Fizzled out

I was really looking forward to reading Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder. It's the last book (I think) in a trilogy that began with Poison Study. I loved Poison Study! It was a bit of a fantasy--Yelena, a murderess, is sentenced to death but is offered a chance to live--by becoming the foodtaster for the Commander of Ixia. She is trained by Valek, who teaches her about poison and how to detect them. It was subtle, magical, fascinating and basically, I'd give it a 9.5 or 10.

Magic Study is where Yelena learns more about her true abilities--including her connection to magic. It was, again, slower paced, with a focus on Yelena learning. It was still interesting, although I liked Poison Study more.

With Fire Study, well, Maria didn't flame out--she fizzled.

This may sound odd, but there was too much action! One of my favorite aspects about this series has been the slow pace that's still interesting. Yelena learns about poison and magic and develops her abilities. With fire, she doesn't actually study or conquer any magical abilities associated with it. I don't feel like getting into details, because it's complicated, but the entire book was spent traveling, with constant decisions.

Although, to be fair, I'm glad the ending was okay--I really didn't think everything would work out and it'd be another Pirates of the Caribbean 3, where Elizabeth only sees Will once every 10 YEARS and she's still somehow content with that?!? That movie upset me; I'm glad this book's ending didn't. I hate bad endings.

Rating: 6.5/10