Maria V. Snyder’s third (and possibly final) book in the Poison Study series, Fire Study, was every bit as exciting and edge-of-your-seat worthy as the previous two, if not even more. It didn’t deliver in the ways the first two did, however, in depth. Still, it was a really fun, fast read. (Spoilers ahead.)

In Fire Study, Yelena discovers that she is the powerful Soulfinder, and she is able to manipulate both the souls of the living as well as those of the dead. I loved how she thought she knew how to use this gift, when in reality she had no idea what she was doing until it was nearly too late—and that some of the friends that she thought she’d “saved” were really hollow versions of their former selves, ready to move on, out of their bodies instead of being contained within them. This, while sad, helps emphasize the fact that she is still a developing magician, and that she still does need help every now and then.

That said, the development of her abilities was a little tedious; a lot of the issues I had with the book were regarding its repetitive nature around some of the action scenes and the magic used. I would have loved to have seen much more magic, as well as less wandering around. There were a few inconsistencies in the book as well, and up until the end, Valek’s presence in it was sort of useless. The romantic element of their bond, and her being able to use his energy somehow in order to magnify her own (which still was never fully explained; I was hoping for that in this book), was still sort of a cool idea; but it seemed like every time they were together, even when peril was present, all he wanted to do was get in her bed—which is realistic, I suppose, but not very interesting or romantic. And his supposed “death,” which wasn’t really a death at all, didn’t ring very true, either—pretty much just because we knew Valek would not be killed, so why even bother? Some of the “modern” dialogue was also irritating to read.

Still, there are some cool scenes in the book—especially the use of snakes as a weapon, Yelena crossing into the shadow world, and the wonderful Sandseed people—though the people themselves meet a horrible fate. Yelena’s arrogance regarding that fate, and her refusal to heed the warnings of Moon Man, were very annoying—yet they also built onto her character and helped her to really become a Soulfinder in the end. The ending itself was as predictable as you might expect the end of a romantic novel to be—and not as satisfying as the rest of the series—but it still made for an enticing fantasy book. I would definitely still recommend it to fans of the series who want to know what happens to Yelena—as well as to anyone who wishes to read something fun to simply escape for a couple of hours.