The reason Maria V. Snyder chose this title for her book was because in the novel Yelena is saved from the hangman’s noose by becoming the Commander’s food taster and she has to study (including tasting) all fifty-two known poisons before she can start working for the Commander.

Yelena – 19 years old

Yelena has long black hair and bright green eyes. At the ږbeginning of the novel she resembles a corpse, very thin. As the novel progresses she gains some muscle training and becomes more healthy looking.

In the beginning of the novel Yelena is doubtful, cautious and ږlow in spirits. Later in the novel, she starts to toughen up. She becomes more outgoing and outspoken.

Yelena has no problem making friends because she tends to ږbe nice to everyone. Eventually, she develops romantic feelings for her friend and mentor Valek.

Valek – 33 years old

Shoulder-length, black, curly hair, sapphire-blue eyes and a pale شface. He is very muscular from all the training he has had to become Ixia’s assassin.

Valek is a patient person, but when he get’s angry look out. He is شcautious and closed off.

Valek is not someone who likes to make friends, in his line of work شthey usually don’t last long. There has only been one person that he has cared about until Yelena came along and he fell in love.

Janco Janco is thin, with a goatee. His dark hair is buzzed in the typical ڇmilitary style. He has a thick scar running from his right temple to his ear and the lower half of his right ear is missing.

Janco is an energetic person. He is carefree and extremely loyal. He ڇis also surprising, witty and light-footed.

He and his best friend Ari are known as the power twins. He serves ڇValek and Yelena whenever he can and can make a friend in a heartbeat.

Megan Fox as

Yelena has a strong personality and I find that Megan Fox can play those kinds of characters really well. She also looks like what I picture Yelena would look like in my mind.

Drew Fuller as

Drew Fuller would play an excellent Valek. He has played many different roles and playing a deadly assassin would be no problem. He played Chris Halliwell in Charmed and Chris and Valek are similar in personality.

Brian Krause as

Brian Krause would be a great Commander Ambrose. He’s played characters similar to the Commander and has done a great job of capturing their personality.

Holly Marie Combs as

Holly Marie Combs has played someone with magic before. She has a personality similar to Irys and has no trouble helping people like Irys does with Yelena many times in the book. Irys also mothers Yelena, and Holly Marie Combs has that mothers instinct that would benefit her playing this role.

Ian Somerhalder as

Ian Somerhalder has played an evil villain before. He has all the potential of being Mogkan. Mogkan always has an ulterior motive and Ian has the kind of look that would work well for this role.

When everyone finds out that Yelena is a magician, they all react differently.

Irys wants her dead because the Master Magicians of Sitia realize she is powerful and that since Yelena lives in Ixia, she might flame out, tearing a hole in the ‘power blanket’ that covers both territories. It takes 500 years for it to repair itself.

Commander Ambrose orders her execution. Magicians are killed instantly by Valek when they are found in Ixia. He lets Yelena leave Ixia before the execution order is set because she saved his life and he’s not as mean as he seems.

Valek’s reaction is surprising. He accepts Yelena as a magician even though throughout the novel he keeps repeating that magicians are very evil people. He’s learned that not all magicians are as bad as they seem.

Yelena doesn’t want to accept the fact that she’s a magician. She’s scared because it means she’ll have to leave Ixia and all her friends, and her love Valek, behind. Learning that she is a magician made her stronger and it helped her get through some tough moments and even saved her life multiple times.

“My bleak mood improved a notch watching Maren use something I had taught her. The indignant expression on Janco's face was priceless. He insisted on a rematch. They launched into another rowdy duel. Ari and I remained on the bench. I think Ari sensed that I had no energy to continue our lesson.”

“I floated on a crimson sea, colors dancing and whirling around my head. The sound of broken glass raining on stones created an odd melody in my mind. I drifted on a raft made of curly white hair, carried along by a strong current. Irys’s soothing voice spoke amidst the tempest of colors, “You’ll be fine, just hold on to your life raft. You can ride out this storm.”

"I averted my eyes from the flickering light as they led me down the main corridor of the dungeon. Thick, rancid air puffed in my face. My bare feet shuffled through puddles of unidentifiable muck."

"I selected four squares. They were each about the size of my thumbnail. If I hadn't been told they were a dessert, I probably would have guessed they were pieces of brown candle wax. My fingernail left an impression on the top, and my fingertips felt slightly greasy after handling them. I bit into the hard cube, expecting it to turn to powder between my teeth. Thinking wax, I anticipated tasting wax. Instead of crumbling, the dessert melted and coated my tongue was a cascade of flavor. Sweet, bitter, nutty and fruity tastes followed each other. Just when I though I could say it was one of them, I would taste them all again."

"She's tall and thin, but she's not going to win," Janco sang. His words aimed to infuriate her -- a tactic that had worked before. Too often, Maren's anger caused her to make critical mistakes. But this time, she remained calm. She planted the end of her bow between his feet, which trapped his weapon close to his body. Then she flipped over his head, landed behind him, and grabbed him around the neck until he conceded.”

1. Pallid

2. Mucilaginous

3. Astringent

4. Jubilant

5. Tenacious

6. Melodious

7. Immaculate

8. Quizzical

9. Illicit

10.Surly

In the novel Poison Study, many different characters are trying to kill Yelena. Irys wants to kill her because Yelena is a powerful magician and is taking too much power without knowing it. General Brazell wants to kill her because she murdered his son to save her life. Lastly, Mogkan because Yelena ruined his plans for becoming a very powerful magician and ruling Sitia (the Southern territory home of all the magicians).

This conflict gets solved in a couple of different ways.

Irys stops hunting Yelena because they both made a deal with each other. Yelena is going to escape to Sitia when she finds the antidote to the poison she is forced to drink every morning.

General Brazell is captured by Commander Ambrose and is put in the dungeon. Also, Yelena leaves for Sitia at the end of the novel, so she never has to see him again.

Mogkan was dealt with by Valek. Valek had killed Mogkan at the end of the novel to save Yelena’s life. He gave her the knife he killed him with.

The problem with Mogkan could not have been solved any differently because he would have kept coming after Yelena and Sitia until Yelena was dead and he was ruler of Sitia.

In the novel, one of the climax’s would be when Irys has her henchmen capture Yelena during the fire festival. She has them take her into a tent where she’s hiding and she attempts to kill her using her magic to choke Yelena.

Valek comes in to save Yelena just in time by getting her to recite poisons in her mind.

If Valek wouldn’t have gotten there in time, Yelena would have died. The story would have changed because the main character would be dead and the story would have no real point to continue. If the story would have ended we wouldn’t have Magic Study or Fire Study or the spin off series Storm Glass, Sea Glass and Spy Glass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZSfvXw7c5I