Lira is a soul reader, which means she can peer inside someone to see their secrets and sins-- quite valuable skill for the daughter of a chieftain. When we meet Lira, she's at a crossroads, unable to choose between two paths in front of her: getting married or joining a temple filled with others who have similar powers. When she finds a still living body washed on the beach, everything changes. The survivor is named Reyker, and he's a foreign berserker who Lira can tell is different from his bloodthirsty brethren. Lira and Reyker have met before, when Lira was taken from her home and Reyker saved her from his companion, a shockingly powerful and scary figure known as a the Dragon. Now, Lira saves Reyker by nursing him back to health. As she and Reyker spend time together, she realizes that, if she can't "bring Reyker into the light, the Dragon would crush us all."

Issues with this:
• I really dislike books were the purpose of the heroine is to redeem or transform the hero. It's 2019, and we can be our own heroes. This also seems somewhat ineffective-- after finishing the book, I'm at a loss about how Lira brought Reyker into the light.
• Not enough effective world-building. This involves the meeting of two cultures, one I assumed was possibly inspired by ancient British tribalism and one that seems Viking-esque. Maybe? Besides language barriers, I couldn't get a sense of how the two peoples are different or the scale of the conflict or anything.
• The two main characters, Lira and Reyker, meet at some point in the past, and it is totally unnecessary. The prior meeting hardly builds trust between the two characters, but it eats up page count and confuses the timeline.
• The two villains are incredibly flat.
• The mythology is key to the plot, but it didn't grip me in the slightest.
• The main characters are magically transported without explanation after bonking, and this infuriated me. It utterly spoiled any sense of distance and scale, prevents the characters from meaningfully discussing what happened between them, and it smacks of the fast travel issues in later seasons of Game of Thrones.

Some books aren't for me, and this one definitely wasn't for me.

Sigh. Beasts of the Frozen Sun started out so good. It has a Tristan and Isolde vibe to it. Enemies. One injured and nursed back to help by the other. Time spent together. Feelings develop. Forbidden romance. All good, good things. I was so excited to keep reading this book.

Lira is god gifted. She's able to read people's souls. But Reyker is different. She's never experienced a soul like his before. Lira loves her family. But her father has been using her gift and using her in the process. She's faced with two choices: go to live at the temple or get married. She doesn't feel drawn to either path before her. And when Reyker washes up on her shore, everything changes.

Reyker. He's struggling with himself. Who he was, what he believes in, versus what he's done and allowed himself to do in order to survive have him at war with himself. Darkness and light in a constant battle. Lira can see to the core of who he is. She brings the light forth. From a writing standpoint, I struggled with Reyker's character. He's built up as being super strong. A beast, right? He's the Dragon's Sword. He's a weapon. And at times he describes himself as letting a black river take over--almost like he's given over to battle lust and can't be defeated. Yet time and time again, he's bested by those of Lira's people. This isn't even about Draki at this point.

And that leads me to my next point. I was thoroughly enjoying Beasts of the Frozen Sun until about the 4 or 5th time that Lira and/or Reyker was captured and held hostage. These two could never get ahead. They made the tiniest forward movement in their missions. I truly feel like this was a writing flaw. Too many bad things were happening to the characters that it almost leaves the reader without hope for them. And it creates doubt in their abilities. This means that when they ultimately do end up overcoming their obstacles in order to achieve their happily ever after, it's going to feel unrealistic. That after all of these failed attempts to escape, to make an impact, they all of a sudden succeed at what they've been failing at time and time again. I hope that is remedied in the future of the series.

The world-building for Beasts of the Frozen Sun was almost too complex. There are two nations, each with their own histories and gods. The acknowledgments state that Jill Criswell was inspired by George R R Martin. And I can certainly understand how his vast world-building would inspire her to do something similar. Yet his books were no less than 800 pages long, and after 5 books that's 5200 pages (almost). You can do quite a bit more world-building in that amount of pages than you can in 368 pages.

Beasts of the Frozen Sun started out wonderfully to me. Yet the further I read into the story the most disappointed I became. I do think I'll want to read more and finish the series at this point, but the characters had too many failures and setbacks. And the setbacks were basically the same thing over and over again. The characters get captured before they can accomplish much nearly every time they try to move forward. The characters are built up to be larger than life in how they're described, but when push comes to shove they fail over and over. I wanted to see something that would give me cause for hope. In the end, I think Beasts of the Frozen Sun gets 3.5 Stars. Have you read Beasts of the Frozen Sun? What did you think? Let me know!

<i> Beasts of the Frozen Sun </i> is one of those books I wish I'd read when I was a teenager. 15-year-old me would have lapped this book up, and then some.

When a stranger from the Land of the Frozen Sun washes up injured on the shores of Glasnith, Lira of Clan Stone makes a decision that will tear her from her own clan; rather than turn the stranger in, Lira heals him of his wounds in secret, realising he is not like the other invaders and beasts of the Frozen Sun as she knows them. Lira is gifted with the ability to see into the souls of others, and when she touches Reyker's soul, she sees a soul that needs to be healed and protected. Her decision starts a chain reaction that quickly pulls the pair into danger at every turn, her home plunges to war.

The first thing that got me about <i> Beasts of the Frozen Sun </i> was how in-depth the world-building is. Being a fantasy-lover through and through, I always appreciate the work that author goes to in order to create a fantasy world that feels like it could exist outside of the book. I felt that way about the island Glasnith and the mythology surrounding Aillira and Gwylor. I loved how it was essentially a story within a story, on the one hand we have the story of Lira and Reyker and on the other we have Aillira and Veronis - each distinct but at the same time intertwined. This was the main draw point of the book for me and will get me to return to the series if there's a sequel.

This book really is something that a younger version of me would have devoured at speed and probably would've been a favourite read for me - but being slightly older now and less prone to swooning at cute fantasy/romances, I felt more inclined to simply enjoy the book for what it was, and let myself be swept up in the world building and mythology of Glasnith and the Land of the Frozen Sun.

I give this read 3.5 stars and definitely recommend it to older teenage readers who enjoy fantasy/romance genres.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A well-built world with lovable characters and enough action and romance to please any fans of epic fantasy.

Lira and Reyker aren't supposed to fall in love. But when Lira saves Reyker because he saved her life once, they slowly fall for each other, overcoming the barrier of language and speaking with gestures and stories. Lira's kingdom of Glasnith considers the warriors of Islenede as enemies. As such, their relationship is forbidden, and has no chance of blooming. But Lira is a god-gifted soul reader and if anybody's got a chance to defy the gods... it's her.

I loved the dual narrative, especially Reyker's dark past, which made him a lovable character. Lira was more of a Mary Sue, but equally lovable. There was much more romance than I had anticipated. The action scenes were thrilling, but I thought the scenes repeated over and over, that it became an exhausting cycle of running, hiding, getting caught and fighting.

Fans of Epic Fantasy would surely love this amazing world and plot twists. The cliffhanger ending was satisfactory and yet makes you crave for the sequel.

Ever since reading Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young, I have been looking for more YA fantasy that features ancient mythology. Beasts of the Frozen Sun is inspired by both Celtic and Viking mythology, so I couldn’t wait to dive into this one!

Lira lives in Glasnith (a community comprised of several clans) and is the granddaughter of the Chieftain to the Stone clan. As with tradition, once the chieftain dies, the honor must pass on to another male with her family. This leaves Lira with two choices: 1) marry a man of her father’s choosing or 2) pledge herself to Aillira’s temple, a sanctuary for god-gifted women. Lira is god-gifted, but her abilities are unlike the typical gifts that are bestowed upon the women in her society. She can read souls. She can look into a person’s soul and tell you if they are lying. Her gift is exploited by her father who uses her to dictate whether an accused man is innocent or guilty.

Reyker barely has any redeeming qualities left. The prologue opens with the savage raids that he committed along the coast of Lira’s homeland. When he washes ashore, barely alive, Lira recognizes him as the boy who helped her escape the Dragon a lifetime ago. Since she owes him a life debt, she hides him away to nurse him back to health. She can’t trust him since he is one of the beasts of frozen sun…a member of the clan enemy to her own.

This story is violent. There’s bloodshed, abuse, attempted rape…everything that you would except in a mythological story of this time period. The author does a fantastic job of immersing you into this epic battle without holding back any of the gory details. I loved watching Lira and Reyker slowly peel away their layers of distrust. This is by no means a love at first sight type of pairing. They must learn to trust and respect each other if they are going to survive together.

Overall, this is a fantastic start to this new trilogy, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for my eARC. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.

Note: This is only a partial review. The full review is on my blog.

Beasts of the Frozen is not very different from the books that I normally read, and yet it is still unique in its own right. It's a YA novel that has elements of fantasy and an enemy-to-lover main plot-line. That's all it took for me to be intrigued. The fact that Reyker, the male lead of this novel, has a troubled past, filled with anguish and terror made it even better. I am a sucker for a good angsty story, with a lot of character development!

This was a very intriguing read. If you want to be exposed to a whole new world, with compelling lore and legends, you should definitely give this book a try.

Let me just say, the cover is what drew me in! Yes, I totally judged this book by its cover, and what a beautiful cover it is! 

Beasts of the Frozen Sun is Jill's debut novel and the first in a new fantasy trilogy that I'm really exited about! I really don't want to give anything away because it's such a beautifully written novel, clearly inspired by Celtic and Viking mythology and you need to experience it firsthand.

We follow the journey of two enemies: Aillira or Lira for short, the daughter of a Chieftain and Reyker, a warrior from a far distant, cold land from a clan known as Beasts of the Frozen Sun. Although, they meet in unfortunate circumstances, they create a bond that develops from hate to trust and then finally attraction and love.  It wasn't just about them though, there was just about everything you could possibly want in a YA fantasy; action, suspense, monstrous men, powerful women and meddling gods. It was well-rounded, imo. It felt very raw, and was unique. I love the world building and especially the character development, It was slow burning and swoon-worthy. Also, let me just say how flawless the transition was between first and third person point of views; between the two characters.

But anyways!

I loved this so much, and I'm really, REALLY looking forward to where the author takes us in the rest of the series!

**For more reviews visit me at https://smadasbooksmack.blogspot.com/

Lira's 18th birthday is coming up soon and she is going to have to make a decision, to either marry to make an alliance for her clan or to join the sacred group of gifted women like herself. Lira has no idea what choice to make, but it seems like fate has thrown a different option in her path, one that will change her life forever. Reyker was taken as a child by the most evil warlord, raised to do his bidding and causing destruction on all those he crosses. But his one act of kindness, letting a child go, will be the one act that shapes his future.

Ok, I am pretty sure that Jill ripped out my heart and I never even saw it coming. I started this book, was moderately interested, absolutely in love with the cover which was one of the reasons I picked it up (it is so gorgeous, right??), and next thing I know, I was sucked into the book and never even saw it coming. Now, don't get me wrong, this was not an easy book, full of SO MUCH heartache and grief and suffering and torture, but at the same time it was the MOST romantic relationship I have read in a really long time. The characters don't even really admit their feelings or get together until like 76% into the story, but every small action and look and word just melted me and made me want to cheer them on. And sure, there are other issues (serious issues) like overall impending doom, a giant war, suspicious gods with hidden agendas, just to name a few problems.

This review will be brief (for me), I just have so many emotions I have no idea how to cope or to write words (coherently). I feel equally torn between needing a comforting hug and having the next book gift-wrapped and delivered to me asap so I can see how this whole hot mess will resolve. I am completely blown away by the writing, plot, character development and overall world building that Jill was able to create, and that this is her debut book is pretty dang amazing. I can't wait to see what she has in store for me next (but I will admit that I am a little concerned for Lira and Reyker's well-being because Jill does not pull any punches and nobody's safe it seems.) Beasts of the Frozen Sun is the perfect read for anyone who likes historical fiction a la vikings with mythology, gods and magic.

I reviewed a complimentary copy of this copy but I am now on the hunt to go find a signed hardcover to hug!

First off, the cover. So much love for the cover! The storyline was complex and will absolutely suck you in. The characters and everything about this book was so cool. Its seriously easily a top favorite book of mine!

“He is everything you fear, and worse. He is also everything you hope, and more.”

I was just halfway through Beasts of the Frozen Sun, and I already loved it so much I ordered a hardback copy. I'm both excited and furious that it's the first in a trilogy, because it means I'll get to spend two more books following Lira and Reyker's stories but also that I have to wait AN ENTIRE TWO YEARS to find out how it all ends! How has this story not gotten more press? Why is it not more popular?!?

I've discovered I really love this little sub-genre of fantasy, historical fantasy. The setting of this book reminded me somewhat of Sky in the Deep (which was awesome as well), but it goes much more in depth, not just in the geography but in the mythology and spiritual beliefs of the world. It's set in a very British Isles sort of locale, and the Dragonmen are obviously meant to be patterned off the Vikings - all this is pretty obvious even if you hadn't read the author's lovely page about the real world locations she patterned the book settings off.

As is fitting for the ancient British isles...there is a lot the modern reader might find disturbing in this book. There is violence, bloodshed, abuse, torture, near-rape, and horrible, vindictive and abusive gods. It does somewhat gloss over what I think would have actually happened in those times, probably to make it more suitable for a YA audience. But it's just barely done and doesn't really take away from the story.

Lira and Reyker are one of the few YA fantasy pairings I could actually get behind. It's not insta-love, and it's not perfect, but they respect each other and they compliment each other and yet they never seem to catch a break! I was rooting for them so hard by the end.

5/5 stars for Beasts of the Frozen Sun. I absolutely cannot WAIT for the second book!

Review will be posted on GoodReads and at the link below on 23 September.

Beasts of the Frozen Sun was a strong debut novel, and first in the trilogy, by Jill Criswell. I enjoyed the mythology that runs the story, with the gods playing with the little humans as pawns. Lira (a god-gifted soul reader) and Reyker’s (a lords son from another land) forbidden love is of course my favorite part of this story but overall I felt that most of the book was on repeat, running away and then getting caught, running away and getting caught. Reyker in my opinion had the most character development through the book so I’m hoping we see Lira develop more in the continuation. If you are a fan of Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young then you will probably enjoy this book too as it was very similar. Overall I give this book 3.5 stars.

I was provided with an electronic ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First off, I'm so in love with the cover of this book I can't hardly stand myself!

I'm going to leave the book review at 3 stars for now, but will probably read it again when the book is released. I loved the story line. I loved Lira and Reyker as well as a few more side characters in the book. I just felt like there was something missing or too much of one thing.

There is a bit of grimdark in this book and some things are graphic more so than others. I loved the mythology and the feeling I was watching an episode of Vikings at times. The thing is, the story felt like it was going in a loop. I wanted Lira, Reyker and a few others to get off the island and continue on with what they need to do. They just continued to get into trouble, get caught, get away, sneak around, get caught, get into trouble.....

Now even though people wandered around and things and people were killed here and there; there is still a great story there, in my opinion. Lira and Reyker are linked together for reasons and I'm hoping there is going to be a big ole otherworldly romance at some point. I mean as well as all of the killing and revenge and stuff =)

Overall, I liked it good enough for 3 stars and will continue on with the series and see what happens with all of his chaos that is going on with everyone!

I got this book for an honest review.
I loved it. I couldn’t put it down. There are so many plot twist that keeps you reading.

The story is about Lira and Reyker. Both from different clans but brought together by chance. Lira has a gift to read souls, and she has to make a choice to marry so her clan can keep using her for her gift. Or join the women from the Aillira’s temple. But before she can really make a choice there is a attack, and she losses both her brothers. But she finds a warrior, a giant from the frozen sun on the beach and she decides to help him. And after there both fight against the Warlord known as the Dragon. For her own life, Reykers and her people.

Thank you netgally, the publisher and Author for an arc.

Thanks so much to Netgalley for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! I kept putting off starting it for some reason. I assumed it was going to be kind of cheezy but that was not the case. The mythology aspect was very interesting as well as the forms of magic.

I liked Lira and Reyker's characters immensely and while the change in POV is a little jarring at first because of the change in narrative style, I quickly got used it. I got Celtic and Viking vibes from the setting (which I loved) and it had my favorite trope-enemies to lovers.

I will definitely be reading a sequel and rate this as more of a 4.4 star read!

So this book was pretty good. I won't say that it was amazing but it definitely kept my interest and me wanting to know what was going to happen next. What I really liked was the relationship that bloomed between Lira and Reyker. It was such a natural and sweet thing. But there was actually a lot of interesting things going on here.

Lira hasn't really had an easy life. What makes her life the hardest is the fact that her mother named her after a traitor god's love, so the village treats her like she causes nothing but problems. Her mother offered her life in exchange for Lira's when she was child, and her father has never forgiven Lira for that. But Lira also has a gift. She is able to look into a person's soul and glimpse their life. A power that her father has no problem exploiting when it comes to judging people. The good in her life comes from her brothers, both of whom always try to protect her. All her life she has heard stories of the beasts of the Frozen Sun, but when she comes across one still alive among the wreckage and death on the shore of her village she feels compelled to save him.

As a child, Reyker was raised well to be the next leader of his people. But his life becomes a living nightmare when his village is attacked by The Dragon. He watches his father get murdered right in front of him and from then on he is forced to do what The Dragon orders in order to protect himself and even to survive. Thrown into many battles, he loses himself to a battle rage where even he destroys all enemies in sight. But Reyker still has a conscious and he hates himself for everything he does while always trying to do the right thing when he can. He walks a very fine line between darkness and light. He never expected to be saved by the same girl he saved so many years ago.

The Dragon is obsessed with possessing every god-gifted female, and he has had his eyes on Lira for years. Reyker may think he saved her that day so long ago, but he only delayed the inevitable. When The Dragon and his armies arrive on Lira's continent and start slaughtering all of her people, she knows she needs to get Reyker out of there. Unfortunately by this point, their feelings for each other have already grown quite a bit and Reyker cannot leave without her. Now the two of them have to figure out a way of not letting the other get killed without exposing these feelings. Making things worse is that Lira's father is now basically possessed by an evil god who delights in human suffering. So she not only is trying to keep Reyker alive, but herself as well.

Things really started picking up toward the end of the book. We encounter more people with gifts, Lira learns that what she's been taught all her life is not the truth, and after making their love for each other clear for all around them Reyker and Lira end up getting separated. Which leads to a horrible ending that leaves you wanting to know what's going to happen with these two.

I can't really remember why this book looked appealing to me in the first place , other than I think I was under the impression their were actual beasts and dragons in it. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. In the beginning I found it pretty interesting but as I got deeper into the story it started to get boring. It really doesn't go anywhere, at least not enough to keep me interested.

I got a little tired of the repetitive nature of the story. It seemed like the main characters were constantly hiding from enemies and being captured. I ended up abandoning this at 87%. I know I was almost finished but I just realized that I really didn't care any more and felt like I was wasting my time.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book.

*Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I really wanted to love this one. The cover is gorgeous and the synopsis sounded right up my alley. Unfortunately, it wasn’t my cup of tea. There was nothing particularly wrong about it, and it certainly wasn’t bad. It just didn’t captivate me the way I was hoping.

The characters weren’t my favourite. Lira and Reyker weren’t terrible though. They were good, strong people who experienced growth and used logic and loved each other very much. I just personally wasn’t very enamoured by them and wasn’t that concerned about what would happen to them. But like I said, they weren’t bad characters, I just didn’t personally mesh with them.

The writing however was great. I think Jill Criswell really knows how to develop a fantasy world and its magic system at a rate that allows you to be invested in the story itself yet be able to learn all the details you need to know as you go along so you’re never left confused. She never info-dumped for pages on end, which let’s be real, can ruin a book real quick. And damn, does she know how to write in detail. The war and torture scenes in the book were very vivid.

My main issue with this book was the way the story progressed. I found that it kept moving around in the exact same pattern. Danger is on the horizon. Then things go well. But oh wait, out of nowhere something awful happens. Then Lira is good. Things seem normal. Repeat. After a short time it made things predictable. You may not have known exactly what would happen down to the last detail, but you could figure out the overall idea and know when something good or bad was going to occur.

Overall it was a good book, and I would suggest that any YA fantasy fan, whose interest is piqued by this synopsis, pick it up. It just wasn’t my style.

Lira is a soul reader, one of the magic blessed Daughters of Alliria. Distrusted by her clan for her powers Lira's must either choose a husband or go to the Temple to join the Daughters. But Lira doesn't want to chose either. When a shattered shipwreck of invaders washes up on their shore, Lira finds one alive. Saving Reyker sets her on a path she never intended and she will have to face invaders, monsters and gods intent on destroying everything she loves.

I started this book and all I could think was please not Tristan and Isolde, please not Tristan and Isolde. The beginning could be but it does quickly change into something else. Reyker is so much better than Tristan and Lira is not a martyr. There is a distinct Celtic/Norse flavor to the novel that I enjoyed but this is definitely a fantasy. I enjoyed the world building and the mythology is interesting. The pacing is good and there is a lot of action.

I liked it and I am looking forward to the sequel

“𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒑𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌. 𝑶𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏."

This book started out good and promising. But then when am almost halfway, the story just started to be a little dragging for me. It lost all the good pace it has at the beginning of the book.

Like many stories, Beasts of the Frozen Sun had its highs and lows. Some of its highs are that it was both epic and dark. It had an immersive action from the prologue to the end. It was a fast-paced and an easy two day read that I surprisingly liked.

The worldbuilding gives me a very Viking vibe and it was softly detailed meaning it was not the main focus but it was touched upon enough to give an idea of here one was.

Some of the lows are the transitions and the actions and ways of the characters. There were parts where the story jumped to another section without warning throwing me off course.

I believe people who enjoyed Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young or Dark of the West by Joanna Hathaway will enjoy this story as well.

Lira: gods-gifted soul reader is like many heroines. Stubborn and "holds the breath she didn't know she was holding." There is not much to her unfortunately besides that. Also would it kill to have one heroine that just accept their fates and listened to people' sound advice instead of going their very clear wrong way.

Reyker: he is meant to be seen as a monster on the outside and a softie on the inside but to me, he is a softie inside and out. He was just forced to do so imaginable things to survive.