Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder

Magic Study:
Yelena is a survivor. Kidnapped as a child, held prisoner as a teen, then released to act as a poison taster, she is now a student of magic. But these magic skills place her in imminent danger, and with an execution order on her head, she has no choice but to escape to Sitia, the land of her birth.

But nothing in Sitia is familiar. As she struggles to understand where she belongs and how to control her powers, a rogue magician emerges—;and Yelena catches his eye. Suddenly she is embroiled in a situation not of her making. And once again her magical abilities will either save her life…or be her downfall.

With her greatest enemy dead, and on her way to be reunited with the family she'd been stolen from long ago, Yelena should be pleased. But though she has gained her freedom, she can't help feeling isolated in Sitia. Her Ixian background has changed her in many ways—and her new-found friends and relatives don't think it's for the better.

Despite the turmoil, she's eager to start her magic training—especially as she's been given one year to harness her power or be put to death. But her plans take a radical turn when she becomes involved with a plot to reclaim Ixia's throne for a lost prince—and gets entangled in powerful rivalries with her fellow magicians.

If that wasn't bad enough, it appears her brother would love to see her dead. Luckily, Yelena has some old friends to help her with all her new enemies.

Magic Study picks up right where Poison Study left off, and I have fallen even deeper in love with Maria V. Snyder's writing. It's so refreshing to read a character who doesn't pine endlessly over the guy she is forced to be separated from. Yelena misses Valek with all her heart but there is more going on in her new life that holds importance over her lover. Yelena has incredible inner strength and an unwavering sense of right and wrong that she uses to survive the obstacles put in her path. Each of the secondary characters were just as interesting as the main ones and I loved getting to know them as well. Yelena faces a new danger as a magician from a rogue clan begins stealing the souls of young girls, and with them their magic giving him the power to defeat Master Magicians. In her quest to stop this man from harming anyone else, Yelena forms a special bond with her horse, Kiki, who is another one of Maria's incredible characters. And they travel into the lands of another clan who are distant cousins to Yelena's clan. There she discovers her memories of her childhood that were stolen by the magician who took her as a child. She also learns the truth of her being a Soulfinder and her brother's hatred, and they must work together in order to untangle his feelings. A surprise visit from Valek and her friends from Ixia comes at just the right time for him to help her defeat the evil magician and save a young girls life.