White Stag by Kara Barbieri

White Stag (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.

Reviewed by layawaydragon on

2 of 5 stars

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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.

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  • 15 December, 2018: Reviewed