Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this review copy of Goblin King by Kara Barbieri.
Goblin King is the sequel to YA high fantasy White Stag,
Goblin King takes place in the land of Permafost and Janneke is now the Stag and her lover Soren is the Erlking. The coming together of the Stag and Erlking is part of a prophecy that creates chaos in the Permafrost universe and could mean the end of their world. In order to save everyone and everything they love they are forced to travel to Hel and bargain for the shade of their enemy Lydian. The trip to Hel is fraught with danger and the stakes are very high.
This is a fast paced novel that many fantasy lovers should enjoy. Janneke is an enjoyable main character as are Soren and the supporting cast. The trip to Hel is very exciting and there are a monstrous creatures and other forces trying to keep the gang from achieving their goal. The Nordic mythology and lore creates a unique backdrop to their story although the modern language and expressions is jarring to me personally.
I recommend this one to fantasy lovers of all ages.

I picked up the first book in the Permafrost series, White Stag, last year with high hopes and ended up disappointed. While I did like Janneke as a protagonist and think Barbieri had some great concepts, the plot fell flat for me and I disliked the way the dialogue was written. However, I did want to learn more about the Permafrost and see what happens to Janneke, so I requested Goblin King. The first thing I realized when picking it up is that I could barely remember the first book. I knew the main characters, Janneke and Soren, and the major plot points, but I couldn't remember any of the side characters or the details of the story. This didn't bode well, and I ultimately found this book even more disappointing than the first.

My biggest problem with the first book was that the plot consists of just jumping from one fight or crisis to another, and that continues in this book. Our main characters must journey into Helheim to free Lydian's shade in order to keep Ragnarök at bay, and the whole book is just them fighting one thing in Helheim after another. It almost felt like a video game where you have to continuously fight small enemies until you reach the boss. While that's great for a video game to build up level and experience, it doesn't work for a novel. I got bored quickly and the stakes felt low. I never feared for their safety or worried how the fight would affect the main plot.

I might have been able to deal with the constant fighting if there had been meaningful dialogue and character development in between. However, I found it lacking on the front as well. The majority of the dialogue was just banter between the characters and didn't contribute to the development of them or their relationships. I didn't feel like I knew any of the characters; I didn't understand their motivations, personalities, or relationships. At first I thought this was because I couldn't remember so much of the first book. But it turns out several of the characters aren't in White Stag; yet they are introduced in Goblin King as if we know them already. In the first book, I found that some of the dialogue felt too modern for the setting, and that carried over tenfold here. The characters are supposed to be centuries old and living in a Norse inspired world, but they sound like modern teenagers.

Janneke was my favorite part of White Stag. She's endured all kinds of physical and sexual abuse and struggles with PTSD, suicidal ideation, and an eating disorder. I found her well-written and relatable. Barbieri discusses in the author's note that she shares similar struggles, and I love finding own voices mental health representation, especially in fantasy. A large part of White Stag is Janneke working through her trauma and finding self-acceptance. Really, this was what made me want to continue with the series. But I felt all the issues were glossed over in Goblin King. Janneke's eating disorder is mentioned once and never again. The way she interacts with Lydian made no sense to me considering her earlier reactions to him. This is someone who raped, tortured, and mutilated her and who she could barely stand to be around. But she quickly accepts that she has to deal with him and even engages in witty banter with him. It didn't match what I knew of Janneke from the first book. It was as if she was interacting with an entirely different character.

Overall, I liked Goblin King even less than the first book and will not be continuing the series. The problems I had with White Stag were amplified and everything I liked was extremely downplayed. There's an audience who will enjoy this series; it just isn't me.

Goblin King is an admirable sequel to White Stag. The book follows a very similar format of its predecessor, Goblin King includes a fair amount of action, but is ultimately an examination of emotion and healing. This book is much more character-driven than many other fantasy books but excels at integrating fantastical elements in a story that is ultimately the story of a young woman healing.

For those who have read White Stag, and those who are fans of Norse Mythology, this is a worthwhile read.

The family of friends that was thrown together and survived THE WHITE STAG return in this sequel that will test their loyalty to their principles and to each other as they are thrown into battle with the goblins. Their journey will lead them to question if they are the best fit to defeat their long time foes and win back their glory. As in the first book, the Permafrost itself is a character in this story. A harsh, unforgiving landscape designed to kill the weak and unfit. Readers can lose track of time as they travel along with this crew on their mission to save the world they know.

The second entry in the Permafrost series details life after the Hunt for the Stag. Janneke is still learning how to integrate her life with power of the stag.
The sequel is a little slower action wise. There is much introspection as Janneke learns to live with The Stag and use it's power. But that's not to say there aren't more battles against Norse creatures. Janneke's journey to save the world and find herself takes her and her friends on a perilous journey that ramps the excitement.
I thought this was a good follow up. I loved that it didn't end on a cliff hanger just a plot for the next book to begin with. When you read The Goblin King, you get a whole and self contained story. It does get you hyped for the next one, but concludes the arc the book began.
Kara Barbie creates a magical, grim world where the reality of the moral spectrum becomes flesh. It is also beautiful in the snowy world it creates and capturing joy in a hard world. The Goblin King is a great follow up to White Stag.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC.

I stumbled upon White Stag, the first title in this series by accident, initially thinking it was part of another series. Imagine my surprise when I began reading and discovered that it was a completely different series!

However, given how quickly I became immersed in the story and invested in the success of Janneke and Soren, and the way their story lingered with me, my enjoyment was a forgone conclusion. So it’s not surprising that not only was I delighted when I saw Goblin King on Netgalley but that it too, grabbed hold of my imagination and my enjoyment was once again, assured.

With both favourite and hated characters making a reappearance this title heavily features Norse mythology as the protagonists’ venture into Hel...

4.5 stars

Like with its predecessor I enjoyed Goblin King, but I didn’t love it. Just like the first book there were so many inconsistencies. Like where her new friends came from. And how did she go from hating Goblins and all of Permafrost for 100 years to then just getting over that ad liking it. You don’t pout that much hatred and resentment for 100 years to just get over it. I will say just like White Stag I liked the quest or adventure part of the novel. The action and pace keeps you engaged and wanting to know what happens next. Overall, Goblin King is an adequate novel just like it’s previous book in the trilogy that doesn’t add anything more to the series like sequels should.

I had mixed feelings about the first book and was kind of interested in how the second book was going to further the norse mythology. It was well done and definitely brought in more elements. I was just not as attached to the characters as I thought I would be.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kara Barbieri, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read Goblin King in exchange for an honest review.

Goblin King is the second installment to the Permafrost series following White Stag. I loved White Stag and thought the premise was quite enjoyable, so I was greatly looking forward to reading the sequel. Alas, there were a few things that made this book a little lackluster.

Let's talk about the plot first. This picks up where the first book left off in that Soren is now the Erlking and Janneke is now the Stag. Lydian still haunts Janneke's mind, and when she learns that she and Soren will be the bringers of Ragnarok, they must go to Hel to find Lydian's shade to help stop it, as Janneke isn't quite able to tune in to her Stag powers just yet.

There is a good amount of Norse mythology mixed in, as there were in the first book. That's fine and fun. So why do I give this book a 3/5? There were just a couple of things that really lowered my reception of this book. One was the characterization. It didn't feel quite as strong as the first book, with the characters not really feeling quite right. Lydian didn't feel like the sinister nasty as the first book, and he should not have been as mellow as he was. Janneke felt very immature. Yes her body reflects that of a 17 or 18-year-old girl from when she was brought into the Permafrost, but she has been living there for well over 100 years, and she just felt too childish. While this is an ARC that I read, there was an exponential amount of errors that astounded me. And this book was previously published in 2016, so it should not have as many errors as it did. Hopefully, these will be resolved before the US edition is published.

The end of the book is both wholesome and offers up the potential for a third installment. Would I read the third one if it comes into existence? Sure! Would I care if I never read the third installment? That's fine too. This book was okay, though White Stag was fantastic. While I don't highly recommend the second novel in the Permafrost series, I do still highly suggest checking out the first novel, as that felt like a wonderful adventure and was extremely exciting to read.

I think it's a really interesting take on Norse mythology, and will definitely appeal to people who like Holly Black or even Sarah J. Maas. The ending came sort of abruptly and it feels like the book should have been longer.

3..5 out of 5 Stars

***ARC received from St Martins Press and NetGalley in exchange for honest review, opinions are all my own. Thank you!***

Golbin King is the follow up to White Stag and takes place approximately a year after the end of White Stag. I don’t know how many books there are in this series, whether its just a trilogy or not but it really feels like the middle book in a trilogy. In that not a lot gets resolved but sets the time to set up a bigger conflict.

Janneke is still struggling with her powers of the stag even though it has been a year since the events of the hunt. I appreciated that Janneke is not just this all powerful being at the beginning of the book she has gone through a huge change that was likely going to take her months to even years to be able to come to terms with how to use. I liked Soren in this book, we get to see him struggle both in his role as Erlking and later in the book when he has to deal with the ingrained prejudice of the goblins. Janneke and Soren have always had a bond built on survival. I really liked how their bond was explored but I wish that we had been able to witness more of Soren’s coming to terms with what was happening to him. It all happened off page and felt like a really quick resolution to that characters story line. I think having chapters from both characters views would help balance the book out, instead of just giving up Soren’s feelings from Janneke’s perspective because sometimes she can get a bit too poor me which can drag things down.

Lydian is back and I looked over my review of Goblin King and wished for more of Lydian’s character, how he began the mad monster that he was. We do get more about Lydian’s backstory and what it was that drove him mad. Its not a lot but enough to fill in the gaps about his backstory. Lydian spends a lot more of this story being lucid but it is not out to make him a forgivable character. Janneke and Soren remain angry and a bit fearful of Lydian there is no push to make them forgive him if anything he is used more as a plot device to keep things moving along. Which is not a bad thing but its clear he has a very specific purpose in the book that doesn’t allow him to roam outside of it.

I think what really carried this book for me is that we got to see more of the world outside of the permafrost. It uses Norse mythology which allows the book series to explore a lot more and not be so stuck in a single location. The first world and new character we get to meet is Hel both the location and the person. I wish we had gotten to explore more of Hel, there is a lot of dark things there that could have been explored more because there was a lot of potential that went a little flat. I did really like the trails that Janneke had to go through, because despite it all, its truly a no win situation.

Niflheim had an interesting premise that almost fully delivers but falls just a little short. I think this would have helped if we got different character views or at least from Soren’s point of view. Soren leaves the group for a few chapters and it would have allowed the book to explore Niflheim and what he is up to a little more in depth or at least to explore more of this character. He seems to be a crucial part of the prophecy that is driving the story so I want more of him.

Like the last book, this sets up a very interesting sequel that I look forward to reading.

Unfortunately, while this book was one of my 2020 highly anticipated, it fell very flat of my expectations. I don’t know whether this was because my expectations were much too high or if this dumpster fire of a year affected my mood when I was reading it.

That being established, I don’t feel my opinion about the book (which is not objective, obviously) should affect how others approach it, so I will make general comments on characters, plot, and pacing that should be objective enough for a review.

First, and most importantly, the tension and suspense that made the first book so compelling was completely absent for me here. The objective of the plot is completely different, and instead of having few characters as a focus, there are many characters that create a shallowness to the story that was a depth in White Stag.

For me, Janneke was a gem of an MC in WS, but here she’s very limited and weak as a character. Her role has completely changed, she is in an established relationship, and she now has an entire group of people with whom she interacts regularly.

The dialogue is not nearly as sophisticated as I felt it was in WS. In GK, it feels a bit more like teenagers squabbling and being sarcastic, which should have had an effect of comic relief but felt very nascent to me.

The pacing for this installment was incredibly inconsistent. It dragged on in some parts and went at breakneck speed in others. It was very difficult for me to keep my attention on the book for established periods of time without becoming distracted. I started the book and did not finish it for three weeks, which is entirely too long.

Though I would like to have been able to set the book down and DNF it, but I can’t bring myself to do that for the sake of boredom alone, especially since I specifically requested the book and it was not offered to me with no solicitation on my part. This sequel was just not for me this time, though I highly recommend WS. I feel my experience with GK is entirely due to taste, and not something universally faulty with a story at all.

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, for which I give my own opinion.

Fantastic sequel to White Stag! The land of Permafrost reminds me a lot of Middle Earth, especially this journey and band of friends/enemies. I recommend both these books to any YA fantasy reader... I hope there will be more to come!

Many thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

'Goblin King; A Permafrost Novel' by Kara Barbieri is the follow-up to 'White Stag,' a story that had intrigued me from the get-go.

Janneke is our main character. A human girl who was a thrall, one of the slaves of the previous Erlking, that has become the new Stag.. a magical, liminal creature.. meant to maintain the balance of their world. With the previous Erlking defeated, if not quite dead.. her partner Soren rules the kingdom. The two are meant to connect with each other through the mantle of the Stag, making them a natural team as well as a romantic couple.

Unfortunately, all is not well. Lydian, the previous Erlking, isn't really gone. In fact, he's lingering in Janneke's mind and driving her a little nuts. Not unusual I suppose, since he was a madman himself.

In attempting to deal with his presence, however, Janneke discovers some truly disturbing truths about his madness and the actions he paid for with his life. While she can't forgive him for the ways he chose to go about things, she begins to at least understand his intentions. Their world is in jeopardy and in his own twisted ways, he was trying to protect it.

If I'm being entirely honest, between the cover and the synopsis for both books.. the story came across as something dark and ethereal. I never got to reading the series debut, but I'm good about picking up partway into a series, adapting quickly to the story, and going from there. So, it certainly wasn't confusion that kept me from connecting with this one.

I've said it before and I have to say it again, in hindsight.. I've discovered this author is from Wattpad and if I'd known that before I decided to read the book, I wouldn't have done so at all. It's not that I have anything against Wattpad writers in general, but rather that every Wattpad author I've read has been a huge disappointment. They're consistently underdeveloped as writers and in this case at least, the shoe fits.

This story could have been fantastic. The elements are interesting, from the Stag which is pretty much just the 'Spirit of the Forest' from Princess Mononoke, if less purely benevolent.. to the Goblin patriarchy, there's a lot to work with here. The problem it runs into is lack of real writing skill. Plot points are relatively few and far between, as pages and pages pass by filled with fluff you don't need or care to read. Dialogue is bland and unimpassioned, characters are cartoonish stereotypes, and the language overall is just severely lacking.

While the basic 'structure' of a novel is there.. and I do mean the very basic.. minimum expectations, it reads like someone with 6th grade vocabulary and complexity wrote the book.. and it failed to invest me on any level. Sadly, I will be avoiding this author in the future.

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love this series . I think this book , and book one had such a unique thought process . It’s gritty and I struggled with the characters.

Book 2 starts off with the same thoughts as book one. Lydian is still in the background of our story , causing mischief , malice and pain . Even if he is just a thought ... a dream . Janneke is having dreams of lydian. Over and over . Soren , if you remember is the king of the goblins and janneke is his white stag . But by fulling these roles , killing all others to become the strongest and the fastest,. Ragnarok has come about .. This will bring about quests and journeys . Some physical and mental but well worth it .
Such a exciting read. I really like this author . I put her on my auto buy list .

Goblin King is the next book in the Permafrost series. Janneke’s is now the new stag and is still haunted by her past. I was confused how Norse mythology was now playing a role in this book as I don’t remember it being a thing in the White Stag but maybe its must me and my poor memory. It took a while to get back into the story for me and it was just ok with White Stag being way better.

I was provided with an electronic ARC through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

A huge thanks to NetGalley who originally provided an ARC of White Stag, and now Goblin King.
4 out of 5 stars. Kara Barbieri has done it again. This was a phenomenal follow up to White Stag. In this second installment, Janneke is Stag, haunted by the Erlking's uncle.

There were some key differences between White Stag and Goblin King, most notably, and regrettably, the pull back from that dark, dreamy, slightly disturbed trance-like quality that the reader had in the first book. It was still a great read, but it felt more like that harsh confusion when you wake up from an intense dream.

White Stag's world building and character development were enough to keep me coming back for more, though, and I do so anticipate more of Janneke and Soren. I may have to go back and re-read this, but I feel like I miss something with Diaval. When she entered the story, it felt like such a surprise I wondered if I had inadvertently skipped a hundred pages or so.

Despite falling below the high bar set by herself, Barbieri manages to keep the reader captivated, and I am looking forward to more installments.

"Sometimes the strongest thing we do all day is wake up and get out of bed and continue living and figuring out new ways to do the things we once did."

I am torn on my feelings towards this sequel. I was absorbed with The White Stag; the depth of emotions, the twisting paths, this unique world with themes that were needed to have. I wanted to love this as much as I did with the first.

I wonder if it is partially because the ending of The White Stag was a little too happy and tied up too many loose ends Although a new "villain" is introduced, Janneke's biggest enemy is still her past. Her relationship, and the relationships with all the goblins, felt even more forced with sarcasm coating everything even though the goblins are supposed to lack the ability. In The Goblin King, we had to create the conflict again and, although I loved the idea of Norse mythology tie-ins, it felt odd in the Permafrost. There was little to no information or storytelling with respect to the Erlking and the Stag which I was really looking forward to.

I did start enjoying the storyline again in the last ten chapters but it was painstaking to get there and made me feel more incomplete than excited for the next book in the series. I think the most shocking part of reading this installment was that I actually started to appreciate and enjoy Lydian's character so much more. And with the abusive relationship that existed in Janneke's past, I was a little upset that Barberi began to "humanize" him.

Will I pick up the third book? Absolutely. I am a completist and I still really want to enjoy this series, but I wouldn't rush for this new release unless you are prepared to be disappointed.

***I received this eARC from NetGalley & Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review.***

There's something different about this book compared to the first one. I'm having trouble with paying attention to what's going on. 30% into the book and it just feels like everyone is just talking and not much has actually happened.

Janneke survived the Hunt for the Stag, and Lydian is dead. She now has the powers of the Stag and Soren is the Erlking. With visions of a chaotic world and Lydian's ghost taunting her with riddles, she now has a better understanding of why he was the way he was. Soon she realizes that their world is dying, and Lydian was the only one able to save it.

Goblin King is the second book in the Permafrost series, following The White Stag (read my review) Beginning a year after the close of the first book, it really helps to have read that one first. We know Lydian had tortured Janneke, that she's scarred and had been abused every which way by him before he "gifted" her to Soren. The mentions of it might otherwise be confusing for readers if they don't know that. Janneke and Soren are together, the Erlking and the Stag, but she doesn't know how to access or control the Stag powers. She has a tight-knit group of friends, and to her horror, they realized she was haunted by Lydian's ghost even when she didn't tell them and even Soren doesn't notice it. His riddles have to do with Ragnarok, and that he had been trying to prevent it from starting from the very beginning, albeit in his insane and sociopathic way.

As with the first book, Norse mythology and cosmology play a large role in this novel. We learn about it slowly, because of Janneke's difficulty accessing the power given to her, but then they're all on a quest to stop Ragnarok. It's dangerous because of course, it is, but none of them are willing to stand by and wait for death to come to them. This adventure takes them out of the Permafrost in order to save all the worlds of Yggdrasil, and preserve the World Tree from impending destruction. They have to work with Lydian, which none of them are thrilled about, and Janneke has to connect with the Stag powers.

We end the book with one problem solved and another created, kind of like how the first one did. I won't spoil what did happen over the course of the book, which made me tear through chapters in anticipation. The hook for a third novel is there, and I can't wait to read it.