Magic Study

*****

5 Stars/5

Magic study starts a few weeks after the events of Poison Study, in that time Yelena has gone to Sitia to escape the death warrant in Ixia, and also to learn magic and to find her long lost family. But not everything is plain sailing, as her brother is hostile towards her, and many of the people at the Magician’s Keep think she is a spy, including the First Magician, and on top of all that, there is a serial killer torturing and killing girls, and it looks like Yelena may be next.

This is a brilliant sequel to Poison Study, and Ms Snyder is really good with the pacing of the books. It has everything you want in a fantasy book, with action, romance, magic and a fight between good and evil.

Yelena has grown as a character, as at the beginning of Poison Study, she was all about self-preservation, and running away. In this book, she has grown more confident, and helps others at risk to herself.

The romance between Yelena and Valek is a bit different from the last book, because for most of the book their relationship is long-distance, although they still have a very strong relationship, and you will end up rooting for them.

Even though there are still some of my favourite characters from Poison Study appearing in this book, such as Commander Ambrose, Valek, Ari and Janco, we are also introduced to some new people, such as Moon Man, Yelena’s guide, and Cahil, Yelena’s frenemy. But my favourite new character is Kiki, Yelena’s horse (You will understand when you read the book)

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys well-written fantasy novels, whether Young Adult or not.