Potion Study by Maria V. Snyder

Oh dear. Where do I start with this book...
I started this book while babysitting and was hooked enough on it that I asked to borrow it when I left to go home. It was an easy read, and had a great plot-line, but a terrible protagonist. This book borders on YA and Adult fiction. The protagonist is 20 years old, but it's at a YA reading level, and handles age appropriate issues for YA. (I should clarify there is a rather graphic abuse scene, and so I would recommend this book for the older spectrum of YA.)
Yelena is an orphan girl who is in jail for killing a man. She lives in a society where a Commander reigns supreme. Each individual is given a job, and wears a uniform that matches their job. Jobs are granted based on skill and aptitude, rather than wealth. The Commander has been in power for 15 years, after overthrowing a corrupt monarchy.
I feel like this book had SO MUCH POTENTIAL. The plot was incredible, and that is what kept me going despite page after page of eye-roll inducing stock characters.
So. Yelena is in prison. She killed her previous guardian's son, and since murder is inexcusable under any circumstances, she was thrown in to jail to await her own demise. She's pulled out of the darkness and given an opportunity. The code, or set of laws everyone lives by claims that when the commander's food taster dies, the next person to be executed is offered the job. So here she is, being offered a chance at a life full of tasting for poisons, and no guarantee that she will live past the day ahead of her. She also has a vengeful grieving father after her, who wants her dead because she killed her son.
As the events roll through the book, Yelena is thrown into a number of inescapable circumstances, and the story develops well.
Yelena, on the other hand is entirely too boring for my taste. She is full of self-doubt, and underdeveloped emotions. She is mistrusting, due to some "mysterious happenings in her past (which are revealed later) and when she does trust people, she finds it's the wrong people. She makes just about every predictable choice you could think of, including falling for the one person she isn't supposed to fall for.
There are three more books in this series, and I may pick up the second one to see if it has a great plot-line, but I'm not confident the characters will hold up.
I would give this book a 4 out of 10. The plot saved it, but barely enough to make it past average. It was an easy read, and for anyone who doesn't mind an annoying protagonist, go for it!