Title: Dark Frost
Author: Jennifer Estep
Publisher: Kensington
Release Date: 13th July 2012* (UK) | 29th May 2012 (US)
Series: Mythos Academy, Book 3
Source: Received from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
*available for kindle 29th May in the UK
Blurb from Goodreads:
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.
Review:
First Line - '"If you guys don't stop making out, I'm going to be sick." Daphne Cruz laid another loud, smacking kiss on her boyfriend Carson Callahan. Princess pink sparks of magic shot off my best friend's fingertips and flickered in the air around the couple, the tiny rainbows of colour almost as bright as Carsons flaming cheeks.'
Gwen Frost is a Gypsy. A Gypsy with the rare gift of psychometry or 'touch magic', magic that gives her the ability to read the memories and emotions tied to any object or person she touches. Since her mother's murder a year ago, Gwen has attended the elite Mythos Academy, a school for those gifted with magic in all its forms. The Spartans, Valkyries, Amazons and many more attend to learn how to fight...for the magical community has it's enemies. The Reapers of Chaos are followers of the evil Norse god Loki and they are determined to free him from his prison so he can once again terrorise the world with Chaos. These Reapers are the ones responsible for Gwen's mothers murder...and now they hunt her.
Gwen's mother hid a powerful artefact during her time at Mythos Academy. An artefact the Reapers need to find at any cost because it's the key to freeing Loki from his prison. After an attack at the museum Gwen and her classmates were attending, Gwen finds out that the dagger may be hidden inside Mythos Academy itself, if she's going to find it, she's going to have to trust in her instincts and her touch magic...but Gwen sees secrets when she uses it...secrets people don't want her to know. But if the Reapers find the Helheim Dagger before Gwen and her friends at Mythos do, The God of Chaos will be unleashed into the world once more.
I've got a confession to make...I haven't read books one and two in this series *gasps*. I know, I know...silly of me really but to be honest, it wasn't that hard to catch up so I guess you could read this like I did. However I'm fairly certain it spoils books one and two, so I'd advise reading those ones first. Either way I'm definitely going back and buying the earlier books, they'll be good if DARK FROST is anything to go by.
Right, so our heroine is Gwen Frost, a Gypsy with the power of Psychometry (she can read emotions and memories from anything she touches). She also has an awesome sword named Vic. Vic talks. Vic talks a lot...mainly about killing and maiming but other things too. He's actually quite funny for a sword, his quips has me giggling. When they interact it almost always had me laughing...why can't I have a talking sword *sulks*.
Young Gwen has the weight of the world on her shoulders as only she can find this dagger everyone is searching for. Even though she's the Goddess Nike's champion, it's a lot of responsibility for a teenager. Not only that but her quest is putting those she loves in danger. The attack on the museum and the death of many of her classmates brings home the stark reality of what Gwen has to do...and she's not sure she's cut out for this.
The Reapers of Chaos ran their swords through everyone they could get their hands on, then shoved the dead and dying to the floor. The museum staff, adults, kids. It didn’t matter to the Reapers who they killed. Wax figures, statues, and display cases crashed to the floor, splintering into thousands of pieces. Blood spattered everywhere, a cascade of scarlet teardrops sliding down the white marble walls.Not only that, but Gwen's friends are having problems of their own...sometimes causing Gwen to think she has no-one she can rely on. Daphne's skill emerges but she has trouble adjusting, and when Gwen tries to help, she's accused of sticking her nose in to other people's business like she always does, and that she won't allow people to have secrets. This cuts Gwen to the very core, and when the same phrase is used by Logan because Gwen accidently uncovered a painful memory from his past, she feels cut off from her friends and abandoned in her time of need.
A sick, sick feeling filled my stomach at the bloody chaos in front of me. I’d heard about Reapers, about how vicious they were, about how they lived to kill warriors—about how they lived to kill us. I’d faced down two Reapers myself, but I’d never seen anything like this. Chapter 1.
However a familiar face brings Gwen comfort when she needs it most. From what I understand, previously Gwen had rescued a Fenir Wolf from the hands of the reapers that had been torturing her. Now the wolf (named Nott) has come back to Gwen. They're able to have a sort of communication through Gwen's psychometry and Gwen discovers Nott is eating for two...and wishes to stay with her. Which naturally causes Vic apoplexy :) Can't argue with the fact that she's an amazing guard though...despite being 'the size of a house'!
Gwen is tested both physically and emotionally in DARK FROST. The lives of her friends, her classmates and her Grandma are constantly on the line...the escape of one of Gwens most hated enemies from they Mythos prison puts everyone on high alert...and sooner or later, Gwen knows she'll have to come face to face with the Reaper who murdered her mother.
DARK FROST is a great YA book, there's laughter, there's tears. Jennifer Estep's writing here kept me hooked from the word go, and the end! Oh the end, it was one of those where I'm turning the book over and going 'WHAT! No, that can't be it! I need to know now!!' Don't get me wrong, it's a fabulous ending but I just can't wait to see what happens to Gwen and the folks at Mythos next!
My Rating: 4/5
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