MAGIC STUDY

Author: Maria V. Snyder ISBN: 0373802498 10/2006 FANTASY Publisher: LUNA

You know your life is bad when you miss your days as a poison taster . . . With her greatest enemy dead, and on her way to be reunited with the family she'd been stolen from long ago, Yelena should be pleased. But though she has gained her freedom, she can't help feeling isolated in Sitia. Her Ixian background has changed her in many ways -- and her newfound friends and relatives don't think it's for the better . . . Despite the turmoil, she's eager to start her magic training -- especially as she's been given one year to harness her power or be put to death. But her plans take a radical turn when she becomes involved with a plot to reclaim Ixia's throne for a lost prince -- and gets entangled in powerful rivalries with her fellow magicians. If that wasn't bad enough, it appears her brother would love to see her dead. Luckily, Yelena has some old friends to help her with all her new enemies . . .

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

MAGIC STUDY is a very good sequel to last year's POISON STUDY. These Luna fantasies are set across different countries that have an uneasy peace, because a military commander took Ixia over some years ago, and Sitia fears it will happen there too. It is run by a Council and has strong magical power, while Ixia has banished magic. A lot of the trouble in this book comes from a third country, which has a strange magic no one understands.

Heroine Yelena is caught in between the two, because she is Sitian by birth and Ixian by kidnap. She also carries the blood of the Sandseeds in her. She has ties of love and loyalty to all, and MAGIC STUDY continues this extraordinary young woman's adventures to find her magical and personal identity, as she journeys to Sitia and begins magical training. Meanwhile, a magician serial killer is loose in the area and she gets involved in his capture.

I enjoyed POISON STUDY even more than its sequel. I would imagine MAGIC STUDY wouldn't be too understandable without reading its predecessor, so I would recommend getting that first. Even I was a little confused toward the end of this one, since it ended very quickly with a flurry of activity. The secondary focus of this sequel is family ties, versus the first, which had more romance.

Regardless, Yelena and the other characters are fascinating, the world building is intriguing and both books are well worth reading.

Heather Hiestand