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A review by ayah_reads
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
medium-paced
3.0
This book was the epitome of "go girl give me nothing" yet tell me why I blew through it?? Wanted to keep reading?? Enjoyed it???
This books is somewhere between good enough and so bad it's good. The characters have no character, I don't even feel like I had a solid description of their physicality let alone their personality (Valek suddenly had black curls three quarters of the way through??), the writing is so basic, even bad at times, literally repeating what's already been told before, the plot is pretty easy to pierce together, many points had obvious connections and YET I still had a fun time???? IDK WHY. This is the first book I've finished in over a month since spending a semester reading Austen and I think it's what I needed - something so bad that I can't in anyway compare it to Austen and can therefore actually read it in peace 🤣
I think a drive that kept me reading was to see the development of Valek and Yelena. It really had me until the last 50 page being like maybe... we're getting...a slow burn??? Even though all the reviews said otherwise 🤣 It's an insta love that you don't think is gonna be an insta love until basically the ending which is a very odd thing and I don't think I've read an insta love like that before?? Insta loves tend happen halfway through so you're very aware it's an insta love. I don't get why authors are so scared to have their mains confess their love in book 3, like give me a slow burn, three book arc, I'll read for the slow burn, I won't loose interest if you develop it well. With Yelena and Valek it was also odd cos they had a decent amount of time together, solid amount of interactions i.e. page time, but there was still no real romantic implication or development in that sense?? Which is why I really thought we were gonna get a "I don't want you to die and I will save you and protect you but idk pssh what are feelings" (think Kaz "I protect my investments" Brekker) and that's what we got for most of the book (from Valek especially), with Yelena feeling a bit more which I'll give it to her cos he really was saving her life left right and centre, Yelena could not catch a break, everyone wanted to kill her 🤣🤣 But we had to have a love confession come from nowhere and ruin the potential ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ The ending has me 👀👀 and it would have worked so well with the above slow burn but now it's like...do I...even...care to see it through??
In speaking of them tho, I cannot not mention the age gap !!! Gahhhh WHY. Honestly this whole story could have been aged out of YA and be adult. Yelena goes through terrible, horrific, traumatic experiences, and it would have just made sense to have her older, with the bonus of balancing the age gap. Or Valek could have been younger and the plot shifted a little but gahhhhh I pretended not to see it so I could continue 😬ðŸ˜
One thing that did surprise me was Yelena being (ambiguously) a person of colour, and considering this is veryyyy earlier YA, I was impressed.
Overall, not a great book but I had a great time! 😂 Now to continue with the second book or read an actually good book is the question....
This books is somewhere between good enough and so bad it's good. The characters have no character, I don't even feel like I had a solid description of their physicality let alone their personality (Valek suddenly had black curls three quarters of the way through??), the writing is so basic, even bad at times, literally repeating what's already been told before, the plot is pretty easy to pierce together, many points had obvious connections and YET I still had a fun time???? IDK WHY. This is the first book I've finished in over a month since spending a semester reading Austen and I think it's what I needed - something so bad that I can't in anyway compare it to Austen and can therefore actually read it in peace 🤣
I think a drive that kept me reading was to see the development of Valek and Yelena. It really had me until the last 50 page being like maybe... we're getting...a slow burn??? Even though all the reviews said otherwise 🤣 It's an insta love that you don't think is gonna be an insta love until basically the ending which is a very odd thing and I don't think I've read an insta love like that before?? Insta loves tend happen halfway through so you're very aware it's an insta love. I don't get why authors are so scared to have their mains confess their love in book 3, like give me a slow burn, three book arc, I'll read for the slow burn, I won't loose interest if you develop it well. With Yelena and Valek it was also odd cos they had a decent amount of time together, solid amount of interactions i.e. page time, but there was still no real romantic implication or development in that sense?? Which is why I really thought we were gonna get a "I don't want you to die and I will save you and protect you but idk pssh what are feelings" (think Kaz "I protect my investments" Brekker) and that's what we got for most of the book (from Valek especially), with Yelena feeling a bit more which I'll give it to her cos he really was saving her life left right and centre, Yelena could not catch a break, everyone wanted to kill her 🤣🤣 But we had to have a love confession come from nowhere and ruin the potential ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ The ending has me 👀👀 and it would have worked so well with the above slow burn but now it's like...do I...even...care to see it through??
In speaking of them tho, I cannot not mention the age gap !!! Gahhhh WHY. Honestly this whole story could have been aged out of YA and be adult. Yelena goes through terrible, horrific, traumatic experiences, and it would have just made sense to have her older, with the bonus of balancing the age gap. Or Valek could have been younger and the plot shifted a little but gahhhhh I pretended not to see it so I could continue 😬ðŸ˜
One thing that did surprise me was Yelena being (ambiguously) a person of colour, and considering this is veryyyy earlier YA, I was impressed.
Overall, not a great book but I had a great time! 😂 Now to continue with the second book or read an actually good book is the question....
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, and Murder
Minor: Transphobia