Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder

Title: Magic Study (Study #2)
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Genre: Sword and Sorcery, Young Adult
Publisher: Mira (29th February 2012)
Blurb:

CONFRONTING THE PASTCONTROLLING THE FUTURE

With an execution order on her head, Yelena has no choice but to escape to Sitia, the land of her birth. With only a year to master her magic – or face death – Yelena must begin her apprenticeship and travels to the Four Towers of the Magician’s Keep.

But nothing in Sitia is familiar. Not the family to whom she is a stranger. Not the unsettling new facets of her magic. Not the brother who resents her return. As she struggles to understand where she belongs and how to control her rare powers, a rogue magician emerges – and Yelena catches his eye.

Suddenly she is embroiled in battle against good and evil. And once again it will be her magical abilities that will either save her life . . . or be her downfall.

Rating: *****(5 stars)
Review:

Having read and enjoyed Poison Study (you can find my review here), I decided to pick up the second book in the series and see if it lived up to my expectations. I tore through Magic Study, and thoroughly enjoyed the read.

When I started Magic Study I fell straight back into Yelena’s world. I really enjoyed watching Yelena transform in this book. When Magic Study starts she is still struggling to come to terms with the fact that she is going to be reunited with the family she has not seen in fourteen years – with the family she doesn’t remember. Snyder did a brilliant job introducing Yelena to her family. I thought that Yelena’s family were really interesting characters and I would have loved to see more of them, hopefully they’ll appear again in future books.

Sitia was a really interesting world, very different in many ways from the world of Ixia in Poison Study. Sitia is much less regimented, and it is very definitely a culture shock for Yelena to be there (and for me too as a reader). For a start it seems to be a much wilder place. Magic seemed to be very commonplace, and I found the explanations of how it could be used quite cool as it seemed to express itself in a myriad of ways.

The plot of the book was quite complex. Snyder weaves many different threads through the narrative, and I enjoyed watching them unravel. Snyder also did a good job in settling up the next book in the series, because although she resolved a lot of the questions she still left enough unanswered that I am looking forward to getting my hands on the third book. I also enjoyed the fact that a few of the characters from Poison Study appeared in Magic Study. Whilst I enjoyed – and even liked a few – of the new characters, it was nice to be reunited with “old friends”.

If you are a fan of sword and sorcery books with strong female leads then you should definitely consider adding The Study series to your reading pile. It is a really enjoyable and engrossing read.