Great read! 
 Now I'm wondering why I didn't read this before. It has such an awesome plot you won't even wanna blink. 
 Yelena as a food taster - good! 
 Yelena as a kickass ex-acrobat newly-found-magician - EVEN BETTER! 
 The main character, Yelena, had a very nasty past. She was brutalized by her benefactor and used as a lab rat. She was able to kill one of them and then she was thrown in jail. She was supposed to be hanged next, but my hero, Valek, decided to train her as a food taster. Very ironic, how things went. She was bound to be dead but instead, found herself closer and closer to freedom. It was great reading about poisons, foods and other things with regards poison. The sequence of events were just plain awesome. There were a lot of characters who were introduced. Some were friends and some were foes. I love the POWER TWINS! Ari and Janco are now my fave dynamic duo. It's like watching secrets unfold over and over. There were secrets inside secrets and I couldn't help but be intrigued. The twist with the commander was a big surprise for me. I wonder if it'll affect the next books. Anyway, I'm thinking about what'll happen to Valek and Yelena's relationship. The timing was just awful here .. I mean, they didn't have a lot of time.. it was a little too late for them in this book. I'm hoping that they'll have more time in the next book. I'm also hoping that Yelena will discover her heritage. In a perfect world, her long lost family will open their arms for her. 
 So there. 
 Again, it's a great book. :)