Review: Magic Study (Study #2)

Title: Magic Study (Study #2)

Author: Maria V.Snyder

Rating: 4/5 

Publisher: Mira 

Age Level: YA and older

Confronting The Past - Controlling 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.

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After being forced to leave Ixia, or else lose her life at the hands of the one she loves most, our beloved Yelena is off on another adventure. This time the promise of finding her family and more about who she is, Yelena travels into Sitia and unfamiliar territory. Since her whole life was spent a prisoner in one way or another, freedom is embraced quite differently from Yelena. Uncomfortable without rules, Yelena is thrown into the depths of a magical realm in which she is free to come and go as she pleases and dress without the uniform she had worn as far back as she could remember, 

With this new life ahead of her she must leave behind her other half, Valek, and go on a journey of self discovery. Self discovery that leads Yelena on yet another dangerous in enthralling mission. This novel focuses on Yelena as a magician, rather than Yelena the food taster. She begins to understand her powers more but is also mystified by them. 

Yelena is faced again with both friend and foe and magical abilities that haven’t been seen in hundreds of years. She becomes both a god of sorts and an evil. She also continues to show case how much she cares and is driven by the need to help those in need, even if it gets her into trouble. 

Again, Maria V. Snyder has written Yelena to be a strong and determined female character who is willing to go miles in order to save - not only her loved ones - but those she barely knows at all. Driven by her emotions, however,  may end up being her one ultimate downfall which only time will tell. Her strong willed nature is met with great opposition and adds to the many battles Yelena must face in Magic Study. 

What I love about Maria V. Snyder’s character development is how she makes them all independent and dependent at the same time. They all have people they care for and are willing to do whatever it takes to keep them safe. However, they can all hold their own and when duty calls, they are able to balance both. Yes, there is a love story here. Yes, I love the fact that there is one interwoven into the narrative. I’m a hopeless romantic so of course the moment a book introduces a great love story I’m all over it. However, Magic Study doesn’t focus on that. It focuses on the story and where Yelena’s battles will take her in Sitia with the love of Valek always in the background. We are aware of its presence throughout the story, but it never takes over the story. The story isn’t a love story. It is a story that tells of the trials and tribulations one woman has had to overcome and face from the time she was a young girl .It doesn’t always come easy for Yelena in Magic Study, but she never gives up.

Another exhilarating, fast paced, adventure in which the heroine always ask questions later.

-Ashley