I thoroughly enjoyed reading Night Study by Maria V Snyder. It has quite a different tone than her original Study series and there’s a lot more suspense created by having multiple POV’s telling the story. Valek’s history and surprising present were long awaited and I really loved learning about his life.
The development of technology and information in Snyder’s world reminds me a little of the progression between Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra in which things that were previously rare or unknown become widely used and common. While it does slow things down a little where you can pretty much always assume that one of the things she’s created, such as Curare or Theobroma, are at work, she invents new uses and techniques to keep it from being boring.
There are also plenty of questions that still need to be answered so I will definitely be partaking of her final installment; Dawn Study. I’m loving the character development and the wondering over potential betrayals and new character relationships. I’m still not quite sure how I feel about Onora, but she’s an interesting knot of character waiting to be untied and discovered. Janco is a POV character in this book which leads me to think he’ll be getting some sort of pairing, most likely with Onora, but it’s too early to tell right now.
We end the book with looming war on both sides of the border and characters we thought were gone but have returned to stack the odds against our heroes. We still don’t know why Yelena’s magic is gone or if it will return. I’m kind of hoping one character in particular appears by the end of the next book, but it would be spoilers to say who if you haven’t read Shadow Study yet.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and I can’t wait for Dawn Study to come out, though it’ll be a long wait for that.
Thanks for stopping by!
-Erin
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16130759-night-study