Yelena Zaltana Series by Maria V. Snyder

[AmandaS]

 

This is a trilogy, Poison Study, Magic Study and Fire Study. There is also another trilogy following on from it about another character, Opal Cowan.

I found this series a little too romance-y, but the magic aspects and characters were so appealing that I decided to stick it through to the end. I enjoyed them with all the twists and turns, but it seemed as though the author had not expected people to have read the first two novels and the writing became a little repetitive in the third book. The world and magic laws that Snyder have created for her series are exciting and Snyder does a fantastic job of getting the reader to associate with Yelena in her struggle to live. They are about a girl called Yelena who is to be executed, until given a choice – to be the commanders food taster, or be executed. Obvious choice really. So we follow her life as she discovers she has magic in a land where magic is forbidden among many other things that try to stop her from living.