Poison Study

I just finished this book by debut author Maria V Snyder. It's published by Luna, which is an imprint of Harlequin. Harlequin publishes romance. Let me say first, this is NOT a romance novel. And I am so glad it wasn't. I was worried. Luna was set up to be a publisher of speculative fiction written by women, with women protagonists.

That said, the book is your typical fantasy: a medieval era story involving magic. The main character is Yelena, a nineteen-year old girl that is in prison for murder. The murder was self-defense, but in the country of Ixia, that doesn't matter. According to Code of Behavior, however, whenever a new food taster is required, the job has to be offered to the next person awaiting execution. Of course, Yelena takes the job. The risk of death by poison is much better than the obvious death by hanging.

So, Yelena takes the job. Learning to identify poisons is not fun, but that's the least of her problems. The father of the man she killed wants vengeance, the ghost of the man she killed is haunting her, a witch from the southern country of Sitia attempts to kill her, most of the soldiers give her a hard time, and she thinks she may be a magician herself, a capital offense in Ixia.

Through all this she gains allies and trains herself in defense. She is smart and has a bad attitude. Just the kind of girl I like. The story is predictable at times, but it's still fun and kept me up late reading.

So. Would I recommend this to a friend?
Yes.
Would I buy the next book in this series?
Yes.
Would I buy another book by Maria V Snyder?
Yes.

All in all, its a really good first effort for a novel. The characters have enough depth, the motives of the protagonists and antagonists are made apparent, and the story never drags.