Fantasy Thursday: Poison Study

Poison Study (The Chronicles of Ixia, Book 1)

 

I have honestly never read another book like it, so I can’t really compare it with something for you. It’s a fantastic book, about Yelena, a criminal who decides to become a food taster rather than be hanged.

But it turns out eating poisoned food is the least of her worries…

I really liked how Yelena is allowed to be self-centered and self-serving, I hate the recent trope that women have to give a crap what the people that are hurting them feel like. She is allowed to be angry, and afraid, and sad, she’s allowed to react like a real person to her shitty situation and that’s so refreshing.

I also like that you never know all that much more than Yelena does, so twists and turns have a lot more emotional impact because you don’t always see them coming.

Triggers: The main character is sexually assaulted and raped whilst she is sixteen, although this is handled well, and whilst graphic, the scenes are very short. Obviously, fantasy style violence, and gruesome poisons. Nothing you wouldn’t see out of a YA novel, but I wouldn’t file it as YA due to the rape scene, but others may disagree on that.

 

Read This If You Like

Tropes:

Enemies to Friends to Lovers

Political Conspiracy

Communism vs Capitalism (Fantasy Style)

Murder Mystery

Transgender Character

WoC Main Character

Betrayals and Backstabbing