Marie V. Snyder’s Fire Study is the third book in the Study series.
After Cahil and Ferde’s escape Yelena feels restless. She juggles learning about her magic with waiting for Ferde to appear again. She soon receives information on their plan location and immediately rushes to stop their evil plans. While vying for Ixia’s throne, Cahil attempts to instigate a war between Sitia and Ixia. Acting as Liaison, Yelena must find a way to calm the conflict growing Sitia and prevent a war.
Yelena has grown a lot over the past few books. When we first met her, she was relatively cold-hearted. She was a murderer who could die any day, yet a strange kindness inside and an ability to dive headfirst into trouble attracted friends who helped her grow. In Magic Study, Yelena learned to control and to develop her magic. She formed new bonds with her newly discovered friends and family. In an entirely new land, Yelena had to distinguish friend from foe and find out where her loyalties truly lie. In this third installment, Yelena adopts the title of Soulfinder, a title she herself hates. She soon fears her power and distrusts her allies. While fighting to keep both countries safe, Yelena must learn to accept her magic and discover what it really means to be a soulfinder.
Fire Study was a great book. The plot was fast moving and riddled with humor and plot twists. The suspense lasted until the end of the book as problems became more complicated with each page. There are very few characters introduced in this book, but we see the return of lots of familiar friends. In this installment, Yelena struggles to trust the friends that she has endured tough battles with. These problems mainly stem from her inability to trust herself. Believing that her power is a curse her actions can often be detrimental to herself. During slower areas of the book, her friends center her and help her find answers to internal strife. In my opinion, the characters really make this book shine. Many of them are hilarious and independent. While in previous installments, each character seemed deep and multidimensional, most of their personalities are stripped down in this novel, so Yelena can develop. One of my favorite parts of this series was the enduring love between Valek and Yelena. Maria V. Snyder made the amazing decision of not adding a forced love triangle making the book enjoyable. Many authors have shamelessly written in love triangles so fans can fight about the best pairing. While in a few of these books, the love triangle actual helps develop the story, Maria V. Snyder decided that a love triangle would be completely unnecessary. It was refreshing and nice to have characters stay together. Fire Study closes off the series in a very open way. While it concludes the main story, it leaves room for Maria V. Snyder to add onto the story in her next series, Soulfinders. I give this 441 page book 5 stars
Study Series
15 years prior to the story, the Commander overthrew the King of Ixia and put in place his own dictatorship. Any magic users (magicians) in Ixia fled to the southern country of Sitia to avoid being persecuted. The Commander enforces a strict Code of Behavior in Ixia that discourages crime at the price of rights and freedoms
Series Analysis
15 years prior to the story, the Commander overthrew the King of Ixia and put in place his own dictatorship. Any magic users (magicians) in Ixia fled to the southern country of Sitia to avoid being persecuted. The Commander enforces a strict Code of Behavior in Ixia that discourages crime at the price of rights and freedoms