Ixia and Sitia

Maria V. Snyder's books take place in the neighboring countries of Ixia and Sitia. Sitia has lots of magic users. Ixia has been taken over by the Commander, who Does Not Like Magic (for good reason).

The books so far consist of two trilogies: The "Study" series, narrated by Yelena:

• Poison Study
• Magic Study
• Fire Study'

The "Glass" series, narrated by Opal:

• Storm Glass
• Sea Glass
• Spy Glass

In Poison Study, Boxed Crook Yelena is offered the job of the Commander's food taster. She accepts it and is trained by The Spymaster Valek in the identification of poisons. She also picks up some self-defense skills and sneakiness, makes some friends, discovers the Commander's deepest secret, falls in love with Valek, and eventually finds out that she can do magic and was originally kidnapped from neighboring Sitia. At the end of the book, she flees to Sitia, where she later studies magic and learns how to use her skills as an Soulfinder. She eventually becomes the liasion between the two countries.

The "Glass" series picks up four years after the end of Fire Study with Opal Cowan, the glassmaker from that book. She's studying at the Keep in Sitia, but is known as a "one-trick wonder" because the only magic she can do is to insert magic into her glass creations. This talent turns out to be bigger and more useful than she knows.

Tropes used in Ixia and Sitia include:

• A Match Made in Stockholm: Opal ends up with Devlen, the guy who possessed her boyfriend, kidnapped and tortured her. What the hell?!
• Aristocrats Are Evil: The reason why the Commander slaughtered the royal family and took over Ixia in the first place.
• The Artful Dodger: Heck, those kids start their own guild of this.
• Ascended Extra: Opal.
• Sdrawkcab Name
• Badass Normal: Valek, at least most of the time. He undergoes Badass Decay when he begins to act as Yelena's sidekick.
• Big Book of War: The Commander lives by a personal code and requires everyone in Ixia to do so as well. It could best be described as "tough but fair."
• Blow You Away: The Stormdancers.
• The Clan: There are eleven of them in Sitia.
• Cassandra Truth: Nobody believes Opal about Ulrick and Devlen switching
• Cold-Blooded Torture
• Curse Escape Clause: The dying king attempted to curse Valek, which didn't work because Valek is immune to magic. It landed on his knife instead, leaving it permanently bloody. "Makes a nice trophy, though."
• Dark and Troubled Past
• DeadOlderSister: Opal and Kade both have one (Tula and Kaya) hanging over their psyches. Leif thought Yelena was a Dead Little Sister and had similar issues, until she turned out to be a Long-Lost Relative instead.
• The Empath: Leif.
• Energy Absorption: Turns out Opal can do this to someone else and drain their magic entirely if (a) they throw their entire power at her during an attack, and (b) she's defending herself using glass by taking control of their Summon Magic creatures.
• ~Everything's Better With Chocolate~: Criollo (i.e. chocolate) becomes the Trademark Favorite Food of everyone who tries it. However, this trope is subverted when it turns out that repeated heavy consumption of the dessert lowers one's mental shields. A lot.
• Failed a Spot Check: Opal; she notices that Ulrick has become (a) more amorous, and (b) refuses to blow any glass, yet somehow completely ignores that both of these actions are out of character for him. See example below for why.
• ForTheLoveOfMany: The Bloodrose clan is polygamous, in the "creepy old dude marries every female and impregnates her" way.
• Freaky Friday: Devlen and Ulrick.
• Idiot Ball: Opal, so very, very much. She notices when something is wrong and then promptly continues to ignore it and head straight into trouble anyway. This never gets any better. If she were in a horror movie she'd be dead within the first 15 minutes.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Devlen, particularly in book 3 of Glass.
• Journal Full Of Crazy Reyad had one where he wrote down every single thing Yelena had done to piss him off since they met, and how he planned to punish her for all of them. Slowly and painfully.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind
• Knowledge Broker: The local kids set up a guild of these.
• Limited Wardrobe: Everyone in Ixia has to wear a uniform denoting their station.
• Master of Disguise: Devlen.
  • And Valek, though Yelena usually recognises him.
• Mildly Military: Ixian culture post-Commander.
• Mind Rape: First Magician Roze Featherstone is frighteningly adept at this.
• More Than Mind Control: Done on the Commander via Criollo.
• Nightmare Fuel: Yelena and Opal have some pretty awful dreams about their past experiences.
• Won't Work On Me: Valek is immune to magic.
• Orphanage of Fear: Where Yelena grew up.
• Our Ghosts Are Different
• Parental Abandonment: Averted.
• Perfect Poison: Averted.
• Playing with Fire: Yelena can't do this. Others can. It's a problem.
• Poison and Cure Gambit: Valek poisons Yelena with Butterfly's Dust, a poison that will kill her within 48 hours if she doesn't get daily doses of the antidote. He's lying.
• The Power of Blood: Used by Warpers.
• Rape as Backstory
• Real Women Never Wear Dresses: Yelena personifies this trope. She dismisses the other girls at the beginning of Magic Study as being silly for wearing flowery Sitia clothing, and won't even trade in her uniform for more comfortable and practical skirts (in Sitia skirts are more practical because its so hot and humid there). She says that her hair -- after a (forced) makeover -- makes her look "soft," and she even finds Cahil's compliments to her insulting. Makes you wonder why guys go after her.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Commander Ambrose comes off as a horribly strict, evil man for killing the royal family, calling for the execution of magic users, forcing everyone into uniforms and rigid roles, etc. However, the Commander isn't 100% unreasonable, and has some darned good reasons for doing what he does AND being against magic.
• Secret Keeper: Yelena knows the Commander's (see spoiler space below).
• Serial Killer: Ferde.
• Shown Their Work: Maria V. Snyder learned how to make glass objects for Fire Study and then later based an entire trilogy off her glassblower character, who can solve various problems with her glassmaking ability/knowledge. Naturally, this requires a major problem where only a glassmaker could solve it.
• Sibling Rivalry: Yelena and Leif.
• Soul Jar
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Yelena, especially to her horse Kiki.
• Spy Couple: Valek and Yelena.
• Stockholm Syndrome
• Succession Crisis: Cahil.
• Those Two Guys: Ari and Janco.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Only Valek is allowed to kill people in Ixia. Even those who kill in self-defense are supposed to be sentenced to death.
• Torture Cellar
• Transsexual: Commander Ambrose. Added complication: it turns out not so much that he's a man in a woman's body so much as a Split Personality. His mother's spirit entered his body when she died/he was born, and both of them live on in him.
• The Unfavourite: Ulrick.
• Willfully Weak: Valek and the Commander most likely could have had magical ability, but both chose to suppress the hell out of it. Later, Opal does the same thing.