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The story starts in media res. Teenage Yelena, condemned to death by the new military government for pleading guilty to murdering the son of a top general, is granted a fresh lease on life with a new career: food taster of the Commander. Just to ensure that she doesn't run away, the Commander's right-hand assassin Valek slips her a dose of poison that will cause an excruciating death if she doesn't report every morning for a dose of the antidote--an artful leash. Almost as painful as the memories that drove Yelena to murder.Admittedly, the prose has the artistic appeal of cardboard, as shown in sentences such as "I dodged ineffectively, hampered by the rope tied to my wrist, which anchored me to a post in the center of the room." Still, the story's set-up is clever: a haunted yet strong-willed anti-heroine struggling to overcome the confines of her situation. Additionally, Snyder plants not only doubts about the trustworthiness of her new friends but also details about the regime change, allowing the reader to question initial opinions about whose side Yelena should be on.
As the book progresses, we learn more and more about this world's use of magic, which sounds very close to occult practices of mind control and floating-soul experiences. Demonic arts are still repugnant to me even when secularized (no offhand references to God here, only "fate"), especially as I hope to see Christ's victory in the cross over such powers in Japan in the months ahead. The morality of the characters is also never seriously examined, suggesting instead that violence and sex are more than excusable in extreme situations. From a purely literary standpoint, I wish I could say that these failings and the stiffness of the writing was made somewhat tolerable by a thrilling climax and fitting denouement--but alas. The pacing of the story weakens as the story's focus switches from medieval-fantasy elements to a lust-mance, while the ending offers too many pat solutions to complex plot issues--the logic is apparently: 'resist your demons once and they flee'--and is too abrupt, though it is the start of a series.
Admittedly, my standard for the young-woman-resisting-government-with-hidden-talent genre is high after reading the excellent Hunger Games trilogy earlier this summer, which is much better written. Snyder does a good job realistically depicting a girl's response to abuse and danger, but in my opinion she only imprisons Yelena further in decidedly dark content and second-rate wording.
SUMMARY
Appreciated the political & plot intrigue and conceptual courage
Disliked the New Age elements of mind control & magic, wooden prose and collapse of plot potential in the final act
Though it has an interesting beginning, I would not recommend this book.
Disclaimer--Poison Study includes mild profanity, strong violence, sexual immorality and disturbing scenes.
3 comments:
Yay review #2! I read books 2 and 3 so it's hard for me to remember how this one wraps up, but I remember feeling unsatisfied. That and the plot's pace and twists warranted my continuing in the series. Although some things seemed too far of a stretch just for shock value. Unfortunately it's hard not to compare these with the Hunger Games, which I love, and I had my qualms about the magic as well. I liked the books, but I won't be rereading them.
Forgot to mention that I really enjoyed the psychologically realistic parts about food tasting. Yelena would, for instance, automatically test edible gifts from friends--to their dismay.
Yes! And it was funny.
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