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A review by stacyjenson
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
4.0
Fun! Parts I liked:
- Valek. He's basically a ninja and ninjas are awesome. And he sculpts little animal figurines for his friends. Sensitive!
- The emotional/moral ambiguities. Was I, the reader, supposed to approve of the Commander's coup? Are things really better post-coup? Can rule by military junta ever turn out well? I flip-flopped about this a lot. This aspect of the story was downplayed in favor of a light-hearted fantasy/adventure/romance romp, and you could point this out as a plot hole. But, the nagging feeling of whether I should be rooting for the guys in charge added some texture and depth to the story.
- The Commander's secret. Whaa? A little strange, a little random, but I'm putting it in the Like category.
- Dialogue. I sometimes find that romance-ish writers do not have their male characters talk in any way real living men really talk and interact with each other. (JD Ward, I'm looking straight at you.) I thought the interactions here were genuine.
Disliked:
- Some hackneyed fantasy tropes. The learning-to-fight scenes, a la Karate Kid. The friendly seamstress. The grumpy head servant.
- Aside from Yelena, the female characters were pretty 1-dimensional. Same for the bad guys.
- Setting. I'm not sure anything in the story required this to be set in the usual medieval fantasy world. The Commander and military districts reminded me of Handmaid's Tale, so I kept wondering how this story could've played out in the far future, post-civilization.
Minor complaints, though.
- Valek. He's basically a ninja and ninjas are awesome. And he sculpts little animal figurines for his friends. Sensitive!
- The emotional/moral ambiguities. Was I, the reader, supposed to approve of the Commander's coup? Are things really better post-coup? Can rule by military junta ever turn out well? I flip-flopped about this a lot. This aspect of the story was downplayed in favor of a light-hearted fantasy/adventure/romance romp, and you could point this out as a plot hole. But, the nagging feeling of whether I should be rooting for the guys in charge added some texture and depth to the story.
- The Commander's secret. Whaa? A little strange, a little random, but I'm putting it in the Like category.
- Dialogue. I sometimes find that romance-ish writers do not have their male characters talk in any way real living men really talk and interact with each other. (JD Ward, I'm looking straight at you.) I thought the interactions here were genuine.
Disliked:
- Some hackneyed fantasy tropes. The learning-to-fight scenes, a la Karate Kid. The friendly seamstress. The grumpy head servant.
- Aside from Yelena, the female characters were pretty 1-dimensional. Same for the bad guys.
- Setting. I'm not sure anything in the story required this to be set in the usual medieval fantasy world. The Commander and military districts reminded me of Handmaid's Tale, so I kept wondering how this story could've played out in the far future, post-civilization.
Minor complaints, though.