This book was recommended to me by Angels in my Ear so I took up her challenge to read it as she said she liked it better than The Hunger Games. Being a Hunger Games and dystopian fan, I had to check it out.

Poison Study is a medieval fantasy/dystopian novel about Yelena, a murderer, who is sentenced to death for her crime. She is offered a chance to live by becoming the royal food taster. She accepts only to be whisked away on an adventure filled with greedy, corrupt generals, magic, and lots of poison.

The setting is the Kingdom of Ixia about 15 years after the country revolted against their king and set up a (very horrible) democratic government. It becomes a disfigured utopia where everyone wears assigned clothes and have to follow strict rules of behavior. Magic is banned.

Yelena along with her lethal assassin buddy Valek uncover a plot to overthrow the Commander. Yelena also discovers that she can se magic which leads to her trying to escape to the southern kingdom of Satia where she would be safe.

There's a love plot but it is in no way the mushy kind you find in many novels and it doesn't overpower the main story line.

If you're looking for a new kind of dystopian novel full of action, plotting, and secrets around every turn then his book is for you.

People who like Dystopian novels and fantasy as this is the best of both worlds.

How unique the story was. I have never read a story with a food taster for a protagonist or a book set in a medieval dystopian society. I also liked how magic was thrown into the plot. It actually was a major factor in how everything worked out in the end.

How some things weren't as well described as I would like. A few parts were confusing due to lack of description, but overall the bad stuff did not outweigh the good at all.

Read the sequel! I was a little disappointed with the end due to how quickly everything was resolved, but there were no loose ends to tie up, only anticipation about what was to come.

Pretty normal. I wasn't so blown away that I didn't do anything but stare at the last page for forever, but I wasn't depressed like I was after reading The Hunger Games series.

It was an interesting read and definitely unique to anything I had ever read before. The plot is engaging and fast paced so you never want to put the book down!

I would rate this book more of a 18+ than 13+ just for some slight references to sex (rape, a very vaguely describe [and short] sex scene, etc.). There is nothing in it that is truly profane or disturbing unless you count cracking bones and lots of blood.

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Created Sep 27, 2014 at 2:01pm • Submit your own review...