that don't include that, and this one is not good enough in the other respects to overcome that line.

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