Guys, I am so so so excited to be reviewing this book. The Study series by Maria V Snyder is one of my all time favourites, I have forgotten just how many times I've read it through the years - and as soon as I saw the announcement that Maria was going to be publishing a Valek POV I knew I had to get it, and the first book A Study of Poisons did not disappoint. This, however is about the second book because oh my word guys, it was even better than the first!!
Here's the book:
Frankly, I think death is the best cure for stupidity.
As Chief of Ixia’s Security, Valek’s work is never done. After rescuing Commander Ambrose with, Yelena, his heartmate’s, help and seeing her off to Sitia, Valek discovers the nefarious scheme to overthrow their country is far more complex and far reaching than anyone could have guessed.
Valek must discover who is continuing with Brazell and Mogkan’s conniving plans, all while dealing with a tense political situation. The Ixian generals are questioning his abilities to keep the Commander safe, and whispers of a possible coup are circulating.
Will Valek be able to survive a plot that seeks to sabotage all he and the Commander have worked for? Also, having opened his heart to love, will Yelena still wish to be with him when all is said and done?
A companion novel to Magic Study, The Study of Magic reveals Valek’s side of the story. Find out what hazards Valek encounters and survives before he and Yelena are reunited once more.
I just can't get over this book - Valek is one of my favourite characters in an all-time favourite series (I need to have yet another read of the originals after this I think!) so getting to see his POV in the series is amazing, and I am so glad Maria decided to let us all see this by publishing these companion novels. The first book was a nice dip back into the world, and it was good to see Valek again, but this second book just blows the first out of the water!
I think this second book sat in my heart a bit more because Magic Study, the original series book, is all about Yelena being away from Valek and exploring Sitia, the country she was born in. In this though, we get to see more about what exactly Valek was doing during his time away from Yelena! I love this, you get to see so much more of an insight into his thoughts, and his day-to-day life with the Commander. In fact, I think being able to see more of Valek and the Commander's relationship is so eye opening - it's so much closer than it seems in the original series as it gets fleshed out a lot more here.
Also, guys, if you've ever read the original series I'm sure you love Ari and Janco - I mean, who couldn't love them?! - in this book we get to see some more of them too, and learn a bit more about how they met (which I think was a great addition), so it's definitely worth a read purely for that! Plus, you have to love seeing Ari and Janco's antics in any of the books, seeing it from Valek's POV just makes it that much better!
I could probably talk about these books forever, so I won't go on, but just know if you ever wanted to see what the love interest's POV is in a series, this is exactly what you need - you can even tandem read the original and these Valek POVs if that's something that would interest you, I've seen a few people say that was really fun, I may have to try myself!
Overall, I give this book 5 cats - I would give it more if I could! I cannot wait to see what the next companion novel will be like, Fire Study is already such an action packed book, it will be so interesting to see that from Valek's POV!
The Study of Magic is out now, so go grab a copy, and if you haven't read the original Study series I would highly recommend them too! Just go pick up alllll the books, you wont be disappointed!
