Study Trilogy by Maria V. Snyder

Trilogy Overview 

The Study trilogy was originally published in the mid-to-late 2000's, and I originally read them when I was in high school. I haven't picked them up since, but FairyLoot released a special edition of them recently, so I decided to get them. I do remember enjoying them quite a lot when I was younger, but having read much more fantasy since then, I wondered how they held up. 

The trilogy follows Yelena, an orphan who lives in the land of Ixia where magic is forbidden. Anyone possessing magic is sentenced to death, and in fact, anyone committing any crime is also killed. Ixia is a land of order, where no one is homeless, there is little to no crime, and everyone contributes with a job. However, there is no freedoms in where to live, what to wear, and whom to marry, as all of that has to be given permission by the Commander, who rules where the King used to. 

Contrast that with Sitia to the south, where there is a lot more freedom to express yourself and choose your own path in life. The trade off being that there is a lot of crime present and plenty of homeless people. Instead of a Commander in charge, there is a group of master magicians who lead the various groups, who each also have their own way of governing their people. 

The setup to the story is absolutely great. I thought the world itself is unique and Snyder highlights the differences of the two lands incredibly well. The first book is set in Ixia and the last two are set in Sitia. Each does have a very different feel, with the first being the strongest entry, in my opinion. While it is rare for trilogies, I did find that the books got considerably weaker as they progressed with the last feeling like it meandered with little structure or straight plotline. 

Poison Study (2005)

Poison Study opens with Yelena on death row. She is set to be killed but instead is offered the chance to be the Commander's taster. There have been attempts to poison him since he overthrew and killed the previously ruling Ixian royal family. He then outlawed magic and created a strict moral and living code that everyone must live by. Because of this, many people want him dead, including the Sitian's to the south. 

This book spends a majority of the time developing Yelena to be strong character. Even the side characters get full personalities and feel like they actually live in the world. The worldbuilding is also quite strong in this first installment. With the well-done pacing, it feels like Yelena actually does have to struggle to learn skills and survive in her new life as the taster. 

I did enjoy the mystery of who Yelena was and the unravelling of the mystery was well done. The antagonist was also a great aspect of this book. His motives were clear, and while he definitely was evil, what he was doing made sense for his character. 

The weakest point was the romance subplot. It was very minor and didn't feel as insta-lovey as many other YA fantasies of the era did. In that regard, it didn't bug me as much as it might have had Snyder not spent so much time developing her characters outside of the romance. There were also some very mature themes in this book, which surprised be since I hadn't remembered them. Overall, this first entry I gave 4/5 stars and thoroughly enjoyed the reread. 

Magic Study (2006)

This second book shifts to the land of Sitia, in the south. In the first book Yelena discovered she had the power to enter others minds and sometimes control what they did. Since you can't live with magic in Ixia, she was sent to the south. She finds her long lost family and ends up going to study at the magic school so she can learn to control her powers.

There is a really interesting conflict in this sequel where someone is kidnapping women and killing them. The antagonist is horrible but again, what he is doing makes sense. That is one thing I that Snyder does incredibly well. Not only are her main characters well fleshed out, but the ones that you're rooting against are as well. 

Even though this book expanded the world, Sitia definitely still feels like it was built in a way that works with the first book. I liked how we get to see Yelena learning new ways of living, yet being able to criticize both lands that she's lived in. 

The one thing I disliked greatly about this book is that we no longer get to see her struggle to learn and master new skills. Where in the first book we see her learning how to fight and taste for poison, and often failing before getting better, this book handles it completely different. It almost was like she learned she had magic and could suddenly do everything without the effort of learning the master the skill first. This is something that really tends to bug me in books.

Overall, though, I still very much enjoyed my reread of this and ended up giving it a 3.5 rounded up to 4/5 stars.

Fire Study (2008)

This last book in the original trilogy is where it lost me. Rather than having one central location, Yelena and the side characters travel around Sitia throughout this book. It did bug me somewhat because with no established setting, it was difficult to follow where they went and what they were doing in each place. And because they were travelling so much, it ended up feeling repetitive. I mean, Yelena almost gets strangled by a snake twice within a few chapters, and they simultaneously find those they are pursing only to lose them and rinse and repeat. I did appreciate that Snyder was attempting to expand the world again, but I don't think it was done super well. 

Another deviation from the first two is that the antagonist wasn't as well developed. The main plot felt very hidden amongst the journeying aspect, and Moon Man, Yelena's storyweaver, was very grating. Yes, I know he was supposed to be mysterious and not state things clearly, but it is a trope I don't enjoy very much. He was present in the second book, but to a much lesser extent. The magic wasn't as well fleshed out either. Once again, we sort of see Yelena learn a new skill and master it so quickly that I felt robbed of a good struggle plot. 

Snyder also dropped two very out of nowhere bombs in the last few chapters that, if they were explored earlier in the book, would have made for more compelling surprises. Overall, this felt like a very meh finale. I gave this book 3/5 stars because, while there were definitive issues with the execution, I still found myself wanting to find out how Yelena's story was going to end. 

Final Thoughts

I think that this trilogy would have worked better as a duology. It almost felt like Snyder was asked to make it a trilogy because that's what YA fantasy was in that time. The third book didn't feel all that necessary. Perhaps the second could have still left off with Yelena's future being uncertain, but I still think it would have worked better. While I did still enjoy this reread, I did end up lowering my rating of the last book and overall rating of the series to a 3.5 star trilogy.