Magic Study

[alobear]

Magic Study is the second in the Ixia Chronicles series by Maria V Snyder, and follows protagonist Yelena on her journey to the sourthern realm to reunite with her family and learn the extent of her magical capabilities. There were a bit too much 'last time in Ixia' exposition at the start, but I like the world and most of the characters, plus there was a lot of intrigue and excitement involving politics and a serial killer. I loved the horses and I was glad that Ari and Janco from the first book made an appearance, as they were my favourite characters. But I still don't buy the love story - it came out of pretty much nowhere (and was also based on a relationship with a severe power imbalance) at the end of the first book and got absolutely no further development in this one. Valek didn't even turn up until the second half, was barely in it, and the way he kept calling Yelena 'love' just had me cringeing. The main plot lost me a bit towards the end, though the exploration of Yelena's relationships with her various family members (after being kidnapped at the age of six and only reunited with them fourteen years later) was good.

So, a tepid reaction to this book. If I didn't already own the rest of the series, I probably wouldn't carry on with it. But buying a box set of all six was only £4 more expensive than buying only the first one, so I have four more on my shelf and will likely read the rest eventually.

Right now, though, I'm looking forward to taking a break from YA/NA/Novel Predictions recommendations and reading something completely different.