Weekend Read: Poison Study

I am a full time student and I ref soccer and study during the weekends. That means that I don't have a lot of time to read. This, in turn, leads me to being very selective about the books that I choose during the school year. Poison Study is a book I recommend to everyone with a limited amount of free time.

I love this book. I have reread Poison Study so many times, I have to get myself a new copy. The front page is falling off. The glossy, plastic surface on the cover is pealing away. I do try not to destroy my books, but sometimes I just happen to love them a little bit too much.

Anyhooo, Poison Study is a historical-fantasy with a slight dystopian feel. The country, where the main character grows up, is a country run by a dictator called The Commander. But, most of the people in this country agree with how the country is run and not many people want a life different to what they have now. The military supplies all of their basic needs. No one is without work, homeless or starving. BUT,but(!), there is one catch. If you have magic you are killed, or assassinated. No exceptions.

In Poison Study you follow a young woman named Yelena. Fate has dealt her a rather nasty hand, and through harsh trails she ends up a prisoner, charged with murder, (that she did commit) in The Commander's dungeons. In Ixia, the country ruled by The Commander, if you forfeit yourself, you admit to your crimes, you are offered the Hangman's Noose or a chance to become the food-taster for The Commander. Yelena chooses the latter.

That is all that I am going to say about this book. It is a wonderful, easy read, with just enough action to keep it exciting, just enough historical-fantasy to set a great world and just enough romance to keep you on edge of your seat. One of the pluses of this book is that there is romance but the book isn't centered around it. And if you don't like graphic, raunchy scenes, have no fear, sex is only hinted at in this book.

Happy reading.

Weekend Read: Cinder

Ok, so I may be a little late jumping on to this band wagon, but hey(!), better late than never. So...the first time I picked up Cinder I put it straight back down again. What the heck? I was thinking. Why rewrite Cinderella? Now don't get me wrong I love retellings. "Retelling" is one of my favorite genres, if you can call retellings a genre. What I was thinking was why rewrite a story that doesn't really have all that much to work with. But now my views and opinions have completely changed.

Anyone hesitating to pick this book up, don't. I regret putting off diving into this world since I finished the book a couple of days ago. And this advice goes with all books. Of course if you do fins yourself struggling to read a book and you aren't enjoying it at all. Put the book down. We have a limited amount of time on this planet. Spend it reading books that you won't regret picking up. And Cinder is one of those books...if you love, sci-fi, futuristic fantasy retellings with a slight dystopian feel. It took me a couple of chapters to real get into this book but after that I finished the book in less than two days.

Cinder is a retelling of Cinderella for of you who didn't catch on to that (pssst the title and the cover). Now Cinder isn't a regular human being. She is a cyborg, part human part "robot". She lives in the classical Cinderella scenario, with the evil stepmother and stepsister. Notice that I wrote sister not sisterS. She in fact gets along quite well with the younger stepsister. Now this world that Cinder lives in is plagued by, you guessed it, a plague. There is also a secondary race that is introduced into this version that come from a planet called Luna. I mustn't forget to mention that there is also a very interesting love interest.

And will end my Weekend Read suggestion with that.