Poison Study

Poison Study is a 2005 fantasy novel by Maria V. Snyder and the first book in the The Chronicles of Ixia series. The story follows protagonist Yelena, a former prisoner who avoids the death penalty by becoming the Commander’s food taster in the province of Ixia. Snyder does not use any elaborate prose in her storytelling, but she makes up for it with “many twists and turns to keep the reader guessing about what’s in store on the next page,” according to USA Today.

The story begins with Yelena, a 22-year-old prisoner, being led to her execution. She is in jail for the murder of a man named Reyad, who raped and abused her for years. In the province of Ixia, the punishment for murder is death, regardless of the circumstances. Knowing she cannot escape her fate, Yelena confesses openly to the murder as she is being led to her death. However, when she arrives in the execution room, a man named Valek tells her she has a choice between her execution and tasting the Commander’s food before he eats it to ensure it isn’t poisoned. She chooses to stay alive, saying that only a fool would choose death.

Guards release Yelena from her chains, and she enters a room with Valek, who gives her a drink to toast to her new job. After the toast, Valek tells her that the drink actually has poison in it. Yelena vomits and Valek gives her an antidote, which she will now have to take everyday, otherwise the poison will kill her. This will prevent her from escaping the castle.



Yelena is given a bath and a new red and black uniform to signify she is under the authority of Commander Ambrose. She realizes that no one in the castle, including the other servants, want to befriend her, because she could die at any moment. She still has occasional flashbacks of her torture at the hands of Reyad. She begins more intensive training with Valek and starts to learn the names of the poisons she might encounter. She learns the poisons for 14 days until Valek tells her it’s time to taste test some poisons. He gives her the strongest poison first, which is called “Have a Drink, My Love.” Yelena drinks the deadly poison and feels the effects immediately. She wakes up in her old dungeon, vomiting.

While she is in the dungeon, the soldiers of a man named General Brazell appear outside her door and make lewd comments. General Brazell is Reyad’s father and is clearly still angry at her. She goes down to the kitchen and meets the castle chef, Rand, who tells her that all the servants have placed bets on her eventually death.

Yelena finally meets Commander Ambrose face-to-face and does some on-the-job training. The Commander is quite conservative and dislikes the former regime greatly. Yelena is surprised when she sees General Brazell sitting at the table and claiming that Yelena should be dead. The Commander soothes Brazell’s anger by promising him a permit for a factory he wants to build. After the dinner, Brazell sends his guards to attack and kill her. The group, however, runs into Valek, who surprises everyone by tranquilizing the guards and then knocking them unconscious.



Valek leads Yelena to the hospital wing. The medic gives her dinner and tea and Yelena realizes the tea has been poisoned. The medic admits that Valek put sleeping pills in the tea. The next morning, Valek tells her that she should start studying because there will be a test soon. On the day of the test, Yelena is able to identify that each drink Valek gave her was poisoned. Valek is pleased she passed the test with flying colors. Later in the day, Yelena begins to suspect that Valek read her diary, which he denies, but he does admit he doesn’t trust her.

Yelena starts having a buzzing sensation in her head that she cannot explain. It guides her and leads her away from dangers. During a festival at the castle, she meets a woman named Irys who tells her the buzzing means she possesses magical powers. Magic is banned in Ixia because Commander Ambrose does not like it. In a nearby town called Sitia, however, magic is allowed.

Brazell gets to work on his factory, which will produce a sweet called criollo. Brazell has an associate named Mogkan, who is secretly a magician from Sitia. Mogkan attempts to kill Yelena, but Valek saves her again. Yelena realizes she is starting to develop feelings for Valek. Brazell makes one last attempt to kill Yelena by poisoning the king’s cognac, but he fails again.



During a trip out to visit Brazell’s factory, Yelena starts to notice that the Commander is acting strangely. Yelena flees the situation and meets Irys, who claims that the sweet Criollo has altered the Commander’s brain chemistry. She thinks Mogkan might be controlling him. Yelena uses her own powers to trace where the magic is coming from that is controlling him. Valek shows up and helps. They all get thrown in the dungeons but escape. They discover that Brazell has been keeping and torturing a new crop of orphans from Sitia, just like once did to Yelena.

Yelena is able to overcome Mogkan with her powers, and Irys, Valek, and Yelena kill Mogkan and Brazell. Once they are dead, the Commander’s fog lifts. Yelena helps him to recover, but accidentally discovers his greatest secret, which is that he is actually female. Despite her help, he bans her from Ixia. Irys and Yelena go to Sitia with the orphans and return them to their families.