Reviews
Fantastic ending to a fantastic series. I like all the explanations we get at the end; mainly Valek's immunity to magic. Anyway, I loved this book as much as the first two in the series.
Oh my gods, this book was a rollercoaster ride! It stayed thrilling until the end and I had SO MANY feelings throughout this entire book. I'm happy I reread the previous two books before heading into this one, though a lot of the events from the previous books were explained (much to my annoyance, if I may be honest) again. Can't wait to pick up more books in this world, because damn this world is just amazing!
amazing. no words can explain the intelligence of this series. i wish it never ends.
meh.. Thats all I can really say for this book. I literally skimmed through it all. I felt like I should at least try and attempt to read it considering it was the last and final book in this trilogy. I really did love the first book, it had everything a great book needed! Amazing protagonist, gruesome history, romance, climax and even great supporting characters. Maria V. Snyder really made you feel for her characters in Poison Study. Now that I think of it, after reading all three books, Snyder kind of lost the characters original.... (took me a while to find the right word haha) personas or even their original nature that they started with in the first book. This only correlates with Valek, Yelena, Irys, Ambrose etc. The only two characters that didn't really change were Janco and Ari, which I was happy about :) Thats pretty much all I have to say about this series! Thank you Snyder for the perfect first book, Poison Study.
3.5
While I adored poison study I did find magic study and fire study to be very different. I loved fire study even though it wasn't as good as poison study. I loved the ending and I just about wanted to cry because I was so sad that the series had ended :( but Maria is writing Ice Study, can't wait till it comes out!!
4.25 stars This series is truly unique in my opinion. The concept is great and every new book is somehow a great continuation of the last one and at the same time something truly new and it is the only series where I feel like every book is as strong as the others.
actual rating: 3.75 stars. so like this had all the stuff that makes this series easy and fun to read but it felt different? it felt like 100 pages too long and really repetitive at times. the same situation would be handled the same way.
This is the third novel in the Chronicles of Ixia series by Maria V. Snyder. There are more books - I'm not quite sure how many - but I am definitely done with this series. Again, we follow Yelena - our 20-something protagonist with magical powers. She's discovered that her powers make her a Soulfinder, and people fear her because of it. But she uses her powers for good, even if the Fire Warper tries to get her on his side. Even though Yelena is a bit older than the usual YA protagonist, the way this book is written just feels immature to me. It's almost entirely composed of simple, declarative sentences with little emotion. I can't connect with Yelena, even when she suffers the loss of a loved one or comes near to death herself. I said this about the first book, and I'll say it again; Snyder doesn't seem to portray the passing of time. At all. There is a section of this book that was meant to have been over several weeks, but I just didn't feel it. There's no character development. Even the relationships don't seem to have any feeling. Basically, I just can't connect with anyone or anything in these books. Though there is nothing bad about the writing, I just didn't like this book. I found it hard to read and didn't really enjoy it. The plot sounded decent - escorting souls to the sky, defeating evil magicians - but I was so disappointed. 2 stars.
So, my main problem with this book is that it doesn’t meet the standards set by the previous books in the series. While they were fast paced and fun and entertaining, this one goes on and on without much happening at all. Most of the book is spent with Yelena chasing after Cahil, Ferde and the Daviians, getting captured, injured, never being much successful at whatever she aims to do. The Fire Wraith is so powerful that Yelena is petrified of him. After two books of watching her be brave and confident and always finding her way out of tricky spots, it’s quite jarring to watch her here be scared, unsure of herself, afraid to use her own powers. It’s only towards the end of the book when she finally realizes the true purpose of a SoulFinder and accepts it, that the book turns interesting and we get our fearless Yelena back. Thanks to Ari, Janco, Kiki and sometimes even the Moon Man, there are some humorous moments which bring comic relief. But on the whole, this is an okay book which has a good ending. Of course, I am still going to read the next trilogy because I just don’t want to let go of this gang yet. And I really love Yelena and Valek as a couple.
** spoiler alert ** This book. It was boring. SOOOO boring! And I am sorry to say this as Poison Study is one of my favourite books ever, but the sequels really can't compare. I am reviewing it after months from reading it, and I totally forgot what happens, all because it is soooo boring and forgettable. The first half of the book is them going for a rescue, then realising it was for nothing so they go to the jungle clan, then another rescue, then they travel, then a rescue urrrggggh and none of them is even vaguely interesting. Yelena is also so dumb. She takes ages to figure out how the evil was (it was obvious from like the previous book), doesn't trust her friends, doesn't ask questions, does stupid mistakes that put everyone at risk, I just couldn't stand her. And her horse is even worse! Like, ok you want some sort of talking animal for stuff like telling the character when the danger is and to just have a chat, but it is an animal, and sometimes the things it was saying had too much of a human introspection and mind behind, like ok it is a talking horse but make it at least vaguely believable. It literally took me 3 months to finish this book, at one point I had to force myself to read at least a chapter a day. I was set on reading the next series but I really am leaning towards deleting the books from my Kindle because I can't bear another book like this one. The most frustrating part is that it had soooo much potential, it could have been such a delight but instead what I got was a long, slow, boring, rumbling mess.
3.25/5 “There's always another storm. It's the way the world works. Snowstorms, rainstorms, windstorms, sandstorms, and firestorms. Some are fierce and others are small.” I'm a little bit disappointed. This book was tedious, even the end didn't make up for that much. I mean, I still sort of enjoyed it and on its own it's not the worst book out there, it's probably even good. But in comparison with the first and the second one... Very meh. I wish this was a duology, because this installment was repeating so much from the previous book and was overall longer than needed. I didn't understand that. I feel like this one and the previous one, a bit clipped, would've made a great book together. But the author decided to make it a trilogy and it was her doom. I'm not gonna say much about the characters, they didn't change. Honestly, the development we've seen in the first and second books abruptly stopped here. There were minor things that changed, but nothing major or worthy of mentioning. Some characters' arcs were just dropped and it bothered me a lot. I'm looking at Cahil here. Even Valek didn't save the situation. He was just... There. And not even a lot. My babies Around and Jaco was also not in it. :(( The villains were boring and repetitive and boring again. I honestly didn't care for any of them. The plot was all over the place, too much was happening, things pushed away other important tasks and it just didn't feel very consistent. Idk, like I said, if we merged two last books, this would be a great plot, as good as the first one at least. But alas. Overall, a decent book, not as bad as I probably made it sound, but the middle got me so bored I was thinking about dnfing it. The only thing that kept me from doing so was the first book and my respect for it. And I'm glad that this series is over, that I finished it. I'll think about continuing, cause I know there are two more trilogies in this world.
I was really interested in the Commander as a trans character, or as a ‘twin-souled’ character, so it was kind of a let down to find out that the Commander really has the soul of his dead mother clinging to his body all along. I’m not sure how I feel about the character anymore...
This is the third novel in the Poison Study series by Maria V. Snyder, and we pick up right where the second novel left off. And Valek is the best character, in my humble opinion, still. Okay, honestly, I read this book months ago, and all I remember is that I wanted more to happen with them - romantically. The plot had a very satisfying ending.
Really liked it. There were some issues for me with one or two characters and sometimes the plot moved so fast from left to right and back that I didn´t understand what was happening, but I really loved the ending.
I'm the kind of person who, once i start a series, no matter how hard it may be for me, i must finish it. To finish this series was a serious struggle. I LOVED the first book, Yelena was an enticing character and Valek was a stark contrast which made the book quick witted and interesting. Moving onto the second book, i enjoyed the introduction of Leif however i felt that there were so many names and characters just thrown in that the plot got a bit lost, however still enjoyed it. One thing i couldn't get past though, was Cahil. Was he meant to be a villain? a friend? a misguided and confused boy? i don't know but he could have added so much to the story if only his character was actually thought about and given a point in these novels. His lack of personality made him unlikable but not hated/ loved like a good villain should be.... just confused. But this book, it took me too long and i just didn't enjoy it. I feel like nothing happened and then yelena was in a fire and then it was over. Like, storyline please and thankyou???? I found Yelena to be pretty annoying and unable to do anything right, and then suddenly having all the knowledge of magic in the last 30 pages of the book??? no thanks. Also having the comical and interesting characters like Ari and Janco basically not exist until the last half of the book made me desperate for a bit of entertainment when they did arrive. AND VALEK!! where did my characteristic and unique, magic thwarting man go? He seemed to take the very back seat of this novel, not adding anything to the already wishy washy story line and having negative 10% character development. Overall, I was looking forward to the conclusion of this trilogy and was very disappointed with the road the story took and am very sad about the waste of a potential good ending of a trilogy.
Reread June 2021 and I still really love this series and these characters. I found Yelena really came into her own in this book and I love the little lead in to the Glass series that we get. Easy writing style to read and enjoy.
I have so much love for this series. I think this may have been my least favourite so far but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I just love the characters and different relationships entwined in this story. I find the different areas of magic and politics really interesting. I want more people to love this series!!!
FINALLY FINISHED THIS BOOK!!! I think I've been reading it since January! And there's a reason it took me so long to finish it...loss of interest. I truly enjoyed reading Poison Study and even Magic Study, but for some reason, this final book did not do much for me. I didn't necessarily like the writing much and I felt bored by the plotline. It is a good series and I would recommend it, but there are better books out there.
