Dawn Study by Maria V. Synder Review

Star Rating: ✭✭✭✰✰ 

Storyline -

"New York Times bestselling author Maria V. Snyder brings her Poison Study series to its exhilarating conclusion.

Despite the odds, Yelena and Valek have forged an irrevocable bond and a family that transcends borders. Now, when their two homelands stand on the brink of war, they must fight with magic and cunning to thwart an Ixian plot to invade Sitia.

Yelena seeks to break the hold of the insidious Theobroma that destroys a person's resistance to magical persuasion. But the Cartel is determined to keep influential citizens and Sitian diplomats in thrall and Yelena at bay. With every bounty hunter after her, Yelena is forced to make a dangerous deal.

With might and magic, Valek peels back the layers of betrayal surrounding the Commander. At its rotten core lies a powerful magician and his latest discovery. The fate of all rests upon two unlikely weapons. One may turn the tide. The other could spell the end of everything." - Goodreads

Review -  

Dawn Study is the ninth, and final, installment of The Chronicles of Ixia. I remember when I first picked up my first copy of Poison Study from borders, back in 2009. I was complete infatuated with the cover, which had a certain charm about it. I was not expecting the anguish of having the next series about Yelena released 5 years after reading the first. So, here I am, 8 years later.

What annoys me the most about this release, is that it was released in a "Special Edition" Hardback cover, where all the books prior to this were release in paperback. Being the nit-picking human being that I am, I emailed the publisher asking if and when a paperback edition was to be released. While they're releasing one, it won't be until late this year. So, I have had the unpleasant experience of having to pay full price for and electronic copy of a book.

Now for the important stuff, the actual book. A variety of things annoyed me about this book, the number one, being the major editorial errors scattered throughout the novel, like the character named Phelan, or was it Phelen, whose spelling continually changed! Or the random asterisk in Chapter 16. Harlequin Teen needs to take more care in their editing, especially with their electronic publications.

Care, with a capital C. 

This is another thing I really hated, Synder's over use of terrible common day phrases. She used the one above at least  four times in the first half of the book.I felt like she attempted to relate to a younger generation, through slang and idioms that where just so out of place in this series, that it made it comfortable to read.

However, it was interesting to see how Yelena handled being pregnant with all the continuous threats to her life. Outside of that, I found the story line to be scattered, constantly jumping to random characters views, along with an extremely inconsistent timeline, in just kind of turned into a fumbling mess that all worked out in the end. I enjoyed the intrigue, what little I could actually follow.

All in all, Dawn Study was pretty average, as it reached my expectations, but didn't really exceed them. It felt like Synder was playing it safe with her final book.

Thank you Maria, for this magical world and stunning cast of characters, it has touched my heart and deeply influenced my reading, while it's sad to see it end, I'm sure I'll see more great things from you in the future. 

💜MetalandTeacups 

Information -

Format: Ebook
Dimensions: N/A
Published: 23 Jan 2017 by Harlequin Enterpises AU
Pages: 384