by Jennifer Estep
Will be published by: Kensington Teen
on May 29, 2012
Source: received an e-ARC from the publisher through NetGalley. Read my review policy and disclosure here.
Series report: Estep does a fantastic job of recapping in the early chapters of this third book of the series. Dive in and enjoy!
My summary: Still feel like you need a recap of books one and two? Click this highlighted text to read my summary of Touch of Frost and Kiss of Frost in a new window.
Dark Frost begins immediately after the events in Kiss of Frost. Gwen and some classmates are getting a homework assignment done -- visiting a museum before school resumes from winter break -- when a sudden, violent Reaper attack leaves them shaken. Gwen knows what's up -- the Reapers are looking for the Helheim Dagger, an artifact used during the final battle of the Chaos War. That conflict ensured that the evil Norse God Loki was imprisoned. If the Reapers find the last artifact, they free him. Using clues from her mother's diary, Gwen resolves to find the dagger first.
My thoughts: There are so many things I love about this series. The pan-cultural mythological world Jennifer Estep has created is fresh and interesting. Gwen is a great main heroine, and I love the will-they-won't-they romance between Gwen and Logan. The secondary characters are all well-developed and appealing -- Nickamedes, Daphne, Carson, Grandma Frost, and of course, Vic! Plus, the action scenes are fantastic. If you're a reader who loves weaponry and sword fights, you'll be very happy.
In every series, I have my favorite books, and I didn't like Dark Frost quite as much as the prior two. I figured out the identity of a certain masked culprit long before the mask came off. And the fact that Gwen refers to characters as "the Spartan" or "The Valkyrie" instead of by their names started to bother me. In romantic scenes, when Gwen says stuff like, "I'm crazy about you, Spartan," I wasn't feeling it.
That said, I still enjoyed this book a lot. The character development was great in Dark Frost-- as it should be in a series. I think in each book, every major character should grow and change a little. In this book, Daphne learns something new about herself that has her all in a snit. Grandma Frost gets to do cool stuff besides whipping up delicious treats in her kitchen. There is a new -- non-human -- character. Finally, Gwen learns something about her psychometric powers that leaves her shaken and confused. All this means that book four in the series (there has to be one, as this book doesn't resolve the whole Loki-Reaper thing) should be really exciting! I'm looking forward to it!
Have you read this series? If you love mythology, you should definitely check it out!
Tell me in comments: what are you up to this weekend? If the weather cooperates, I hope I'm reading outside!
Great review! I really want to read it now! A lot of people have said how great the character development has been and I REALLY want to read it now!
ReplyDeleteThis weekend, my parents are dragging me to a museum when all I really want to do is read and catch up on reviews and study for my Chinese final. (Okay, maybe not that last one, but I have to do that one. :()
Just pretend you are Gwen at the museum and watch out for those Reapers!!!!
DeleteThis is another series that I haven't read. It does sound good though. Great review as always. Right now it looks like it might rain, but it's been this way for the past few days. Rain, sun, rain, sun...and humidity!! Tonight it game night with the girls, and then tomorrow we are having a cookout at my sister in laws house. Hope you have a great weekend. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm at the beach. It was cloudy this morning, then it turned beautiful. Now it's clouding up again...
DeleteI totally have missed out on this series too. I think I have seen the covers come by at the library but managed to not pick one of the books up. They sound great and I do like it when an author adds some mythology to her books. I am up for most anything, except for those werewolves...
ReplyDeleteTry the first one and see what you think!!
DeleteOhh I better not read this since I haven't even read the first book yet. But I've heard great things about these series. Must read book one sometime.
ReplyDeleteYes!!
DeleteI'm struggling to figure out what to do today (Saturday), much less the rest of the weekend.
ReplyDeleteRight now, though, for the past couple hours, I've been busy setting up posts for my partner blog :) so much fun..
definitely reading though. Hopefully I get to finish one of my review books by this weekend.
What's your partner blog???
Deletehttp://readingonthewildside.blogspot.com
DeleteAdult Blog :)
I haven't checked out this series, but I love will-they-won't-they romances... This weekend... just got back from a baby shower and I have another one tomorrow. I wanted to read all day today, but I'm going to watch Veronica Mars instead, I think.
ReplyDeleteI have to read this series, thanks for the review Jen! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm attacking the garden this weekend. I'm getting it tidied up, so that come Spring it has the ability to - well - Spring.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed getting back to class with the Mythos Academy kids. And despite a few minor gripes, this was an excellent addition to the series, with tons of action, humor, weapons, and Vic! I love Vic, he's so freaking cool! If you've read and enjoyed the series thus far, then you definitely want to pick up Dark Frost. There is so much packed into this book and you won't want to wait to see how it all plays out in book four. If you haven't started the series and you are a fan of mythologies of all kinds, then you should definitely pick it up.
ReplyDelete