Dark Frost by Jennifer Estep
Kennsington (June 2012)
Trade: $9.95; ebook: $8.99
ISBN: 9780758266965
Excerpt
Favorite Lines: “I’m sorry, Gwen. I just–I just can’t do this. Not even for you. Especially not for you.” (p. 161, ARC)
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.
Warning: Don’t start the Mythos Academy series with book three, Dark Frost. Each book builds upon the events of the previous book. You cannot skip this book if you’re reading the series. The events are pivotal on many levels.
From the start I fell in love with the heroine (Gwen) of Jennifer Estep’s Mythos Academy series. Shewas deposited in a world she knew nothing about and forced to learn about war. On top of it all she became the goddess Nike’s champion. This means the bad guys have singled Gwen out as a person who needs to be destroyed. If all that weren’t enough, she is going through normal teenage drama. You know falling in lust with the unattainable guy. At the end of the last book, Touch of Frost, it seemed like she just might have managed to get the guy.
As Dark Frost begins, Gwen has yet to speak to her beau, Logan, since the events which took place before Christmas break. That quickly changes and poor Gwen is thrown for a loop when she comes face to face with the girl who murdered her mother. Thus begins the trickery, treachery and violent new journey of the Gypsy girl who can read items just by touching them. Nothing is what it seems in Dark Frost and things appear to happen a bit too easily. But appearances can be deceiving. By the end of the story Gwen will take the reader through heartaches which come from more than one direction, to self-doubt and self-loathing before ending in a determination to find balance and see her mission through to the end.
Gwen continues to grow as an individual while learning more about her mother and the history of the characters surrounding her. Not only is Gwen growing, but the story takes a huge leap forward with this installment. Back story is filled in and the whole forward field is filled with question marks and possibilities.
If you need help remembering magical information or character biographies, flip to the back of the book and check out the Beyond the Story section. All the major players are listed. There is also a peep at chapter one of book four in the Mythos Academy series.
Crimson Frost, according to Jennifer Estep’s website, is book four and will be released Dec. 24, 2012.
Scooper Speaks 