Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Book Club Questions

About 15 years ago, we started our first book club at Cupboard Maker Books.  From the beginning, we wanted to read non-traditional book club choices.  We have always written book club questions to provide structure for the discussion. 

Please feel free to use these questions.  

If you have any questions about these book club questions, you can email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Warning:  These questions contain SPOILERS for this book.

1. What do you think of the first person narration?
2. What do you think of the descriptions in the book?
3. Would you take the position as food taster?
4. What do you think of Yelena?
5. What do you think of Valek?
6. How do you opinions change over the course of the book?
7. What do you think of the way of keeping the food tasters from running away or committing treason?
8. What do you think of the Commander's Code of Conduct where every crime has the same punishment with no extenuating circumstances or special rules for different classes?
9.  Would you want to the live in Ixia under the Commander or under the monarchy?
10. What imagery from the book sticks with you the most?  (mine is the rats)
11. Would you be willing to act the part of the fugitive?
12. Was climbing through the trees a good idea to hide as the fugitive?
13. What do you think of the library where Yelena researches the pods?
14. What does the Criollo sound like to you?  When you were reading about the Criollo factory was anyone else singing the Chocolate World song?
15. Do you think the ghost of Reyard is real or simply a manifestation of Yelena's mind?
16. What do you think of the politics and double crosses in the book?
17. Are you impressed with Yelena's skills?
18. How important is friendship in making a person whole?  How does this play out in the book?
19. Did you realize that the Commander was a woman before the actual reveal?
20. Did you think that Valek and Yelena would fall in love?  What do you think of the pairing?
21. What did you think of the ending?
22. Did you see that there were discussion questions at the end of the book before I wrote out 20 questions??
23. Did you like the book?
24. Did it make you want to read more in the series?

Need to pick-up a copy of the book? Head over to Bookshop.org

The Cupboard Maker Books
157 N. Enola Rd
Enola, PA 17025
www.cupboardmaker.com