Reviews with content warning for Death - Magic Study

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder

14 reviews

rebeccaae99's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated

4.25

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savage_book_review's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Taken south to be reunited with her family, Yelena doesn't quite get the homecoming she expected. With her magical specialty still unclear and accusations of being an Ixian spy swirling around her, she must tread carefully and try to reconcile her southern heritage with the fact that her heart lies in the north.

At the outset, the reader goes in thinking they know what to expect; a family reunion followed by this world's version of Hogwarts. But my goodness there are a lot of directional changes in here! And trying to keep up with the zigs and zags of the storyline is enthralling and engaging, but also quite energy-sapping. It certainly keeps you on your toes, but you MUST be awake. So this isn't necessarily a book I'd recommend for bedtime reading. One character in particular jumps around in the reader's (and Yelena's?) estimations from villain to nice guy to maybe even potential rival love interest right back to villain again, with very little tangible reasoning for each shift. You get why, but it's all just feels a bit 'thin'. And when the story itself feels like a bigger version of this, you either want to read this in very small chunks so you can digest as you go, or read the whole thing in one go knowing that you have some time afterwards to take a breath and sort through everything in your head.

I'd say there's a lot more introspection on Yelena's part in this one. Parts of it are beautifully done, tying in with her learning about her magical abilities and bringing her northern mindset to the southern realm. And yet other aspects are less effective; for all of her thoughts about fitting in with her family, I'm not entirely convinced we needed her parents to be reintroduced. While they are lovely characters and have their parts to play, they don't feel like they make a huge difference - Yelena could just as easily have been a real orphan and the story would have worked just as well with a couple of tweaks.

While I wouldn't say this is any more graphic than the last book, it certainly deals with similar themes and they are a lot more prevalent - indeed, one of the main aspects of the story involves kidnapping, rape and murder. The suspense and mystery is very well handled throughout when seen through Yelena's eyes and the contrast between her methods and those employed by the southerners are a really interesting way to examine the story. Similarly, although it is very easy to understand why an outsider may view the way the north is run as a dangerous dictatorship, the juxtaposition between their insistence that their way of life is fairer and Yelena's treatment of the beggar children she encounters really makes you consider if their version of freedom is all its cracked up to be.

Recognisable tropes continue to make an appearance within, completed by the mind-link with a friendly animal. No dragons here, just a brilliant couple of horses! So simple, yet so effective, heartwarming and just a little bit funny to break the tension when you need it to.

Overall, I perhaps didn't enjoy the reading experience quite as much as the first book, but the story is great and I'm so glad I have the next book in the series ready and waiting!

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