White Stag: A Permafrost Novel (Permafrost, #1)

by Kara Barbieri

As the last child in a family of daughters, seventeen-year-old Janneke was raised to be the male heir. While her sisters were becoming wives and mothers, she was taught to hunt, track, and fight. On the day her village was burned to the ground, Janneke - as the only survivor - was taken captive by the malicious Lydian and eventually sent to work for his nephew Soren.

Janneke’s survival in the court of merciless monsters has come at the cost of her connection to the human world. And when the Goblin King’s death ignites an ancient hunt for the next king, Soren senses an opportunity for her to finally fully accept the ways of the brutal Permafrost. But every action he takes to bring her deeper into his world only shows him that a little humanity isn’t bad - especially when it comes to those you care about.

Through every battle they survive, Janneke’s loyalty to Soren deepens even as she tries to fight her growing attraction to him. After dangerous truths are revealed, Janneke must choose between holding on or letting go of her last connections to a world she no longer belongs to. She must make the right choice to save the only thing keeping both worlds from crumbling.

• ISBN10: 1250247209
• ISBN13: 9781250247209
• Publish Date: 1 December 2020 (first published 1 February 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 25 June 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Wednesday Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English
• URL: http://melia.co.uk/page/detail/?k=9781250247209

Reviews

[tweetybugshouse]

This is a amazing fantasy that takes the tales of Goblins and changeling and adds in some fantastic elements like a hunt/quest. Our main character was stolen from the human world a 100 years ago and she has live with goblins ever since. She was a thrall to one Goblin who treated her very harsh and that where some of the triggers the author speaks of come into play. Then she becomes the thrall of Soren and then she thrown into the hunt for the stag which will determine the fate of the Goblin world. The entire time she lived with Goblins she dreamed of going home and living among humans again. Over the course of the book she has to come to terms with the fact that they may never be possible. IT been a hundred years i think that would make it difficult in of itself. All in all their some very emotional parts to this story and the author has some great action sequences in their as well. It a very dark read but if you loved winter song i think you will enjoy this one.

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of White Stag through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Okay, so I’m going to be upfront and honest with you here: I didn’t finish White Stag. I ended up DNF’ing it somewhere around the 50 percent mark. If you know me, then you know I’m usually very stubborn about finishing books. So it is very much not like me to refuse to finish one.
Perhaps it was the mood I was in, but I just couldn’t get into it. I wanted to; I absolutely loved the blurb and the original concept. It’s about a girl trapped by Goblins, living among them as a changeling. I love fae stories, and even more so when they interact with humans. But this one just didn’t ring true for me, if that makes sense.
I will say that the cover for White Stag is beautiful, and had the concept been closer to what I anticipated I think I would have really adored this novel.



Warnings: Janneke is captured and living amongst the Goblins in this novel. She’s not there by choice, having been kidnapped when she was younger. The goblins in this book use rape and torture as a way of punishing and showing dominance. While nothing like that happens first person during the novel (that I read at least, I can’t vouch for the second half) it does come up A LOT. There’s also a lot of hunting and animal death.
White Stag was an ambitious novel trying to show the life of a human girl as she gradually transitions into being a changeling. She grew up in a harsh environment, and while she hates everything about what she’s had to do to survive, she can’t bring herself to give up either.
I have two larger complaints about this novel, and if I’m being honest I think they’re the reasons I couldn’t finish it. The first had to be the treatment of Janneke’s character. And by that I mean; she went through hell. I get that, I really do. But it’s something that gets brought up every time they want us to feel bad for her. It felt cheap and honestly a bit disrespectful to the people who have gone through such things. They were clearly playing Janneke up as a victim to make us feel sympathy for her.
My other complaint has to do with the way the Goblins were described. From their description, they sounded a lot more like Seelie fae than goblins. The novel kept describing them as being beautiful and intelligent creatures, and that just didn’t mesh with any of my expectations. It’s like they mashed the beauty of other fae into the name of another one.
I did see some potential in the novel, so I am sad that I ended up giving it up. That’s the reason why this novel isn’t rated lower, despite its DNF status. I couldn’t bring myself to overlook the good parts of the novel, like some of the secondary characters, the social structure of the goblins, or Janneke’s pure determination and will to live.


For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[Empress of Sass]

Disclaimer:

I was asked to read and review White Stag as part of the promotional tour for the book, and I received my review copy for free in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not compensated by the author or publisher in any other way, and my opinions are entirely my own.

2.5 Stars/5

This book is set to release a week from now so I will keep my review as spoiler free as possible. My short, one sentence review of it? Interesting premise, poor execution, bland characters and an author who is trying to hard to the straddle the line between brutality and a romantic story.

Let’s dive in and unpack things. The world building in this novel needs serious work, and the novel suffers for it. The bones are there, but that is about it. This is in part exacerbated by the fact that the author takes the writing advice of throw out your first few chapters and dive into the action a little too literally. We begin the story thrust into a world we know nothing about. That would normally be okay, as long as the protagonist is learning alongside us like Harry Potter learns about the wizarding world, but that is not, in fact, the case here. Janneke has already been in this world for a hundred years, so I found the opening very confusing, and by the end, I still had way too many questions about the setting. What is the name of the human kingdom? Why does the society Janneke come from need a male heir if the role can simply be filled by giving a girl child a masculine name and dressing her as a boy? How do the Goblins actually live, are there cities, is their society just the main palace of the Erlking and then a collection of keeps ruled over by the lords? How many lords are there? What is life like for the average Goblin?

I really think this story would have benefitted from having its timeline altered, and allowed the first few chapters to be about Janneke being taken by the Goblins, and introduced into her new life and this new world slowly. We know equally as little about the human world she came from. Without this background info, I felt like I had to emotionally rush to catch up and actually care about her circumstances. I was left feeling distant and ambivalent through most of the book, because I didn’t care about the world or the characters, so the stakes behind the plot failed to land with me.

The characters in White Stag are very wooden and barely developed. Personalities blended together, hardly any stuck around the whole book, and even the main three- the protagonist, the love interest and the villain were all pretty bland and uninteresting. The side characters usually die before much can be learned about them, and they don’t affect the plot in any meaningful ways. The dialogue between Janneke and Soren is stilted and clunky, and pretty much every line out of Lydian’s mouth is eye-roll inducing, over the top, and dramatic.

The story at the heart of all of this is weak and anemic. The author never shows us why we should care, or what will really happen if the villain wins. We know as readers our sympathetic characters don’t want him to gain more power because of the horrific violence he inflicted on their lives, but this is watered down and weakened by the fact that ALL Goblin society is supposedly brutal, violent and cruel. Yes, he did horrible things to Janneke and Soren’s family, but all the other contenders for this throne are shone to be just as willing to murder, rape, pillage and scheme their way to the seat of power. I suppose we are supposed to want Soren on the throne, but so little is said about him as a ruler that I don’t know if he’d be any better. Sure, he’s kind to Janneke, but he’s in love with her, so I can’t say one way or another how he’d treat someone he didn’t love, because he’s never really shown interacting with anyone other than allies of convenience. Kindness for the person you love is not indicative of the kindness you would show for the average Goblin of the Permafrost.

I’m not even sure what the Erlking does anyway. The old one is killed off within the opening pages of the book, so as a reader I never got a sense of the role, whether the last one was a good King who should be mourned, and what qualities the next king should have. To decide on the next king, the Goblins hunt the White Stag, who we later learn is not only a symbol of the crown but holds the power. What Goblin magic entails is left ambiguous. From what we’ve seen, some can heal, most can track magically, especially the trail left by the stag, but beyond that, I have no idea how magic works in this world, and what having access to the power of the stag would do for a king. When a Goblin kills something, he absorbs its powers, but this doesn’t seem to have any real effect in the story other than the author telling us the character becomes more powerful.

Now to get into the hard stuff. I’m disappointed that like Damsel, another book I read this year, the female protagonist is sexually and physically abused, and this is played as “Traumatic Backstory Trauma” and not in a sensitive, thoughtful way, no, it is played to manipulate the reader into sympathizing with a character that has little personality outside of being tragically haunted by her past abuse. Janneke’s inner monologues are full and plentiful of her having flashbacks to the rape and torture she suffered before the beginning of the book, as well as the gender dysphoria forced upon her by her family raising her as a boy to fill the need for a male heir. She struggles with letting the Goblin characters see her as female, even though that’s clearly how she identifies inside.

There is nothing inherently wrong about including difficult subjects such as these in YA books. I think it’s important for young readers to read and explore these topics, but also these things need to be handled carefully, and not played for the shock. The rape and torture are included to show how bad of a character Lydian is in the quickest amount of time, and that is lazy poor writing in my opinion. Having Janneke being at the same time mentally broken and fragile, but constantly asserting her physical power and will/desire is a little whiplash-inducing. Every time the action slows down in the story, instead of developing the characters or the setting, we get more inner monologues about all the people who have hurt or failed Janneke in her life. It’s repetitive, unnecessary, and it doesn’t serve the narrative.

Most of this book is just a parade of hurdles, challenges meant to slow the characters down but ultimately play as a little boring and they begin to blend into each other. Tension is lacking from the interactions with the groups of various adversaries, and the non-Goblin monster challenges play like a who’s who of Norse mythology, but lacking any unique spin or interest. By the time we get to the end, the actual heart of the plot is barely there, and I can’t really see any reason to keep reading the next book or books in the series.

Overall, this is a 2.5 star read for me simply because it feels unfinished. Everything from the setting to the characters to the magic to the dialogue and the plot feels half-baked. In the past, I’ve rated books that I personally didn’t like 3-4 stars, simply because even though it wasn’t to my personal taste I could see what audience would like it, but with this book I can’t really recommend it to anyone, as there are similar dark fairytale series that do a much better job than this, as well as better fantasy books based on Norse mythology out now in YA fantasy.

[layawaydragon]

Content Warning: Rape, Mass Death, Slavery, Torture, Abuse, Ableism

White Stag and I did not get along at first. I re-read the first pages half a dozen times. It was a jumbled mess that didn't make sense, like starting to read in the middle. Couple a weeks later I swore it'd be my last attempt so I can move on to my other review copies.

My second impression after all the false starts was how it felt like starting Throne of Glass in the middle with Aelin's character progression with A Court of Thorns & Roses like plot.

This is NOT a good thing for me.



I was able to keep going at first because I was actually making fun of it in my head. Well somewhere amidst the action with Soren and Jeneke's confessions and thawing...I started...liking...it? I couldn't believe it myself.



So I'm halfway through and it starts getting redundant with Jeneke's superior survival skills and hand wringing. Then more action, more romance, dragons, wolves, and mental gymnastics, etc, etc.

Finally got to the end, the titular white stag wound up pretty interesting. It worked out better than Bardugo's stag sacrifice/kill ridiculousness in Shadow & Bone. The epilogue confirmed what I already knew from the first "crazy" ramblings.

All in all, I don't feel like I wasted my time or regret trying it. But it's not something I enjoyed and given the resurrect the rapist "crazy" prophet synopsis of the sequel, I won't be continuing.

[chymerra]

Janneke is the youngest in a family that consists of all girls. As her sisters got married and had children, Janneke was raised to be the male heir. She was taught to track, hunt, and fight. Then one day, the goblins razed her village. The sole survivor, Janneke is taken prisoner by Lydian. After suffering brutal rapes that disfigured her body, Janneke is brought to Lydian’s nephew barely alive. Soren is nothing like Lydian. She is allowed liberties that none of the other thralls are allowed. That includes becoming Soren’s right-hand woman in combat. Soren and Janneke are at Court when the current Goblin King dies. Soon begins The Hunt, where the nobility of Permafrost competes to be the first person to capture the White Stag. During The Hunt, Janneke must come to terms of her family’s death over 100 years ago. When she gets wind of a plan that threatens Permafrost, Janneke must do the impossible. She must stand up to her demons and banish them to save the world that she calls home. Can Janneke do it?

I had mentioned in an earlier post that I had read a few books that were based on Der Erlkonig by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe. The books before this were romances and were well written in their own way. What excited me about this book was that it wasn’t a romance. Instead, the main character was a captive in the goblin’s world. That fascinated me and was the main reason I decided to accept the invite from the publisher. I was curious.

I am glad that I did accept the review to invite this book because I was blown away. The author chose to have the goblins be humanlike instead of what people’s preconceived versions of they look like. They actually reminded me of Elves in a way. But they were able to morph into these frightening beings when angered. It was creepy to see how Lydian and Soren looked like when enraged.

I also liked that the author had this book take place in the Arctic. The other books that I have read had the books taken place in Bavaria. Which is OK but having the book set in made more sense to me. I also liked that she took a combination of Swedish, Norse and German mythology and melded them into the story. It made for an interesting read.

I thought Janneke’s storyline was heartbreaking. She suffered so much trauma that I wondered how she coped at times. She suffered insane survivor’s guilt that manifested in nightmares. My heart broke for her because up to the middle of the book, she was existing. I didn’t blame Soren for what he did to her either. If I were in his position, I would have done the same thing. I also liked that the author had Janneke deal with her issues. I cried during that scene but it needed to be done.

I didn’t like Lydian for 90% of the book. He was insane and evil. What he did to Janneke was awful. But, when Soren explained what happened to Lydian when he was younger, I felt pity for him. It didn’t excuse what he did to both Soren and Janneke but it explained a lot.

The plotline with the hunt for the White Stag was well written. I didn’t get why Janneke had such a connection to it at first. But the more I got into the book, the more the connection was explained. I was still surprised by what happened at the end of the book. I was not expecting that.

The end of White Stag was interesting. So many questions were answered. The author did a great job at ending some plotlines but leaving others open. There was a definite lead in for book 2 and I can’t wait to read it!!!

I gave White Stag a 5-star review. This is one of the best takes on the Erlkonig poem that I have read to date. I connected with each character. The plotlines were beautifully written. I couldn’t find anything to nitpick about either. A fantastic book!!

I would give White Stag an Adult rating. There is sex (not graphic). There is language. There is extreme violence. There are triggers. They would be rape and survivor’s guilt. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book. There is a graphic rape scene. There is are also several graphic battles.

I would reread White Stag. I would also recommend this book to family and friends. I would include a warning about the triggers.

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review White Stag.

All opinion stated in this review of White Stag are mine.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!

White Stag has been one of my most anticipated 2019 reads since I first saw the cover. I'm a sucker for anything goblin related. (The tall, handsome kind, of course.) This book ended up leaving me with extreme mixed feelings. On one hand, magic and goblins and romance! On the other hand, there were definitely some issues.

The most important thing that needs to be mentioned before anything else is that this book contains a ton of abuse including rape. It is discussed at length and is a major source of the main character's development. If these are not topics you are comfortable reading about, this book is not for you. I've noticed this subject matter coming up in YA fantasy more often in the last couple years and, while I understand that it's a real-world issue, I do wish it could be toned down just a bit.

Moving on.

Janneke is the MC of this story, a human who has been given unnaturally long life. She has been living in the Permafrost for an extremely long time, essentially as a slave to the goblins. I thought she was a likeable character who was easy to sympathize with. She was also a very strong heroine who continued fighting from the start of the story until the very end, despite all that was thrown at her. And it was a lot.

The first goblin to enslave Janneke is Lydian, the absolute worst villain I think I've read about in awhile. He has not a single redeeming quality. Usually even the worst villains are able to make you remember something about them fondly, but not this one. This one is solely responsible for the aforementioned abuse. Janneke is then passed to Soren, Lydian's nephew, who does treat her much better, but is still her captor at the end of the day.

Soren and Janneke together were difficult for me to wrap my head around. I did like Soren as a character, mostly because he's the type weird goblin character I enjoy, but it took him far too long to give Janneke the agency she deserved. Characters who make decisions for another person based on what they think is best are one of my biggest pet peeves and Soren fit that mold for sure. It was also very strange to see characters who had known each other for a century act like total strangers. I did warm up to them eventually, but I felt that their relationship could have been better tackled.

My other main gripe is the overabundance of deus ex machina. While I am able to suspend my disbelief a great deal for a fantasy novel, especially ones about beautiful goblins, there were just too many instances of characters being saved in the nick of time through absolutely ridiculous means. I want my main characters to save themselves because they're badasses, not because they have to stay alive by any means necessary for the sake of the plot.

Now for what I loved about White Stag: the world. In the world of the Permafrost, the Erlking (Goblin King) lives in a palace until he's killed, and the white stag disappears, thus starting the hunt which will determine the next Erlking. I am SO here for this kind of magical, frosty fantasy world full of magical creatures and beasts. The white stag itself was a fascinating bit of mythology. I loved the uniqueness of the hunt and the passing on of power. Janneke and Soren's journey was filled with fantastic places and creatures, battles and excitement.

Overall, I did enjoy White Stag! It certainly had its issues, but it was also a pretty unique fantasy novel with an amazing world and really cool creatures. I also really enjoyed the two main characters even if they took awhile to win me over as a couple. If you enjoy goblin books and fantasy, you will probably like this one!

Actual rating: 3.5 stars