Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Title: Poison Study
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Target Audience: Older teens and adults. This novel falls smack dab on the blurry border between young adult and adult fiction; while some bookstores house this under YA section, many place it with the adult fantasy books using a different cover.
Pages: Paperback - 416 pages

Choose: A quick death and hell or slow poison and hell.

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She’ll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia. And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly’s Dust – and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can’t control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren’t so clear. - summary from Goodreads.com

After spending months questing for the perfect fantasy read, I finally encountered Poison Study, and my first impression from the engrossing premise was that this would be a fantastic read. Fortunately, my assumption was right, and Synder's novel transcended my expectations by miles, refurbishing my love of reading. Snyder successfully amalgamates magic, mystery, romance, and action, forming a irresistible, utterly mesmerizing novel that forever ensnared me in its spellbinding net.

The compelling, addicting plot is like eating a giant, moist wedge of red velvet cake after a box of bland Saltines. On the first page, I was hurled straight into the dungeon, where a doomed girl named Yelena awaits her hanging. Instead of being executed as planned, the head of security offers Yelena a better – though possibly worse – choice: to be the poison taster for the Commander of Ixia. Though saved from execution, Yelena is still at risk. Everyday is a struggle for survival, haunted by a cruel past. This looming sense of constant danger drives the story onward, never permitting a dull moment:

I rose, my head spinning. “Is it lethal?”

“A big enough dose will kill you in two days. The symptoms don’t arrive until the second day, but by then it’s too late.”

“Did I have a lethal dose?” I held my breath.

“Of course. Anything less and you wouldn’t have tasted the poison.” - page 19

This tense instant of danger occurs when Valek, chief of security, poisons Yelena with the lethal Butterfly’s Dust in order to prevent her from running away. A plethora of these scary moments exists, propelling the book to a fast gait. Snyder, a grandmaster of foreshadowing, splashes seemingly insignificant hints and clues amidst the pages, resulting in a complex story, so I kept stumbling into surprises – some obvious, some not – that made me gasp. Interlaced with more darker themes than most young adult novels, Poison Study deals with violence, murder, and sexual abuse. However, these heavy themes are necessary for the story, and sorrowfully, are concepts that some teenagers face today.

This book has a vivid setting, a place where any reader can immerse themselves in. The militarized world of Ixia, a refreshing change from the typical monarchy that fantasy books often have, fills Poison Study with flavor and vibe. Lead by the domineering Commander, Ixia has eliminated the previous corrupt King and transformed the land into a militarist area sliced into Districts. Snyder, an amazing world builder, brings this world to life, buttressing it with rich history of tainted kings who ruled unethically, before the Commander seized control and brought about different ways. The Commander, while wise, rules Ixia with a harsh hand. Though his Code of Behavior, the inflexible, strict set of laws, prevents crime, poverty, and lack of order, it is also very controlling. Citizens who don't don their uniforms are chained to the town square naked, no excuses. Anybody who kills another person, even if by accident or in self defense, is hanged. The new form of government frowns upon the arts and requires paperwork for almost everything. The Commander's rigid rules show an insight to his fascinating personality, especially since he harbors a major secret, a secret that makes him selfish but all the more intriguing.

Snyder paints her characters deep, layered profiles. Though older than most YA heroines at nineteen, Yelena is an interesting protagonist and an intelligent, strong young woman, tarnished by a brutal, disturbing personal history; memories of Reyad, the man she killed, haunt and harass her throughout the novel. Readers can easily slide into Yelena's shoes, and I liked relatability of her choices and mistakes. Never making me want to bellow at her in frustration, she is resourceful and clever, a girl with inspiring independence; when men try to kill her, instead of running away squealing for help, she learns self defense to beat them up. Valek, the Commander's chief of security, is untrustworthy, ruthless, and crafty, making him another prominent figure of Poison Study's cast. Alas, my liking for him slightly declined toward the end, when he began to shy away from his devious character. Ari and Janco, two humorous, goodhearted soldiers, add comic relief in contrast to the story's foreboding tide. I love how even though Yelena secures a strong friendship with the castle's talented head cook, Rand, she still thinks of him in shades of gray; young adult books often tend to have their protagonists befriend somebody and then portray him or her in either black or white, bad or good. Rand is the complicated type of character that more novels need, a person complex enough that he could easily have been snatched from the real world.

The refreshing romance, subtle and powerful, snuck up on me opposed to dancing in front of my face and giggling, like many sappy relationships in young adult books do. The relationship maintained its engrossing, cogent qualities, definitely branding it as one of the most interesting romances in young adult fiction. Unfortunately, some icky qualities weighed down the good attributes, and a dollap of cringe-worthy cheesiness crept in at the end.

Poison Study reminds me of the reason I love books. My favorite novels project me into their worlds, where I can live as a different person, completely immersed in another land. These escapist books include The Hunger Games, the Harry Potter series, and Graceling, with Poison Study joining the elite list. Though I read this book while vacationing in stunning Yosemite, encompassed by the looming cliffs of rock and shimmering waterfalls, I lived a parallel life in the Commander's castle. When bears lumbered outside the tent, ten feet away, I still could not tear my eyes away from the page. I completely agree with Publisher's Weekly when they reviewed Poison Study, saying, “...this is one of those rare books that will keep readers dreaming long after they've read it.” This consummate fantasy is a must read for all book lovers, and like me, most readers will immediately stampede to the store to purchase the two sequels upon reaching the last page.

Cover: 3/5 – The green vines that snake across the cover are gorgeous, though otherwise, nothing about this cover strikes me.

Rating:

5 hoots

Books like this:
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Fire by Kristin Cashore

If you know of any other fantasies like Poison Study and the ones above, please let me know in the comments! I would love to read it.

Source: Bought from bookstore. I think you should buy it too. :) 

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Title: Tender Morsels
Author: Margo Lanagan
Genre: Fantasy
Target Audience: Mature teens and up (very disturbing scenes)
Number of Pages: Paperback - 464 pages

Tender Morsels is a dark and vivid story, set in two worlds and worrying at the border between them. Liga lives modestly in her own personal heaven, a world given to her in exchange for her earthly life. Her two daughters grow up in this soft place, protected from the violence that once harmed their mother. But the real world cannot be denied forever—magicked men and wild bears break down the borders of Liga’s refuge. Now, having known Heaven, how will these three women survive in a world where beauty and brutality lie side by side?

Tender Morsels is a lurid yet beautiful tale. Written using the framework of Rose Red and Snow White, a classic fairytale that I recommend reading prior to Tender Morsels, this dark retelling will spellbind readers who are mature enough to handle the ghastliness.  The highly unusual yet extraordinary prose captures the darkness and brutality of the story:

"She pressed her nose and mouth into the crook of her elbow, but she had already gulped smoke. It sank through to her deepest insides, and there it clasped its thin black hands, all knuckles and nerves, and wrung them, and wrung them." - page 6

The author's words summon vivid imagery into my mind; I especially love the metaphor of smoke to hands. Those who adore poetry are sure to love this book's language and sentence structure. Due to the lyrical writing, the prologue is quite confusing, so I had to reread it a few times to completely understand it. (If you go back and reread it after you finish the book, it makes a lot more sense.) However, once that's out of the way, the first few pages depict grim scenes; they document Liga's hellish early life of miscarriages and sexual abuse from her own father, and I'm still horrified and disturbed. The author does a good job of skirting around the actual rape scenes and tends to describe the traumatic effects opposed to the action. Since Lanagan siphons sadness into readers using powerful language, some parts of this novel just made me want to weep:

"She had been all prepared to love it, but there was not very much to love. She had never seen a baby so thin and wizened. Its face was just creases, thick with down. It had the finest, darkest, sourest lips, disapproving anciently, godlikely, distantly. It had the look of a lamb born badly, of a baby bird fallen from the nest—that doomed look, holy and lifeless, swollen-eyed, retreated too far into itself to be awakened." - page 15

The characters are deep, realistic, and flawed, and all have their motivations. Urdda, the fiery younger sister, never hesitates in asking for the truth and basks in the spirit of adventure. Branza is more gentle, like her mother Liga, but just as realistic. The character of Bullock bothers me due to his blandness, and after a few weeks I am struggling to remember him. Liga, the abused mother of Urdda and Branza, is a scarred soul who still maintains a saucy vibe. Readers will respect and become fond of Liga, though not pity her.

Unlike many light hearted YA novels, Tender Morsels is a heavy, savage tale with prose that forces readers to proceed at a slow gait. Not for the weak of heart, this book requires a mature reader to handle the disturbing bits. I love how symbolism infuses this book; there are layers upon layers of it, some which I will only catch during a reread. Luscious with explorations of gender, innocence, and the contrast between brutality and beauty, this book requires a lot of thought and simulates many deep questions. At times, the identity of the narrator is confusing to the point of being incomprehensible. With the frequent changes from third to first person without warning, I was very lost, especially in the beginning. However, now I realize that Lanagan wrote it this way for a reason; even the difference between narrating the book between third person and first person has symbolism. According to an interview, Margo Lanagan purposely uses first person for the females and third person for the males, because she "wanted to make a subtle point about how the men are comfortable imagining themselves as the heroes of their own story, whereas the women always feel themselves to be part of a bigger story that is more significant than their own lives". This idea interweaves throughout the novel, and is only one form of symbolism that Lanagan includes.

Instead going out with a bang, this book ends with barely the faintest of blubbers. Though I won't unleash any spoilers, the ending is abrupt, and everybody ends up in the wrong places. Also, Branza still yearns for life in heaven, and many of her questions still lie unanswered, all because she does not want to press her mom for the answers. This goes against the message of what the book seems to say, which is sheltering the innocent from the harsh truth is a bad idea. However, the shaky ending does not detract from the novel as a whole. After I finished reading the book, I just sat there for a moment, slowly surfacing out of the rich, vivid world of t. This book is savory and hearty, like a bowl of soup, and will keep one's belly full of provoking thoughts and questions for the next few days, satisfying the appetites of even the most ravenous readers.

Cover

Hardcover: 2.5/5 - Though it captures the dark tone of the book, I'm not really a fan of this cover. It's creepy and relates to the plot, but it's just not for me. The placement of the title looks like it's beheading the bear.

Paperback: 4/5 -  I really adore this cover! It maintains mystery by depicting a lurking bear and an ominous forest, though achieves an almost playful tone with the two girls, and even still manages to look sinister.

Which cover do you guys like better?

Rating:

4.5 hoots

Books like this:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Source: Random Buzzers Friday ARC giveaway. - Thanks!

Fire by Kristin Cashore

Title: Fire

Author: Kristin Cashore

Genre: YA Fantasy

Target Audience: Older teens and adults (violence, sexual and dark themes)

Number of Pages: Hardcover - 480 pages

To the east of the lands in Graceling resides a kingdom called the Dells, a place where colorful monster animals roam among the normal ones. Monster animals can be distinguished by their vivid, dazzling colors; “A dappled gray horse in the Dells was a horse. A sunset orange horse was a monster.”  Though gifted with a terrible beauty, monsters are vicious and crave the flesh of both humans and other monsters, making them dangerous, feared foes of the citizens. Seventeen-year-old Fire, who has the ability to control minds and shock others with her impossible beauty, is the last human monster in the Dells. Easily identified by her flaming red hair, Fire experiences a tough childhood as a monster; she is equally loved and hated by the people, and her abilities terrify everyone.

Meanwhile, King Nash attempts to maintain his rickety rule over the Dells, while furtive rebel lords raise personal armies to unseat him and claim the throne. The land is teeming with bands of robbers and mysterious thieves, and nobody is safe. With war looming on the horizon, the royal family bestows Fire with the duty of uncovering a conspiracy to kill the king, by using her mental abilities to their advantage.  Along the way, Fire must face additional challenges including the quest for the approval and then heart of the prince, the problems that come with loving her late father, who was once the most hated man in the Dells, and facing the numerous people who believe that she is as cruel as he was.

Though this book is often called the prequel of Graceling, it's more of a companion novel, taking place in the same world though in a different land. Save for one important villain, Fire has an entirely different ensemble of characters than Graceling.  When I picked it up at the library, I expected to read some half-thought out prequel that would feed off the success and popularity of Graceling. However, instead of being a weak and watery novel, Fire is something else entirely; it would be extraordinary even if Graceling never existed. After a slow beginning, the pace speeds up as Cashore hurls readers into a fantastical world, where she spins an intricate story riddled with side plots. This book is marinated with medieval politics, and Cashore manages to portray the darker side of the court in an engaging manner.  It seems as though Cashore’s writing has improved since Graceling, though she still successfully manages to add tasteful details to the plot without tripping the fast-paced momentum.  

A vast array of characters, Cashore forgets about no one, giving personalities to a variety of people including the guards, maids, princes, soldiers, and even the horses. Fire, the protagonist with crimson hair, is extremely likeable; she is gentle, tough, independent, has good morals, and would never to flaunt her unwanted beauty. However, she seems ruled by her situations and her reactions rather than by her true personality; Cashore could have elaborated on her character a lot further. One of the most intriguing parts of this book was the relationship between Fire and her monster father Cansrel, who was once the most heartless person in the Dells before his death. Though Cansrel was a cruel, rabid murderer and rapist who basked in destruction, he truly loved his daughter. Fire loved and hated him at the same time, and her conflicting emotions fuel part of the story. Cashore exquisitely executes Fire’s haunting memories, using them to tell the tale of Cansrel, and though he is dead before the book begins, he is an artfully developed character. Later in the novel, a shocking secret about their relationship is revealed, thrusting Fire’s character and the reason for her motives into an entirely different light.

Leck, the only character also starring in Graceling, is an unnervingly creepy child, and as disturbed as I imagined him to be, complete with his two eerily different Graceling eyes. Fans of his role as king in Graceling may be disappointed to learn that he is not the main villain, though he does serve as a pivotal character for the plot. With such a cold demeanor, he mirrors a young Cansrel.

I was not partial to the romance between Fire and prince Brigan, since their relationship unfurled too quickly; they abruptly go from mortal enemies, to awkward, tentative friends, to lovers, without time to develop in between the stages. Prince Brigan was absent from the palace and the plot for the majority of the time, and I wish he could extended his stay in the pages.

Fire, though an individually strong novel, shares many aspects to its companion novel Graceling. For example, both books have similar female protagonists who yield an enormous amount of power; for Graceling’s Katsa, it is the ability to kill, and for Fire, it is ability to control minds. I often wonder which heroine would be victorious if the two ever battled, because they are both equally powerful in different ways and are weak where the other is strong. These two novels also focus on the humanizing of the protagonist and her inner journey on coming to terms with her own power, a hazardous journey, and a royal romance. Despite being similar, these books are very solid novels that will immerse you in their separate fantastical worlds. It should be kept in mind, that Fire is a lot darker than Graceling; it is full of rape, violance, and lust. Since these two novels are two similar, in my head, I can almost hear them demanding to be compared. Overall, though Fire is sensational, I prefer Graceling because its backbone consists of a strong, more character-driven plot, and it contains more action. I yearn for this duo on my bookshelf, along with Bitterblue, which is due in 2011. 

Overall, Fire is an astoundingly brilliant novel that is a seven course meal, since it consists of everything a book lover’s heart could desire: vexing mystery, romance, action, violence, intriguing characters, mythical places, and a layered plot that meanders into unexpected places. I would reccomend reading Graceling first, since that is the order it was published.

Cover (US Hardcover Edition): 4/5 - Though in fashion with Graceling, with the cover depicting a weapon and a gradient of one color, I prefer the cover of Fire. Though slightly mediocre amidst jungle of the bookstore, this cover is artfully designed, and pretty despite being a tad bit bland. There seems to be something sinister and mysterious lurking beneath the layers of crimson, caputuring the mood of this novel. My only complaint is that the bow on the cover pertains to Archer, Fire's friend, more than it pertains to Fire herself.

Rating:

4 hoots

Source: School library and friendly librarian :).

 For a review of Graceling, click HERE. 

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Title: Graceling
Author: Kristin Cashore
Genre: YA Fantasy
Target Audience: Teens and Adults (contains violence and mild sexual themes)
Number of Pages: Hardcover - 480 pages

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight--she's a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king's thug.

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po's friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace--or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone. Katsa and Po go on a dangerous quest to uncover one of the land’s most disturbing mysteries, and learn the truth of a twisted king. - Taken from Amazon.com

This book owes me pages of missing homework and three hours of lost sleep.

I stayed up into the wee hours of the night to finish Graceling. This vivid novel will always remain prominent in my mind; Graceling will never melt into the blur of YA fantasy. It is the type of book that I will be quite sorry to return to the library; I have the strong desire to place it on the prized section of my bookshelf. With a flawed yet likeable ensemble of characters, a fast-paced plot, and an original concept, Graceling is one of the top five YA novels of the year. The actual idea of Gracelings is amazing; it made me jealous that I didn’t think of it first. Gracelings are gifted with a supernatural power at birth, and the sign of this power is shown by eyes of two different colors. The Graces that Gracelings can be born with can be as useless as the ability to rotate one’s entire torso, or as powerful as the ability to read minds.

The characters are one of the strongest aspects of this book. Eighteen-year-old Katsa, the main character, is a fierce heroine who defies all weak women stereotypes. It’s quite refreshing to have a female protagonist who can protect herself and those around her, opposed those stereotypical, helpless women who never engage in a battle. Katsa’s character develops beautifully, and her mental journey is centered on her humanization and finding the ability to cope with love. In the early pages of the novel, Katsa reflects upon herself:

“She knew her nature. She would recognize it if she came face-to-face with it. It would be a blue-eyed, green-eyed monster, wolflike and snarling. A vicious beast that struck out at friends in uncontrollable anger, a killer that offered itself as a vessel of the king’s fury.” – page 137

Then we have Prince Po, who is a superb character. The only personal problem I have with him is his name – Whenever I read “Po”, two other people jump into my head: Po from Kung Fu Panda, which is sort of fitting since both characters are gifted in marshal art skills, and the more dissimilar one, Po from Teletubbies*. Besides that minuscule and forgivable downfall, the author executes the romance between Katsa and Po fantastically by letting their relationship develop naturally, not at all like the annoyingly unrealistic sudden-true-love-within-twenty-four-hours romance scenarios in Twilight.

Another aspect I like about this book is the villain. The author counters Katsa’s powerful ability to kill anybody she desires by gifting the villain with an equally powerful skill, causing the plot to take many extremely interesting turns. Surprising us with unsuspected movements of the storyline, this book is not as predictable as it may seem.

Though simple and clean, in some places, Cashore’s writing bothers me. It is slightly choppy, and I would not agree with the praise on the book's back that describes her writing as “elegant, evocative prose”. Fortunatly, the dazzling plot and characters outshine her mediocre writing. On the contrary, I noticed that Cashore manages to make her description, which is often the more boring part of a book, very exciting to read, sometimes by integrating it with the action. For example:

“She couldn’t believe the coldness of this passageway over the mountains. She couldn’t believe wind couldblow so hard and so insistently, without ever easing. Every breath of this air was a blade gouging into her lungs. Her arms, her legs, her torso, especially her hands – every part of her that was not covered with fur burned with cold, as if she had thrown herself into a fire.” – page 352

Cashore describes the freezing conditions while still engaging my attention, which is part of the reason why this book is such an addicting read!

In conclusion, this novel is a rich, well-blended medley of action-packed battles, violence, mystery, suspense, romance, heroism, snappy dialogue, and superpowers. If you have not read Graceling, go get it from your library, or even better: buy it! After finishing this book, fans will ravish down its prequel, Fire, and eagerly await the release of Bitterblue.

Cover Rating: 3.5/5 - I love the sword in the background and the color scheme, and the eye reflected in the sword adds more essence. Especially after reading the book, I realize that the pretty cover is quite well done, capturing the book's charm. Though it captures the feel of this novel, I wish it was more distinguished. Something about the cover reminds me of other fantasy novels, and I probably wouldn't pick it up if I was in a bookstore.

Rating:

4.5 Hoots

Source: The school library and a friendly librarian who made me take the sequel Fire too. :)