Product Description

Yelena is a survivor. Kidnapped as a child, held prisoner as a teen, then released to act as a poison taster, she is now a student of magic. But these magic skills place her in imminent danger, and with an execution order on her head, she has no choice but to escape to Sitia, the land of her birth.

But nothing in Sitia is familiar. As she struggles to understand where she belongs and how to control her powers, a rogue magician emerges—and Yelena catches his eye. Suddenly she is embroiled in a situation not of her making. And once again her magical abilities will either save her life...or be her downfall.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35565 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Family betrayal, a power-mad serial killer and a potential diplomatic crisis threaten the independent-minded heroine of Snyder's fine sequel to Poison Study (2005). With the overthrow of the royal family of Ixia, 20-year-old Yelena Zaltana, who was kidnapped as a child by the evil magician Mogkan, is now free to return home to Sitia. Her reunion with the family she hasn't seen in 14 years palls when her brother spreads rumors she's actually a spy from Ixia. At the Magician's Citadel, where Yelena enrolls to hone her prodigious magical talents, her powers raise concern that she might be a rare, powerful Soulfinder. Then a string of ugly murders reveals the presence of a rogue magician in the area. As Yelena joins the hunt for the killer, complications grow with the arrival of a diplomatic mission from Ixia—including her lover, Valek, a notorious spy and assassin, sure to be executed if anyone sees through his disguise. Snyder's lively, charming mix of romance and fantasy is sure to gain her new fans. (Oct.)
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Kate Elliott, author of the Crown of Stars series
"Poison Study is a wonderful and lively read. Highly recommended!"

Mercedes Lackey, New York Times bestselling author
"Maria Snyder has created an engaging and entirely original new fantasy, fascinating in its rich detail."

Customer Reviews

spend time on something else
I enjoyed Poison Study immensely, but was not happy with Magic study. It seemed to me that Leif was very duplicitous, and unnecessarily angry as well as unlikable. It also seemed to me that Yelena was getting into more trouble just by refusing to work with others. The characters that were posing as her enemies were not credible, so the tracker (I don't remember his name) and the first Magician (I also don't remember her name) were just a bunch of prejudiced fools who never even had a character development that was due enemies. They were just people trying to find a reason to kill Yelena with a justification (granted the tracker just wanted to kill her for not reason at all). Yelena was reckless in an environment (the school) where she needed not be. I kept on reading thinking there would be something to redeem the book, but the interesting character that was developed in poison (Yelena) just became over-zealous, suspicious and ungrateful (by refusing and not seeking support). This put me at odds with how I felt about her. Her loyalty and love to Valek was commendable, but her humility was not credible, nor was it implied. She became obnoxious with her powers and I nearly wanted her dead for everything she got herself and others into in the second part of the book.
If you feel that you need to see what Yelena has done after leaving Ixia, then by all means do read it, yet after this, I am disinclined to read fire study.

Great Read!
This book is excellent! I fell in love with Poison study after only a few chapters so I had high hopes for her follow up, Magic Study. This book exceeded my expectations. Fast paced, adventurous, romantic and funny. I loved Yelena's conversations with Kiki! Hilarious.

Three and a Half Stars
Magic Study picks up very shortly after the end of Book 1 - Poison Study. Yelena and 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 nothing in Yelena's life is fated to go smoothly. Once again, she needs to use her magical abilities to sort everything out and once again it's her own life that's on the line.

There's a lot going on in this story: - Yelena's reunion with her family - the fact that her brother seems to despise her, Yelena enrolling in Magic School, a serial killer, a visit from the Ixian ambassador and the exiled heir of Ixia turns up. It's quite busy plotwise and 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 somewhere in between Book 1 and Book 2, Yelena became a little too arrogant for me. When four master magicians don't know what to do but Yelena does and they're looking to her for help it annoyed me a little. Apart from this her character is still well drawn and you want to read about her and 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 and 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 time in the Magician's school.

The complex relationship she develops with her brother, who was the most interesting character in the book for me.

The visiting Ixian dignitaries because this means Valek, Janco and Ari are in town. Though Valek is not as present in this story as in 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, but in different ways.

I think middle books in 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.