Joint Review: Dark Frost by Jennifer Estep

Publisher: Kensingston Publishing
Publish Date: Out today
How we got this book: ARC from the author

I’ve seen so many freaky things since I started attending Mythos Academy last fall. I know I’m supposed to be a fearless warrior, but most of the time, I feel like I’m just waiting for the next Bad, Bad Thing to happen. Like someone trying to kill me—again.

Everyone at Mythos Academy knows me as Gwen Frost, the Gypsy girl who uses her psychometry magic to find lost objects—and who just may be dating Logan Quinn, the hottest guy in school. But I’m also the girl the Reapers of Chaos want dead in the worst way. The Reapers are the baddest of the bad, the people who murdered my mom. So why do they have it in for me?

It turns out my mom hid a powerful artifact called the Helheim Dagger before she died. Now, the Reapers will do anything to get it back. They think I know where the dagger is hidden, but this is one thing I can’t use my magic to find. All I do know is that the Reapers are coming for me—and I’m in for the fight of my life.

This blurb came from Goodreads.

Lou: I love this series like crack, and when we were offered the chance to review Dark Frost, E_bookpusher and I jumped at the chance. Dark Frost is the third book in the Mythos Academy series. In this installment, the Reapers are more deadly than before in trying to free Loki, and they want the Helhiem dagger to achieve this. I really enjoyed Dark Frost because it powers the story arc along in a big way. Gwen goes through a lot of changes that mature her in a way she wasn’t expecting. Dark Frost is definitely the darkest of the novels, and Gwen is challenged in many ways she hasn’t been before.

E: Like Lou said this is a really addicting series. And let me tell you Ms Estep included some really high stakes in this installment. It was a lot darker than the others from the very get go. I had to pause early when I was reading it because it was nighttime and I wanted to go to sleep yet the Reapers had already made an appearance. It was almost like in the first two books they really weren’t taking Gwen seriously but after she survived their attempts on her life in Kiss of Frost the Reapers decided to increase the amount of pressure they placed on Gwen. Not only does she have to deal with that but also learning more about her powers, dealing with friendships and her “relationship” with Logan. This was a really intense read and the action didn’t pause until the end.

Lou: I was so not expecting the attack in the beginning. It was full on and quite violent and it definitely showed that the Reapers are not teasing or taunting the Pantheon anymore. They mean business and they were letting everyone know. It was really sad because so many kids died. I did want there to be more emotion involved as I felt that everything went on at school too normal for my liking. I did enjoy how Gwen’s relationship with Logan played out. Whilst it was an important part of Gwen’s life, she wasn’t solely concentrated on getting the boy. Logan also had stuff he had to deal with from the past, and when Gwen finally gets to see his secret, it was quite sad. I can see why Logon really didn’t like Gwen’s psychometry magic as the choice of revealing what happened to him was taken away.

E: That is a good point. It was almost like the students were so accustomed to death and dying but I would have liked to see a memorial ceremony or something to show the deaths were still on people’s minds after the initial class discussion. That being said it was good to see children acting like children or rather like not very nice teenagers to each other. That added a sense of normalcy. I totally felt for Logan and his secret when it was revealed and I completely understood why he wasn’t comfortable around Gwen all the time. I did really love how they made up and then when Gwen was very uncomfortable regarding her powers how he refused to let her chase him away. Such a sweetheart. If any of you saw my status updates while I was reading it is possible to predict accurately who the bad guy was and some of how they were manipulating Gwen and the other students. Even with my accurate guess I was still surprised at what went on so it didn’t taint my enjoyment of the story at all. I also really enjoyed seeing a particular character show up again.

Lou: Logan really showed that he wasn’t the boy tart they labelled him at school. He was really sweet and I liked that it was Logan that was the strongest emotionally in Dark Frost. Gwen was so vulnerable with all that she has to cope with, and then dealing with the person who helped murder her mum. I think that’s my only problem with the whole series is where are the adults trying to defeat Loki and the Reapers? I know it’s YA, but it’s a little strange that all of the teenagers are the ones doing the fighting. I kinda knew who the baddie was as throughout the book it was too obvious in some scenes who was supposed to be the obvious choice. I blame my love for NCIS where I learnt a character is never introduced if they’re not important to the story lol. The ending just about killed me with the death of someone close to Gwen. And I thought it was soon that Gwen would finally break down. She was due some self pity and feelings of hopelessness time.

E: Oh that death about broke my heart. I am so glad there was a shining lining but still so very sad. I agree that Gwen needs time to breakdown and grieve because things have been crazy. While it was hard for her to accept the story behind Loki she has lived with the reality of her mother’s death. Then finding out the real cause of that death, of course that is going to shift her focus. Yes Gwen did come to believe but that was only after paying some pretty steep prices and then being told some harsh lessons. I completely understand how, “may you live in interesting times,” is a curse not a blessing. Regarding the fighting, I almost wonder if the torch gets passed to the students basically when they start at the academy and only in their younger days are they active in fighting while when they get older they become more researchers, advisers etc. It seems to me that it is a pretty low number who live to make it to that age so they need to preserve what knowledge and experience they gained to teach the next set.

Lou: Gwen definitely had to learn the hard way that not everything in life goes the way of the good guys. It was definitely an eye-opener that will make Gwen more stronger and more mature in the next upcoming novels. I never thought of that before with them having the most active power when they are teenagers. I wonder if the power somehow decreases in adulthood? If that was the case, I wonder if that will be explored in future books. Dark Frost definitely upped the ante and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book. Whilst it was a bittersweet sort of ending, I’m glad it ended on a happy note for Gwen and Logan. I’m also glad that there’s no love triangle involved because with trying to save the world and kill baddies, having two guys to fight over might have been a tad too much. All in all, Dark Frost is definitely a must read where it changes the line of the series is a very big and dramatic way. I give Dark Frost a A-

E: Oh I wish we had thought about the whole teenager fighting piece before we sent our interview questions. Now I am just going to have to wait and see if it is mentioned in future installments. Dark Frost came to a satisfactory conclusion but there is so much still waiting to happen. I can’t wait for the next one. I am also very glad that Gwen is only dealing with one male interest because I think anything more would muddy the plot and distract from what the focus really is. Once again Ms Estep has provided an engrossing tension filled read. So many things are laid into place with this one it was truly amazing. I give Dark Frost an A-

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