Beasts of the Frozen Sun by Jill Criswell

Beasts of the Frozen Sun (The Frozen Sun Saga, #1)

by Jill Criswell

Burn brightly. Love fiercely. For all else is dust.

Every child of Glasnith learns the last words of Aillira, the god-gifted mortal whose doomed love affair sparked a war of gods and men, and Lira of clan Stone knows the story better than most. As a descendant of Aillira and god-gifted in her own right, she has the power to read people’s souls, to see someone’s true essence with only a touch of her hand.

When a golden-haired warrior washes up on the shores of her homeland—one of the fearful marauders from the land of the Frozen Sun—Lira helps the wounded man instead of turning him in. After reading his soul, she realizes Reyker is different than his brethren who attack the coasts of Glasnith. He confides in her that he’s been cursed with what his people call battle-madness, forced to fight for the warlord known as the Dragon, a powerful tyrant determined to reignite the ancient war that Aillira started.

As Lira and Reyker form a bond forbidden by both their clans, the wrath of the Dragon falls upon them and all of Glasnith, and Lira finds herself facing the same tragic fate as her ancestor. The battle for Lira’s life, for Reyker’s soul, and for their peoples’ freedom has only just begun …

Reviewed by Leigha on

3 of 5 stars

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Lira falls in love with Reyker, a man from beyond her shores, in this young adult fantasy romance.

First, let me just say my eARC of Beasts of the Frozen Sun was poorly formatted. The dialog ran together multiple times, few of the sentences had proper formatting, and the page numbers were occasionally inserted into the middle of the page. It made for a very disjointed read. While I enjoyed the book enough to keep reading, my rating/review has most likely been impacted by the actual experience of reading it.

I’m struggling to write a review for this book. I liked so much about it, such as the overarching story and mythology. The star crossed lovers trope is one of my favorite. Lira and Reyker’s love story was beautifully done. As their love is the heart of the story, it had to be epic. Their growth from enemies to allies to lovers felt emotional and real. The mythology surrounding their love story was exquisitely detailed too.

And yet despite all the reasons to like the novel, I disliked so much about it. Way too much happens for anything to be given depth. The plot moves at a breakneck speed. The world building is massive, including various beings, cultures, and religions from across multiple locals. However, these various other societies didn’t feel complex or integral to the story. Like I said above, perhaps some of my issues with this book could have been perpetuated by the the poorly formatted eARC. It’s hard to say until a finished copy lands in my hands.

tl;dr A poorly formatted eARC left me feeling uncertain whether or not I actually liked this fantasy romance novel.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 21 February, 2019: Finished reading
  • 21 February, 2019: Reviewed