Beginning Poison Study was like diving straight into the deep end of the pool without taking a breath first. It felt like I was dropped into the world and the plot without much of an introduction, and I actually had to go back and re-read the opening chapter a little later on to understand what was happening. Still, though I had some issues with the pacing and some of the content (I'll get to that in a bit), I'm glad I took the dive. 
 Poison Study follows Yelena, a young woman who was set to be executed for murder, as she is snatched from the dungeons to become the new food taster for Commander Ambrose, the head of a militant state. Valek, a highly-skilled assassin and the man in charge of the Commander's security, begins Yelena's training by poisoning her with a substance called Butterfly's Dust, a poison that will surely kill her if she does not collect an antidote from him every morning. This is the way that Valek keeps the food taster from running, but still Yelena yearns for her freedom. She wants not only to be free from the castle and role of food taster, which is just another prison she cannot leave, but to be free of the ghost of the man she murdered, and the demons from her past that have swallowed her soul. 
 I was intrigued by the premise of this book after reading the synopsis and seeing that a friend had given it a whopping five stars. My friend has excellent taste in books, and so by the time I got around to reading it, I was pretty excited for what was coming. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, the beginning of the book seemed to drop me into the plot without much introduction to the world. It was a little jarring, and I spent the first few chapters having to stop and re-read passages to completely understand what was going on. I'm not sure if it's just the way that Snyder writes, or if I just wasn't in the right headspace for reading, but it was a little annoying. Still, the story seemed easy, and I was enjoying the tension that was building between the main character and practically everyone she encountered. 
 During the course of the book, Yelena's life is threatened multiple times, both from people directly trying to murder her and from her new job. As the food taster, Yelena could die any day. It all depends on whether someone has decided to poison the Commander during that meal. This makes it difficult for Yelena to let down her guard and make friends, because who would want a friend that's just going to die on them? Still, Yelena does build relationships throughout the book, which brings me to my first of a few complaints. 
 Commander Ambrose, the leader of the country Ixia, overthrew the corrupt monarchy almost twenty years prior to the beginning of the book. Though some of the changes he implemented with his power seem sucky and dictatory (for example, the provinces have become military districts, led by generals, and everyone who lives in Ixia wears a uniform of some sort to display their position in the society), some changes seem to be pretty egalitarian. The monarchy had very strict gender roles, but the Commander sees men and women as equals, and with the change in power came many more opportunities for both men and women. So the Commander's army is populated with women, some of which are very skilled individuals, and the castle staff is also populated with women, some of which are very nice people. Yelena meets some of these women, yet the only really meaningful relationships she makes are with men. She makes friends with a few of the servants, namely the seamstress, Dilana, and the head chef, Rand, and even though she comments on how lovely Dilana is, she only really develops her friendship with Rand. (view spoiler)[ Another two friends are soldiers that 'caught' her during a 'catch the fugitive' drill. They're lovely guys, though a little Rosencratz and Guildenstern, and they help her to learn self-defense. After a while, they invite a female soldier, Maren, to help teach Yelena how to fight with a bow staff, and yet she doesn't really become friends with Maren either. (hide spoiler)] I just find it a little annoying that Yelena, who isn't keen on making attachments in the beginning, only warms up to the dudes around her. 
 My second complaint is about romance. Now, I didn't think there was going to be romance in this book. It's not that I have a problem with romance, I just prefer it when it's done well. And, in this case, I'm not sure it was. (view spoiler)[Yelena spends a lot of time with Valek, and while I could understand her developing feelings for him, I didn't feel any chemistry between the characters. I could feel their developing relationship, but I didn't get a romantic vibe from the two of them. Valek and Yelena as friends was one of the things I was hoping for throughout the story, and while I'm not necessarily bummed about their romantic relationship, I do feel like it could have been better written. Oh, and I'm concerned about the age gap, as well. Valek, according to Wikipedia, is about thirty-three. Yelena, according to Wikipedia, and what I'd gathered from the story, is nineteen. That's a bit much, considering that Yelena is still a teenager, and it makes Valek feel a little predatory. Not that his character isn't predatory, but it makes him feel more like a sexual predator than a natural predator. I imagined Valek to be like a panther, really. (hide spoiler)] 
 And my final concern with Poison Study is about (view spoiler)[transgendered people. Specifically, the way that a certain Commander Ambrose is represented in the text. For those who clicked the spoiler bit without reading the book first, it is revealed to Yelena that Commander Ambrose was not always considered a man. Long before he took up rebellion, Ambrose went by the name of Ambrosia, and he felt as if he didn't belong in his "mutant body". To prove that he was a man, he spent months living with snow cats (a species of vicious big cat that lives in the northern snowy region of Ixia, and as far as anyone knows, has never been bested by a human), bathing in their scent until he could finally kill one. Now, I don't have a single problem with the Commander's character. As far as the writing goes, I think that Ambrose's dysphoria and feelings of wrongness are completely justified, and I respect them. What I found problematic was the way that Yelena reacted to the information. Other than the big bad guys of the story, she's the only one who knows, and Ambrose trusts her with the secret. Yet, Yelena seems to kind of battle with whether to consider Commander Ambrose a man or a woman, which annoyed me. If Ambrose feels like a man, then he is a man. Yet Yelena refers to him as a woman in her mind when she thinks about it. I'm not trans myself, so I've been trying to learn about the trans community and to unlearn a lot of shitty things that society has taught me. I could be making a bigger thing out of this than it is, but I feel like Snyder could have written Yelena's reactions a little more respectfully to Ambrose's character. (hide spoiler)] 
 I had a couple of problems with reading Poison Study other than the ones I've already listed. During the lead-up to the final conflict in the story, I didn't really feel the tension like I had in earlier parts of the book. The final conflict was great, but nothing really felt dire about the things that happened beforehand, and I feel like they should have. I was also hoping for a final confrontation between Yelena and Margg, Valek and the Commander's most trusted servant. I was a little disappointed when it didn't come. 
 Regardless of all of these complaints/problems, I did really, really enjoy Poison Study. I liked the influx of magic, the complexity of poisons, and mostly all of the characterisation. I really liked Valek character, and how enigmatic he was for so much of the story, and I feel like Yelena's frightful past was written really respectfully, and it was quite compelling. I loved the moments when Yelena was literally haunted by Reyad's ghost, as a visual manifestation of her trauma. I thought that was a very nice touch. 
 I would recommend Poison Study, even though I complained about it, because it was a very enjoyable read, and the book ended, not with a cliffhanger, but with a sense of hope and trepidation, and I'm definitely intrigued to how the story will continue. I battled between giving the book three or four stars, but I'm sticking with four, because I really liked it, and I feel like it's the type of book I'd enjoy even more on a second reading.