Book Bitten discussion

This is the place to talk about our May 2012 monthly read, Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder.

What's your opinion? Are you enjoying it? Do you like the chaacters? Is this the usual genre you read? Are you glad you decided to read it? Would you be willing to read the next book in the series?

(I haven't read the book yet personally, so I don't know questions applicable.)

Hey I really wanted to do this group read, but you can't get this book on Kobo and it's not at my local book store. :(

Geniusbookreviews wrote: "Hey I really wanted to do this group read, but you can't get this book on Kobo and it's not at my local book store. :("

Ahhh, I'm sorry to hear that. Umm, have you tried other book web providers?

I'm checking my library today. What section would it be in? YA? Hopefully they have it there.

Yeah, I think it shall probably be in that section! I have yet to buy it, at the moment it's stupidly expensive, so I cannot afford it after buying an awful lot of books.
haha.

Hey guys!.

If you do not mind used books they are practically giving them away at Amazon.

Matt, at my local library if they do not have a book, I can ask them to order it in from another library in the regional system. Does it work like that in Canada?.

Yes and I just went to the library and they ordered it from another library so I will hopefully get it within the next two weeks.

I just finished the book I'm now reading the second one i love the series!!!! Its really good its not the usual genre I read but I'm glad I did!

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the first book, Rose! I have yet to even buy the book since I've been so busy and I ran out of cash. Hopefully by the end of May I should have read it!

I'm about 6 chapters into the book. Im a very slow reader and don't allow myself too much time to read before bed since im an addicted online gamer (lols) but im finding myself regretting not giving myself more time to read this book. I didn't think i'd like it based on the description, but i quickly fell for the story line and really enjoying reading it. Something bothered me about her writing at first, I don't know what exactly, but then I grew to like it. You really feel for the main character Yelena, and im loving Valek.

Don't worry about being a slow reader, Jeffrey! I haven't even started the book yet. Although I have recently ordered it from my library today, so I'm ready to go when it comes in.

I'm looking forward to reading it, so it's nice to hear positive reports!


I'm glad to hear you're enjoying reading it. I always like to see somebodies opinion change on a book once they start reading it. It is certainly refreshing!

Don't forget you can nominate a book of your choice in the June nominations!

I just recived the book from my library, and will start reading it soon.

How is everyone liking it so far?

Geniusbookreviews wrote: "I just recived the book from my library, and will start reading it soon.

How is everyone liking it so far?"

i loved it!! But out of the three books this one by far the best the series slowly goes down in quality

Well I have finished Poison Study.

I don't know what I was expecting from it?. Years ago when I first bought Poison Study I bought it on the assumption that it was going to be a traditional fantasy book.

I later discovered it had been published by Luna books, a division of Harlequin. Form that moment on I was expecting a romance book like Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan.

Just recently I have stumbled into the YA book market and have seen Poison Study described in a number of places as a YA book. So I guess I was expecting a toned down YA romance book.

It felt like Maria V. Snyder initially wrote Poison Study as a fantasy book and that perhaps the publisher decided it would fare better in the more popular YA book market and had Maria tone down some of the violence and more brutal scenes. Maybe even shorten the length of the book to fall in line with the other books on the YA market.

I thought this resulted in a strangely confused mix between a YA book and a traditional fantasy book. The one thing we definitely did not get was a Harlequin romance novel.

So what did I think of Poison Study?. I thought the book started very slowly. In fact the only character I even remotely liked in the first half of the book was Yelena herself. The plot was interesting enough to keep my attention but not enough to excite me!. Thankfully, the book improved greatly in the second half.(view spoiler)[Mainly due to the introduction of some interesting secondary characters like Ari and Jenco as Yelena's friends, and also because of the slowly blossoming romance between Yelena and Valek.

The villains were very well done in the book. They were not just evil for the sake of it, they had realistic motivations of there own. I also enjoyed the politics of Ixia. It's not often that we see a mainly communist society shown as anything other than the grimmest sort of place to live.
For all his faults the Commander was a rather benign leader. (hide spoiler)]


I'll definitely read the second book in the series( in fact I'm reading it right now! ) but overall I was a little disappointed with Poison Study. It's a pity my other nomination for the group read, Cinder by Marissa Meyer, did not win because it turned out to be such a great book.

Glad you enjoyed it Rose, and I hope everyone else does as well.

Gavin wrote: "Well I have finished Poison Study.

I don't know what I was expecting from it?. Years ago when I first bought Poison Study I bought it on the assumption that it was going to be a traditional fant..."
Thank you Gavin, I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the book as much as I did but would like to know: what is your option of Valek ?

rose wrote: "Thank you Gavin, I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the book as much as I did but would like to know: what is your opinion of Valek ? "

I think I had my expectations set so high for
Poison Study that it was always going to be difficult for it to meet them.

What did I think of Valek?. That is not such an easy question to answer. My opinion changed over the course of the book. (view spoiler)[Initially I found him to be a little cold. I also thought he was much older( It was later revealed he was only about 33, but I thought he was about 50 for some reason )and that Yelena was younger( I thought she was about 16 when the book started but it turns out she was actually about 19 ), so had totally ruled him out as a potential love interest for Yelena.

My opinion of Valek pretty much mirrored Yelena's. To start with I found him cold and untrustworthy. Then I began to warm to him as a potential mentor and ally for Yelena. Then by the time Yelena and Valek realized they had feelings for each other I really liked Valek, and the idea of him and her as a couple.
By the end of the book I thought Valek had had some great moments. I really did not like the fact that Valek would have killed Yelena, had the Commander ordered him to do so, at the end of the book.How could he even consider that!. I suppose on the whole I liked him. (hide spoiler)]

Sorry if that seems a little confusing, I really wish I had the ability to articulate my thoughts better!.

Gavin wrote: "rose wrote: "Thank you Gavin, I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the book as much as I did but would like to know: what is your opinion of Valek ? "

I think I had my expectations set so high for
Poison S..."

No don't worry that made sense!I just want to know because Valek was one of my favorites in this book.

I am starting Poison Study tonight.

Geniusbookreviews wrote: "I am starting Poison Study tonight."

I haven't got my copy yet. Hopefully if it's here next week I'll start it after Wednesday! :)

75% done and so far the book is great, but not amazing. It is interesting, but I can guess almost everything that is happening.

Hey Matt,

You did Poison Study no favors by reading it straight after the great
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson.

Will you read the other two books in the series?.

I have about 10 pages left in the book, and I am still deciding if I should read the others or not.

I don't think I will read them by myself, but if anyone is up for a group read then I'm in.

I finished a couple of days ago and forgot to write. It was a good, but not great book in my opinion.

I finished the book last night. Overall I really enjoyed it, but I finally realized what I disliked about her writing. It seemed like quite a lot throughout the book she packed so much information about things happening with very brief sentences without elaborating. Sometimes a single paragraph would consist of several sentences, each about a different character doing something completely irrelevant to the other. I also feel like she did a very poor job in detailing the surroundings of the locations the characters were in as well as character development. (view spoiler)[ I would have found the relationship between Yelena and Valek at the end of the book a lot more emotional if she developed the love interest a little more. Instead it's just like they all of a sudden fell in love with each other. (hide spoiler)]

Other than the downside of the writing, She definitely kept me wanting to read on. I enjoyed the storyline and the interactions between the characters. I just feel like it could have been a bit more enjoyable if she elaborated more on things instead of keeping it so brief. It's unlikely I'll pick up the next books in the series, but I may check them out sometime.

Also if any of you watch anime or read manga, I totally pictured Valek as being like Kakashi Hatake from Naruto haha.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it Jeffrey, even if you only thought it was OK.

Like you I thought Poison Study lacked that special *something* that would have moved the book from being enjoyable, to being good. I could never quite put my finger on what it was though!.

Even though I have not watched any anime in many years, The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron had me flashing back to some of those old anime films. You should definitely give it a try.