Review: Magic Study (Study, #2) by Maria V. Snyder

Yelena is a survivor. Kidnapped as a child, held prisoner as a teen, then released to act as a poison taster, she is now a student of magic. But these magic skills place her in imminent danger, and with an execution order on her head, she has no choice but to escape to Sitia, the land of her birth.

But nothing in Sitia is familiar. As she struggles to understand where she belongs and how to control her powers, a rogue magician emerges and Yelena catches his eye. Suddenly she is embroiled in a situation not of her making. And once again her magical abilities will either save her life or be her downfall.

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 new-found 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.

I was so sad to see Yelena forced from Ixia, Valek, her new friends Ari and Janco and what she finally considered home at the end of Poison Study. Now I know the necessity to avoid an execution order, and to learn more about her family and magical capabilities was important, but did her and Valek have to be split apart after it took them so long to get together? Sheesh!

Yelena is reunited with her Sitian family that she was stolen from as a young child, but it's not exactly a hallmark movie's happy, homecoming. Her parents are nice but she doesn't know them and they can't understand her Ixian clothes and ways, let alone the possibility of her love and friendship with Ixians - they're the enemy! Aren't they? Then she meets her brother Leif, who for lack of a better word, is a real jerk.

She does have Iris on her side and as her personal mentor in her magical training she could be worse off. But she still has the hard tutorials to work through and despite her power and potential it's really hard work. She's not fighting general Brazell anymore but Prince Cahill of Ixia is dogging her for Ixian military secrets and accuses her of being a spy more times than I can count since she's unwilling to betray Valek and her friends. Not all the master magicians are loving her presence at the Keep, let alone in Sitia, and there's a murdering and of course very dangerous magician out there with his sites set on Yelena as his grand prize. Yet again she struggles, goes through so many obstacles and hurdles that you don't know if she'll be able to come through alive, but she's not all together alone and new and old friends comes together to help her out. Still loving this series!

I gave Magic Study (Study, #2) 4 shamrocks!!!!