Customer Reviews
Hoping for a return to form - By: S. Bull, 12 Dec 2008 
I thought poison study was excellent & rate this title as three stars because I think it is that weakin comparison to poison study. Along with one other reviewer I disliked the fact that Yelena seemed to now know more (or think she knows more) than master magicians which makes it harder to see how she will developin fire study. My main disappointment however was as one of Valek's fans, to see what a comparatively weak & uninteresting character he seems to becomein this book - just providing resources on demand for Yelena as she develops. I hope the characters grow & developin a way that hangs together betterin the final of the series.
absolutly fantastic - By: Tracey Turner, 01 Oct 2008 
i dont know why some people rate this as a book 3 i really dont because thats really under rate
the first few chapters where slow but soon got into the book
then couldnt put it down i wanted to carry on reading after i had finished
its a fantasic follow up from poision study
i thought the first book was brilliant but this one was absolutly fantastic "poision study"
you could feel yourself right therein the woods with the earth beneath your feet & the smells of the trees around you with yelanda
but MAGIC STUDY was more indepth
feeling the magic building as yelanda gains control of her magic & learns how to use it to here advantage
you could picture every peron from feeding her horse kiki yelanda talkin to her horsein her mind yelanda can switch bodys with her magicin self defence & to going deep into peoples minds see the ghosts that lies within there minds & help them
you can feel the love & happiness she has for valak & her friends ari & janko watch her fighting with themin training
each chapter left me needing to read the next i had a couple of late nights reading this book i finishedin a couple of days i really couldnt put it down
i cant wait for fire study hope its as good as the first 2
Three and a Half Stars - By: Lesley70, 29 Jun 2008 Magic Study picks up very shortly after the end of Book 1 - Poison Study. Yelena & her companions have journeyed to the land of Sitia, reuniting the stolen children with their parents. Yelena meets up with her own family but this is an awkward reunion. She doesn't stay with them long before journeying on to the Magician's Keep where she must begin her training as a magician. Unfortunately it seems nothingin Yelena's life is fated to go smoothly. Once again, she needs to use her magical abilities to sort everything out & once again it's her own life that's on the line.
There's a lot going onin this story: - Yelena's reunion with her family - the fact that her brother seems to despise her, Yelena enrollingin Magic School, a serial killer, a visit from the Ixian ambassador & the exiled heir of Ixia turns up. It's quite busy plotwise & Yelena is at the centre of it all - which leads to my problem with this book.
I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the story because I did (though not as much as Poison Study). But somewherein between Book 1 & Book 2, Yelena became a little too arrogant for me. When four master magicians don't know what to do but Yelena does & they're looking to her for help it annoyed me a little. Apart from this her character is still well drawn & you want to read about her & her adventures. It's just grating that she's always right. Even when events spiral beyond her control, things still have to be done Yelena's way, because she knows best. It's a positive thing that she's so independent, but you can't help thinking at certain points that if she had just stopped & asked for help the outcome may have been resolved differently.
Saying that, there were plenty of other things I enjoyed about the story.
Yelena's timein the Magician's school.
The complex relationship she develops with her brother, who was the most interesting characterin the book for me.
The visiting Ixian dignitaries because this means Valek, Janco & Ari arein town. Though Valek is not as presentin this story asin Poison Study. Which makes sense as this one really is more about Yelena, but it was great to have him turn up. And Maria V. Snyder maximizes the impact of his appearances.
It quickly becomes apparent that Sitia is just as dangerous a place, if not more so, than Ixia, butin different ways.
I think middle booksin trilogies can be tricky. So I am left wondering how fair it is to grade this book on its own, without knowing how the third book goes. I am heartened by reading other reviews that consider this the weakest of the three, as hopefully that means Fire Study is a return to form. I will be getting Fire Study but I don't have the desperate urge to immediately get it, that I did for Magic Study.
Nowhere near as good as Poison Study - By: Miss I Spy, 04 Apr 2008 I see that other reviewers awarded this a 5 *. In my opinion that was slightly misjudged adn sentimental since a lot of the elements which made the previous volume work, such as survival suspense, developing love story & mysteries regarding Yelena's past are absent. Instead Snyder focuses on yelena's journey to Sitia to meet her parents & learn how to control her magic. This simply is not as heady stuff as before.
What is especially galling is the deteriorating language of this volume. Snyder exhibited glimpses of itin the last book but here is becomes ridiculous, short stilted sentences where longer description arein order, for example, or very abrupt statements of characters' intentions or emotions where a more indirect approach would have worked much better... which to me created the impression that Snyder wrote to merely fill some pages.
don;t get me wrond, there are still bitsin this which are very very good, just not as many as there should be, & spaced too far apart.
I wasin the end disappointedin this volume & finished reading it merely to find out where the plot would take the protagonists.
Just as good as its predecessor - By: K. Montgomery, 06 Feb 2008 Poison Study, book onein the adventures of Yelena's precarious & often dangerous life, introduced a heroine worth giving more than a second look at. Put through hell & back, she refused to let abuse & foul black magic to take her life as a child. As a young woman, she conquered the challenges of becoming the poison taster for the ruler of Ixia & managed to secure the heart of its most dangerous assassin. Through many tests, Yelena has already walked, but there's one left that she's only dreamed of & it may prove the most difficult for her to overcome yet.
Fourteen years have passed since Yelena was taken from her family, kidnapped from the southern country of Sitia. As those possessing magic are put to deathin Ixia, Yelena must take herself, along with her newly budding powers, to the only place left for someone such as her. The first challenge of her once again new start at life? Her family. When she meets up with them again, it's a culture shock for both parties. Determined to rekindle something of her past though, Yelena gives it her all with the large Zaltana clan. Treachery is never far from home though, & soon she's having to watch her back around a close family member. Evenin the capital city, where Yelena travels to learn how to control her magic, she can't gain a moments respite from danger. There, she become embroiledin the machinations of a would-be king, the treachery of an evil magician & the stigma of a power so great, others fear the very mention of one who wields it. Looked upon with suspicion wherever she goes, Yelena must once again fight for a placein a society that has no place for her. True to her nature, she makes a place for herself, & soon is hot on the trail of the evil magician as well as her constantly unfolding destiny.
Yelena's first person voice leads the reader straight & true throughout the twists & turns she encounters. This is the type of story, the kind of adventure, where nothing slows down, nothing stops till the end. From her boisterous & unique family, to the stringent atmosphere of the Citadel, where Yelena begins her magic study, I was entranced by every word, hungry to know as much about Yelena's past & abilities as she was. The addition of an Ixian delegation & with it, Yelena's assassin lover, Valek, only heightens the strenuousness & level of difficulty for her. Magic Study, like its predecessor, is a book uncluttered by unnecessary elements. Every character mentioned counts. Every action holds weight. I wanted to yank Yelena back a few times & rail at her to accept the help of her friends (besides Valek), &in this the frustrations some charactersin the book have with her are completely understandable. But too, Yelena's had no one to depend on but herself for years, & no chance to adjust to all the new developmentsin her life before the next comes hurtling at her. She is still by this book's end very much growing into her own skin. The twist to this installment will lead readers right into the next book, into the next stage of Yelena's ever entangling life. I look forward, very much, to the continuing growth of such a strong, engrossing & heartfelt character. I would suggest reading the seriesin order. If you're new to the books, you'll glean enough info about the first one to be moderately enlightened, but likely left yearning for the first anyway. The next book, Fire Study, releases March 1, 2008, where we'll learn more about the terrifying power that Yelena may be the first to wieldin centuries.
