At first, this was very confusing. I wasn't sure who the first person narrator was. It did take me a bit to really get into this. However, by the first 50 pages, I was absolutely hooked.

This is a fresh narrative coming from a POV that is very interesting. The main character, Janneke(Janneka) has a lot of angst but it isn't the typical teenager angst you might expect. She's an unusually old teen having lived a century as a thrall to a goblin lord. She's gone through some awful things that are not glossed over (truly sensitive types might need to talk this out.) Her current owner/lord, Soren, is transparent in how he treats Janneke(a) but she is blind to his interest.

Thank goodness this isn't another triangle love story. Soren and Janneka have only themselves in the way of this romance. But romance is not the true theme of this book. This is about a hunt, a White Stag, and the kingship of the Permafrost. Watch for subtle and not-so-subtle references to Scandinavian mythology.

As I said, this book hooked me. I will be looking for the next one with great interest. There is brutality in this book but none of it felt out of place to me. The final battle with Soren, Lydian (a really nasty piece of work even for a goblin), the White Stag, and Janneke(a) was a nail-biter. And I did not see the ending that came. Not at all. I was shocked by it.

I think Barbieri should be watched. If this is her debut, then she's already hit a homerun to start.

**Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this title!**

Janneke was the last child in a long line of daughters, and was raised as the male heir to the family, given the male pronunciation of her name, and taught to hunt, track, and fight. She was raised as a boy and while that rankled her when she was a child, it instilled in her a survivor's instincts, which is what kept her alive when the rest of her village was burned to the ground, and during these last 100 years as a goblin slave.

At first, Janneke was mistreated and almost killed by a twisted goblin named Lydian, in the magical new land of the Permafrost. After besting him in a fight, she was given as a gift to his much kinder nephew, Soren, who actually treats her with respect. But that was almost 100 years ago, and now Janneke is dismayed to find that she is actually starting to absorb some of the magic of the Permafrost and turn into a goblin herself.

And that is when the Erlking dies, and the hunt for the white stag - the contest by which the next king is named - begins. In a fight to the death, can there ever be a real winner?

**MY NOTES** Okay, I love this book. Janneke is not a perfect character, and not always likeable, but that's okay, because she's HUMAN! (At least, for now.) The amount of trauma she went through would leave a mark on anyone, and Janneke has as many emotional as physical scars to deal with. Can you blame her for wanting to hold on to scraps of the past (including the actual scrap that is the iron nail - both the last remnant of her village that she has, and the tool she used to defeat Lydian)? I certainly can't.

This has been a hard review to write. There is so much that I truly found myself loving about this book, but also quite a bit that I found myself disliking. The main character is unique in the sense that she has suffered from so much at the hands of the goblins, but happens to be turning into a monster herself. I found her backstory to be interesting, but almost overdone. The suffering that she went through really added to her as a character, however parts of the torture felt as if it was just for shock value. Some of the things mentioned, should not be taken lightly and could upset some readers. The supporting characters added a lot to the story. I loved the different creatures that were shared throughout the book. Some of them were really interesting to me.

I had a bit of issue with the world building, there was so much that I could not picture. When goblins were first mentioned, I immediately pictured something more on the grotesque side. Goblins, in my mind, have never been beautiful or alluring. It was an odd twist that I did find myself liking. The only other part that I had a difficult time with was the overall story of the stag.

Overall, I truly did enjoy reading White Stag. I really cannot wait to read the next book in the series!

A beautifully written story that fits well into the dark YA fey genre that has the feel of ACOMAF by Sarah J Maas (though much tamer, actual YA not NA). I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to fans of Wintersong and ACOTAR series who still enjoy these types of books (Like me!), but if you’re looking for something unique to the genre because you’ve read it all, this may leave you wanting.

A young woman was taken from her family by monsters, the ghouls. Time has gone by and she has survived. Now the ghoul who murdered her family is trying to become king. If he succeeds he will have the power to kill her.
While this took me a little bit to finish, I did find it to be interesting. There was some cool world building. Some interesting philosophical questions are also in the story. I will say there were some parts of the story I figured out but there was a surprise ending which I always appreciate.

Overall this was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it.

This isn’t your typical YA drivel. I don’t even know that this is YA. Is this YA? Hang on. Let me go look. Yikes. This is considered YA? I wouldn’t classify it as such, although it does have very slight moments of teen angst-y stuff, but they are few and very far between, and obviously I had to stop and go look to even see if this book was considered YA. There are several scenes and depictions of violent rape and torture in this book, which is why I wondered at the YA classification, however, they are not gratuitous, nor are they overly detailed so I can kind of see how it still lands in the category. Janneke is a heroine for the ages. She is a take no prisoners, take charge, ass kicker of a woman that knows what she wants and doesn’t shy away from a fight. I really like this character. She’s fleshed out, flawed, vulnerable, angry, and soft at the same time. And the male protagonist is fun too. He’s a perfect counterpoint for her. Seppo is fun, he’s a goofy addition to the pair and I’m looking forward to seeing him in future novels, I hope he makes an appearance in the second book. I’m looking forward to more of this series, and am very glad this is just the beginning of Janneke’s adventures. This is a breath of fresh air in the very stale YA fantasy genre.

The dark atmosphere and wonderful writing had me at the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading. The story gave me so many feelings and I am so excited to reread it already!

Fantasy is probably my favorite book genre , so this was right up my alley. A story about a young girl who is taken from her home by a goblin, Lydian. He is very cruel to Janneke. Eventually, he gives her to his nephew, Soren. The story revolves around these three major characters as well as some minor but important other characters. A story filled with a lot of action and adventure, and a bit of romance. My first goblin story and I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to future books by this author!

Although 'White Stag' is very well-written, it is too dark of a fantasy for my taste. Monsters and goblins can be fun, as seen in the 1986 movie, Labyrinth. "White Stag' is clearly not 'Labyrinth'. A certain amount of mental abuse was to be expected, going into this book, for a young lady kidnapped by goblins so long ago. However, there was far too much needless physical and sexual abuse to be enjoyable at all.

When first reading the reviews for this book I saw a review that mentioned rape and was pretty apprehensive about reading this.

First off: There is rape, it doesn't happen during the book but it is implied and there are physical and emotional after effects that the MC goes through. From my understanding the author is a victim herself so it being included in the story makes sense to me.
I will say though that I think it is rather harsh about it, not in the way it is portrayed but in the bluntness of the MC and how she explains how it happens. So it might be a trigger for some people.

Aside from that, I really loved this book. The world was expansive, the characters were interesting and I really loved the story. There's quite a lot to this though with so many types of monsters, I think this would have been better as a trilogy instead of a duology so there could have been more expansion on the world and the frost.

The MC is resilient and hard headed and relatable and endearing and being in her mind was interesting.

I will say that the, and this is a spoiler, but Soren seemed far removed from a goblin. In he beginning we see a little bit of their differences in nature with human versus goblin traits but we didn't see too much of it as it continues on in the story. I would have liked more expansion on him and why he is the way he is.

Wow, did I have issues with this book! First of all trigger warnings for: rape, abuse, torture, violence and self-harm.
We're looking at a mix between "The Beauty and the Beast" and "The Cruel King" by Holly Black with Goblins.
I read up to 65% of the book and hoped it would get better (or looking if it got any worse) and I had to let it go.

I had so many questions throughout the story and many things didn't add up:

-What exactly are the court rules in the goblin kingdom?
- How does changing from a human into a goblin work exactly?
- How are the human world and goblin world connected. I mean I love maps, but if you don't have one for your world, providing a bit more info would have been nice.
- If Goblins live like thousands of years, why are they not smarter or more evolved than what they are?
- Janneke uses her iron nail to self-harm in the beginning and it is explained that Soren would feel it through their "bond" if she's hurting herself, but she cannot kill herself?
- What is the reason for this story? Is it a love story? Because it is super creepy and Soren is the main creep in the story. He watched Janneke being born and grow up and now has a thing for her. Ugh! Gross!
- I tried to find out Janneke's motivation, what I get is this (quotes from the book): she only wants to survive because of "the fire raging in her" and "Maybe I didn't know exactly why I wanted to live or what my place in this world would be..."

Sorry but that doesn't cut it for me. Your whole village was burned, raped and chopped to pieces, you were raped, tortured, abused (one of your breasts was cut off for heaven's sake!!) and lived as a slave for about 100 years and cannot escape the goblin world and this is the only thing that makes you want to live?! A fire raging in you?!

And let's be hones, isn't this a bit overkill? It's like as if the author was thinking: "How can I make the most horrible things happen to my main character?" Let's combine every horrible thing that I can think of and slap it on my main character.
But it's so unbelievable that I cannot even like, pity or root for Janneke.
The only thing we get from Soren are creepy comments. No depth whatsoever to the characters or the world building.
I just cannot recommend this book to anyone.

Wish I could say I enjoyed this one I had high hopes for it. This book is lacking in so many areas. No World building at all, No back story none! I spent more time trying to understand the story and fill in the blanks that I couldn’t get into the book!

17 year old Janneke is taken captive after her village is burned to the ground by goblins. She spends many torturous years with a cruel goblin before being gifted to his nephew as a slave. After a showdown between the two aforementioned goblins, an opening for a new Goblin King emerges, setting the different factions against each other in a hunt for power and, for some, simply survival.

I really loved that the author was inspired by and included many elements of Nordic mythology into the story. It helped to more clearly visualize the overall setting and many of the “creatures” that pop up along the way. Goblins playing the starring role as a species that is monstrously beautiful was an interesting change of pace from the usual faerie-centric books that are so popular in this genre.

The relationship between the main female protagonist, Janneke, and her mysterious captor, Soren, was rather confusing. They seemed to very quickly have a total about-face in feelings towards each other which was not set up enough for the union to be that emotionally satisfying. I didn’t get enough of a sense of who each of these characters truly were to be super invested. More of the story could have been relegated to building those emotional stepping stones (I’m hoping there’s additional background coming in a subsequent installment) instead of the constant action scenes: which brings me to my very next point…

There was a lot of fighting in this book. Like, a LOT. By my count, Janneke should have bled to death about six times. Every time we turned around, there was someone/something waiting to physically attack us. The drama of it all became a bit repetitive, which lowered the tension considerably.

I did love all of the nods to Nordic folklore, and I thought the setting and the creatures were delightful. Also, some of the side characters (especially the halfling Seppo) were a treat. However, I wasn’t a huge fan of the relationship between the two main characters and I could really have done with about 68% less dramatic fight scenes. Overall, I would probably recommend this story to someone with a love of Norse mythology who is looking for a fairly quick dark fantasy novel. As for me, I’m on the fence about returning for the sequel.

I am partial to a good goblin story. There is a lot of fae and vampire stories, so I am quite glad goblins seem to be having their moment, too. This book mixes the German myth of the Erlking (Goblin King) and some North myths too into this fantasy story. The creatures we are presented to in this first installment are so, so interesting! There is also a classic adventure feel to this book when it comes to the way the plot goes, with a few mini-plots in the middle where the heroes must complete dangerous tasks to be granted favors. With such rich background, I had hoped for a more atmospheric read, and the world building done in a more patient way, showing us what to expect of the creatures, of the goblins themselves, of the dangers of the forest. I was a bit frustrated that White Stag basically throws the characters into places and situations and that it all the world building we get.

A short note on the goblins, though: why can’t they lie? I accept that the author made them tall and beautiful for the sake of storytelling, but goblins are supposed to be mischievous creatures, greedy, malicious. So it was strange to see them turned into basically sexy human with powers… like other creatures in YA do when there will be romance with a human later on. *sigh*

It’s a trend in YA to begin the story in the middle of some action scene with high stakes, but that comes with the price of flashbacks throughout the story to fill in the blanks. Instead of easing into the story and warming to the characters, we are told to like them. This also applies to the romance of the book, which is all but explicitly implied already in the beginning of the story and made me wrinkle my nose – this smells like Stockholm syndrome again. And in a YA book, that is very dangerous. I can “accept” that for an adult book, like A Court of Thorns and Roses and Wintersong, but in young adult, I wish the author had been more careful.

Which leads us to: there is a sex scene. It’s not explicit, and it’s quite romantic, but… it felt so strange. Not because of how the scene was described, but the fact that it existed at all. Among the horrors that Janneke had to endure with her first master, brutal rape was the one that stuck to her mind the most. And while it has been 100 years, she talked about it in a way that felt very fresh. I’m not saying it isn’t possible that she would want and enjoy sex with a goblin after one tortured her that way, but for me, the reader, it felt too fresh. I would have preferred that happening in book 2 or 3, so that we had more time to watch her grow more at ease with her feelings and desires.

I really enjoyed the story, although I wished all the things above where different. It’s an interesting young adult book where the main character look and behaves (more or less) like a 17-year-old, but she’s actually over 100 years old when the book starts. Also some things didn’t feel like they belong in YA – there is torture, rape is mentioned very often, PTSD, there’s kidnapping, murder, slavery… the way those things are dealt with is too early to judge – there are a couple more books coming out for this series. While I am curious to see how the open points of this first installment are going to be answered on the next books, I am not sure I’m captivated enough by the story to continue reading.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review - all opinions are my own.

Janneke, as the seventh daughter in her family, is raised as a male heir would be, learning to hunt, provide, and protect the family. Growing up close to the Permafrost where goblins and other magical creatures live, Janneke and her family live in constant hate and fear of the monsters. When her village is pillaged and destroyed, the only one left alive is Janneke and she is carried off to become a (thrall) slave to a sadistic but incredibly powerful goblin.

After enduring unimaginable abuse (including repeated rape - which is referred to but not described in detail), Janneke is dumped at the feet of her captor's nephew and left to die. The nephew, Soren, nurses Janneke back to health and takes her in, making her his companion (as in following him around and providing company and advice, not as an "escort" service), Janneke struggles with survivor's guilt, what it means to be a family member and a friend, and ultimately to determine what love itself is and her chosen path in life.

I enjoyed the aspects of Norse mythology. I enjoyed the strength of Janneke's character (especially as she grew throughout the novel), and I enjoyed the plot twists that I hadn't seen coming. However, there were also predictable parts and what I though was an unnecessary repetition and rehashing of the abuse Janneke suffered. It felt like every time the author got stuck, she fell back on Janneke having a small panic attack to remind us how much she had overcome. So, this one gets 4 stars instead of 5. Still, if you are a fan of Norse mythology, YA paranormal fantasy, or strong female protagonists, give this one a try! Definitely recommended.

I liked it, but it had issues. Just like our main character.

She was raised as a boy even though she didn’t identify as one. But she grew up in a loving and happy home. And then a monster destroyed it all. It’s all very messed up.

Nearly a century later, she finds herself straddling an uncomfortable line between her human and monster worlds.

It was an engaging read. The goblins were an interesting twist from the typical fantasy story. But some of this world seemed nonsensical and overly complicated. I think it was too short a book to cover all the world building and relationship building. And at the same time, it devoted time to superfluous scenes.

The main character suffers a lot of trauma. I think the author does a good job of handling a difficult topic. You truly get a sense of a survivor. Our heroine clearly elicits respect.

So I found it unnecessary how the author repeatedly took the extra steps to have other characters spell out how amazing she was. All of it was already implied with various nuances. It doesn’t need to be force fed to us in odd dialogue.

I feel like I’m complaining a lot, but I honestly like it. So thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This novel is a decently-written Young Adult fantasy. Familiar creatures — mostly from Norse mythology — inhabit a believable magical world. They fight for power among themselves, destroy human villages, and kidnap humans to make their creative servants. Goblins are the primary movers and shakers of the “fae” realm (the Permafrost), but plenty of other Norse creatures also show up. The heroine, Janneke, is a human slave taken captive at age 17 when she survived the destruction of her village, and she has lived unaging for 100 years. Her initial captor and first master, Lydian, was an insane and powerful prophet who tortured and raped her until she was able to injure him. Soren, Lydian’s hated nephew, is now her master and treats her with unusually high regard.

The story is full of ancient beings using modern patterns of speech. In fact, aside from subtle differences in the level of sarcasm or insanity, Soren (after the first few chapters), Lydian, Elvira, Helka, Rekke, and Seppo all spoke with essentially the same written voice that wasn’t notably different from Janneke’s in sentence structure or phrasing. I would have appreciated more differentiated manners of talking.

Janneke has a LOT of flashbacks. Some are essential exposition of the past. Some are remembering in no explicit detail torture and rape. She is a survivor, and the things that happened to her are relevant to the story, but readers who are survivors should be aware before reading.

I enjoyed seeing Janneke learn to accept herself, to choose to be more than the sum of her past, and to choose to grow and to see past surfaces and labels.

This book was interesting in spite of some immaturity in the writing and plot, making it a decent young adult novel. It felt on par with the quality of Percy Jackson or Hunger Games, though not as polished as many other awarded novels in the genre, and it was better than the majority of self-published or Wattpad material. I hope the rest of the series gets published.

3.5 out of 5 (rounded up to four for interest in a sequel)

I found myself struggling with this book. Janneke is a human girl surviving in a twisted land of mythical creatures that values power above all else. There is a stark contrast between the older generation and the likes of Lydian and the younger generation that includes Soren and how they go about showing that power. It doesn't help that the story itself just starts, the stag has risen, the king is dead and the hunt is on.

Janneke's time with Lydian was very short, just eight months, but it dictates the entire story. Janneke was tortured both physically and mentally. Eight months may seem like a moment over a hundred years but a moment is all it takes to stay with a person forever. What we don't see is the other side, what happens in her time with Soren it is only ever described in passing it would have been really nice to see more of him interacting with others. It would have been easier to connect with him as a character if we saw him outside of just his interactions with Janneke. This whole story is very central to Janneke overcoming her personal traumas and does little to expand on the world itself. Even interactions with other creatures are all central to Janneke reliving and overcoming her traumas. The hunt seems so important but characters just take days doing random nothing tasks. The world as a whole is fascinating but its background noise that never feels like it fully belongs to the story.

Perhaps I'm in a minority on this, but I really wished Lydian has been explored more, sounds like thats possible in the next book. Soren seems to reference that something traumatized his uncle, creating a monster who seems to be going mad with what knowledge he was given. This madness combined with his dark nature sometimes comes off as terrifying (particular when he keeps asking the same question over and over again) other times left me wondering why anyone would be terrified of him or even bother following him.

Overall, I did like the book. It wasn't a fav but it left enough dangling at the end to make me interested in a sequel. Hopefully the author can expand on the world that she has created.

I don't usually like books like this with goblins but I thought I take a stab at this one. This is an interesting story line, but I really had a hard time getting into the book. Conversations between the characters just felt unnatural and weird.

I really enjoyed this book! It kept me intrigued and engrossed all the way to the end- my only problem with it was the actual ending- it didn't make sense for the MC to be turned into the stag. Logistics aside (how is a human going to deal with having huge antlers all of a sudden?), if the MC loves with the new king, she'll see him be killed by the next king- doesn't that make her prone to dislike/ hate the next king which would make her not want to help him? Is she not able to procreate/ have the king's heir? The ending left me very confused. But I loved everything else.

I'll be leaving 4 star reviews on Amazon, B&N and left a review already on Goodreads. I also plan to post about this book on my blog/ bookstagram