I'm not quite as into Fire Study as I was the rest of the trilogy, but it's still pretty good. Maybe it's because it's been awhile since I read the last book and the details of it are not as fresh in my head, I don't know.
The book starts out with Yelena and company in pursuit of the killer in the last book, who's now aligned with some really powerful magician allies who can warp everything around them. She's also got a really bad enemy at the Keep, the most powerful magician there. Who is not at all shy about sending the equivalent of "I'll get you, my pretty!" threats at Yelena from the getgo, and it only gets worse from there. Pretty soon, these bad guys have all ganged up together to try to take over Sitia by force, and Yelena ends up leading the people against the idea.
At the beginning of the book, it oddly seems like Yelena can do no wrong. She's practically a general at this point (hah, like her boyfriend! Now I get the appeal), coming up with plans and schemes, using her magic, and getting people out of trouble. (It seemed a bit...much.) And then halfway through the book, she gets quite stymied as to what to do and how to solve the problem. She's got a rare ability that people fear and she doesn't really understand how to use. She realizes that maybe the Commander (who's back in this book, yay!) has a point when he says that magic corrupts. And she's got a terrifying enemy in the Fire Warper, who wants her so he can get more power...and the one area Yelena has NO ability in is fire. But a glass blower (Opal) that she knows might just have a way to make it work...
While I didn't really get into the story until Yelena regrouped in Ixia (asking the Commander to hold off on taking any action), it's still pretty compelling stuff. I'll be looking forward to the fourth book in the series, which features Opal.
Three and a half stars.
I really want this...but I haven't seen it out here yet! I'm getting very impatient!
Posted by: Marg | March 05, 2008 at 11:19 PM