Excellent writing, twisty plot, and memorable characters. This book manages to escape the "Second Book Curse" easily, and I dare say it's actually better than the first book!

this is hard. i loved the first one but i felt like this was a repeat of it.Same villain same drama. I also feel like it was a cop out to give the villain such a forgivable reason for his madness.

The first installment, White Stag, was deliciously different both in characters and storytelling. I couldn't wait to get my hands on this second story in the series.

I liked the Goblin King, but I wanted so much to love it. I didn't.

First, the title was deceiving; it should have been called Janneke's Story. Her Goblin King not only had a very limited role in this book, but he was relegated to a character with almost no common sense, constantly relying on his White Stag for direction.. And Janneke (his White Stag), was... well, a poor White Stag. Couldn't activate her powers, couldn't help her friends much, or her King, constantly second guessing and doubting herself. It was kind of depressing.

And if the title was referring to the Goblin King from the first book, the one who died in the end, and who is the object of their pilgrimage in this book, then I still don't get it. He doesn't show up until over halfway thru, and he is just an annoying reminder of our intrepid hero's failings and failures. Either way, misleading title.

And, before I go on, if you have not read the first book, you will be completely and utterly lost in this one. No backstory, or 'catching up', is done until well into the story and by then I think someone who doesn't know what happened (and why) previously, will have given up trying to figure things out.

Then the writing and dialogue. Oof. The first book was snappy, fast-paced and heartbreaking, with everyone talking and acting like adults. This novel felt written by someone else; characters became wise-cracking, overly earnest, and angst driven. The story dragged on. And on. With paragraphs, then whole chapters, just Janneke reflecting on her past, on her present, on her future. Janneke having dreams that foretold her past, her present, her future. Then reflecting on those dreams.

And the action, such as it was, was a kids version of a horror/superhero movie. They battle (in no particular order); a giant dog, a giant snake, a giant bird, an evil (giant) mermaid and a giant rooster. Yes, a mean, angry giant rooster. Sigh. And none of this action takes place until well into the second half of the book.

We don't find out if Janneke gets control of her new powers. After a whole novel of 'will she?', 'can she?', there is no final answer. Except there is a set up for the third installment, as their Permafrost world is still in danger. Yes, after killing the giant rooster, all is STILL not well.

Will I read the third installment when it comes out? Yes, because the first one was so good. I will pretend this one didn't exist and hope for the best.

We fall back in love with the permafrost world as the White Stag battles with the monsters in her head and is faced with Ragnarok.

I think the one thing that prevented this book from being an epic tale was the pacing. The beginning really bogged me down with the slow advance of the story and the almost nothing that happened that was interesting. Towards the second half, we finally got to the good stuff and I was unable to put the book down.

I really liked how the Norse mythology was woven into the story. The main female character, although she struggled, she really came into herself by the end and was even stronger than before.

This story didn't grab my attention like the first one did, but by the end I was glad that I read it.

My review will go live on the Book Confessions blog on 10-27-20

***Special thanks to @netgalley and #karabarbieri for this #free copy in exchange for an honest review***

Overview:The Hunt is over but the War has just begun.
Against all odds, Janneke has survived the Hunt for the Stag--but all good things come with a cost. Lydian might be dead, but he took the Stag with him. Janneke now holds the mantle, while Soren, now her equal in every way, has become the new Erlking. Janneke's powers as the new Stag has brought along haunting visions of a world thrown into chaos and the ghost of Lydian taunts her with the riddles he spoke of when he was alive.
When Janneke discovers the truth of Lydian and his madness, she's forced to see her tormentor in a different light for the first time. The world they know is dying and Lydian may have been the only person with the key to saving it.  

Rating: 5/5 Stars
Format: ARC ebook
Genre: YA
POV: 1st person Theme: Fantasy, Magic

Review: Goblin King picks up a year after the end of White Stag. Janneke is the Stag; Soren the new Erlking. Their bond and relationship is something that hasn't been seen for many years. As Soren navigates the role as Erlking, Janneke fights with Lydian in her head. She thinks she may be going crazy until she realizes he is the key to saving the world. Janneke is put through challenges as she and her entourage work toward a common goal. The story is well written and has twists and turns throughout. Many references to Norse mythology in the creatures and events that take place. The author also doesn't brush Janneke's pain and PTSD aside in this second book. Yes, Janneke has come a long way in her healing process, but she also has a long way to go as well. Especially now that her torturer could potentially help them save the world. 

Recommendation: Yes!

This was a great sequel to the first book in the Premafrost series. White Stag was only a three star read for me but this one blew that one away!! 4 Star Solid Read that I could not put down. I loved the characters which were amazing and the continuing story. I can not believe that there are supposed to be 6 books. I am excited to see what happens next. The story in this one had great pacing and the story was wonderful.

I made the mistake of starting this before reading White Stag so I had to stop and go back and read that one first. Out of the two books, I did feel like White Stag was the stronger of the two but I enjoyed the continuation of the story and characters here. This is not the genre I normally read but I found the description (and the book) captivating. The world building in this series is impressive and if you read White Stag, you are going to want to see the conclusion. Think of Goblin King as a bridge to the finale.

Now that the hunt for the stag is resolved, Soren is the Erlking – the king of the goblins – and Janneke is his stag. But Janneke is still haunted by Lydian, Soren’s uncle who kidnapped her from the lands of the humans and tortured and abused her before giving her to Soren as a thrall. Lydian is now dead, but Janneke still hears him taunting her asking about some serpent eating his tail. Well, it finally comes out that Lydian was cursed with knowing everything that would happen, and that one of those things was that Soren and Janneke would set off Ragnarok – the end of the world. Unless they can figure out a way to stop it. From Hel, Lydian has been trying to goad them into doing just that.

Reluctantly, they set out on a quest to stop Ragnarok, taking with them only a very small number of their closest friends and allies. But the first thing they must do is journey to Hel to temporarily free Lydian to guide them.

A lot of the book seems to be them journeying over the landscape of Hel and Niflheim. They encounter dangerous situations and dangerous and gross monsters. All of them are injured in some way. But the most important parts of the journey they make are the mental and emotional parts.

I don’t recall that there was a realm called ‘the Permafrost’ in such collections of Norse Mythology as I have read. But with this book, Kara Barbieri has placed her Permafrost – the home of the goblins - firmly among the realms of the Norse Gods.

There was little in the previous book of the series, The White Stag, to indicate that we might be among the legends of the north – unless it might be the brief encounter with the giant goddess Skadi that Soren and Janneke had during their hunt for the stag. Of course, the always cold and barren lands of the Permafrost lend themselves well to the mythology of the north countries.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a review copy of this book.

I was excited to read this book since I enjoyed the first one in the series, White Stag. This one picks up the story a year after the cliffhanger ending of White Stag. I felt lost for awhile and ended up going back and rereading the last couple chapters of White Stag to remind myself what was happening. This may be a personal issue since I read so many novels, but I had a hard time remembering which character was which. At first I chalked it up to how long it's been since I read the first one (finished it in December 2018), but as I continued to read, nothing came back to me and, although I liked the characters, I still didn't recall who they were from the first book.

Still, this was a good follow up to the last story. I still enjoyed Janneke as a character, along with her friend Diaval. There was reality and tension and struggle and love in the relationship she had with Soren that felt realistic. The main conflict was tense and exciting. When Janneke discovers Lydian's motivations for her torture, she's torn. When she discovers the truth of what's coming, she and Soren have to find a way to save the world, but they can only do it with Lydian's help. Can Janneke survive bringing Lydian back? What are his real motivations for wanting to come back?

Sadly, I wasn't as into this book as I was White Stag. I always read several books at once and I found myself picking up the other ones instead of this one regularly. I was relieved to be done with this one because it just wasn't that compelling to me. I think I would have enjoyed it much more had I read it right after finishing the first one. Still, if you liked the first one, you'll probably like this one. If you are a fan of strong female protagonists or Norse mythology, give this one a try. But if you haven't read the first one, definitely start there! This is not a stand alone novel!

Disclaimer: I received a free electronic copy from the publisher through Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. Books involving mythology are growing in popularity, but relatively few are based on Norse mythology as this one is; the references are clear, but not always explained, and the author appears to be assuming a level of familiarity with Norse mythology that not everyone has. Without some knowledge of Norse mythology and the terminology specific to it, some parts of the novel will be less clear. Other than that, it was an enjoyable book - the characters are well-developed, twists are well-written without being foreseen, and the plot was engaging. I did feel that it ended perhaps just a bit too abruptly, but I still enjoyed it. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy, particularly mythology-based fantasy.

The second in a Wattpad begun series, The Goblin King starts up a little less than a year after the hunt in The White Stag. Soren is king of the goblins and Janneke has the mantle of the Stag. They're trying to figure out how to live their roles and still working out trust issues in their romantic relationship. Everyone is moving forward: Seppo has a boyfriend, Seppo's mother is pregnant, Janneke has a magic-wielding goblin bestie named Diaval, the royal court has been cleared of many sycophants and traitors, Donnar and the svartalves are paying the goblin court a visit, but Janneke is having nightmares of the end of the world and dead Lydian is a voice in her head.

Through consultation and visions, Janneke discovers what Lydian feared has happened: they have released destruction and the end of the world is coming. Our friends literally have to go to Hel on their next journey to avoid disaster. Secrets are revealed, heroes are wounded, faith becomes almost hopeless, and our couple have to find out how to become who they really are to block disaster. This book won't be the end.

This story wasn't as grindingly angry as the last. The characters have a little more individual voices, the journey is long but a little better defined at the outset, and our survivor gets a chance to share her strength with another who needs it. The final solution was a little too pat, but this is not uncommon in YA fantasy. Our wounded heroes still have things to do and there will be another story to come.

This is one of my most anticipated releases of 2020 and I am not disappointed.

Until around chapter fourteen I was thinking to myself, White Stag was definitely better. Then things just changed so suddenly. It was amazing. White Stag will forever be my favorite but damn this just took my breath away.

I really enjoyed the book Goblin King. I feel that the author did a great job with building this world and developing the characters into ones that I routed for the whole book. This was a sequel and did a nice job on building onto the story line. The book ended on what I felt was a cliffhanger, opening up the possibility for a third book.

I thank Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to give my unbiased opinion of this book

The sequel to WHITE STAG, Kara Barbieri’s GOBLIN KING is still the story of a girl who is trapped in a race against her own mind and powers she still struggles to contend with as a mortal in an immortal’s world. If Janneke is to continue surviving, she now has to prevent utter madness and Ragnorak from ensuing by resurrecting her greatest enemy and tormentor: Lydian.

There’s Norse mythology, a bit of rage-induced madness, and just enough tension to kill a herd of horses several times over. Read on to see exactly how many of Hel’s monsters Janneke has to murder before she gets to take a well-deserved nap.

With GOBLIN KING, we continue almost immediately off the tail end of the first book with Janneke failing to understand her role as the Stag and Soren, the new Erlking. Lydian’s ghost remains a memory trapped in her head, haunting her without end. Despite the hunt having ended a month prior, the Stag’s powers elude Janneke’s abilities to harness and wield them. The whole universe seems to take notice and proceeds to fill our protagonist’s head with foreboding visions of the world’s end.

Soren, now Erlking, continues to lurk around. He’s a character who acts as a foil to both Janneke and Lydian, but I couldn’t muster much sympathy for him. Lydian is a monster, but he was far more compelling than Soren, his own nephew, who I found as interesting as lukewarm milk that had been used to dunk white bread into.

Going into the book, I had a few expectations left over from the first novel that had impressed me so much in 2019. The plot and world building were aspects I eagerly looked forward to, and I was not disappointed. We dive into the Janneke’s and Soren’s journey to Hel, where they must retrieve the lost soul of Lydian to prevent Ragnarök. Along the way, Barbieri almost seems to dump piles and piles of Norse mythos and information onto the reader. For some, this can be daunting, almost repugnant to read through as it’s an almost hostile way of telling the reader something new. I know that for myself, however, I enjoy world building to an unhealthy degree and welcomed the new potential plots with hunger.

There were an almost absurd number of new monsters thrown at our merry band of travelers on their trek to Hel, but it was good, gory fun.

In all fairness, my favorite part of the novel, of which there were many, was Janneke’s suffering was sweet, sweet agony that hovered on the precipice of satisfyingly painful and painfully satisfying. Seeing her struggle to understand her powers, fail to harness the Stag’s staggering powers, and cutting through a swath of bodies in order to rescue her tormentor’s soul in exchange for preventing the end of the world was great fun to read, less so to experience. However, this isn’t to say that it was monumental character development. I’d say that the potential was there, but it was ultimately a gentle hill that plateaued towards the end.

To that end, I could easily see where the editing needed to be utilized more stringently. At multiple points in the novel, we see the same information hashed out again and again, such as when why Janneke and Soren must travel to Hel to retrieve Lydian’s soul. The bit with Rosamund and Lydian was also convoluted and handled clumsily. Is Lydian a father or not? Does Rosamund care or not? Does Janneke care? Because I didn’t, not in the slightest. And since I could not sense that Janneke cared, I, the reader, also failed to muster up sympathy.

I felt as if there were sprinkles of gold nuggets every here and there throughout the book, tender and personal moments that should have been expounded upon but were instead shoved aside for the sake of pushing forward plot points so that the third book had a foundation to stand upon.

Although I enjoyed WHITE STAG more, GOBLIN KING stood as a solid second novel in the Permafrost series. It certainly suffers from “second-book-syndrome,” but does so with grace.

3.5 stars.

I was so excited to see Goblin King on NetGalley that in premature hopes I’d get approved, I reread White Stag, and moved onto Goblin King (thank you NetGalley). As with White Stag, I enjoyed Goblin King and read it in one sitting. Janneke and Soren’s story continues on with additional characters and close friendships having been built. Lydian is not truly gone and continues to haunt Janneke and as the newly crowned Stag and Erlking, both Janneke and Soren come to realize the disaster their union will bring to the world. Embarking on a quest to save the world, their group once again needs to battle monsters, inner turmoil, disabilities, and trust, to overcome and succeed. I can’t go into details, since I try to avoid spoilers; I still prefer White Stag over Goblin King, but I really love the mythology, characters, and personality traits of Janneke - it definitely sounds like another book is in the works, and at this point, I will follow all of the authors books. #GoblinKing #NetGalley

Really loved the first book of this series The White Stag so was ecstatic when contacted about this one to review. The author combines old Nordic folklore & Deities with a new twist in a tale of a captive human by goblins in the permafrost. This ws a great second installation to the series though the end felt a bit rushed was satisfied & looking forward to the final book. Definitely recommend

I love when a sequel pulls you right back into a world and let's you fall in love all over again.

This is definitely a series I'll keep on my mind for ages to come

Although this novel was not quite as engaging as its predecessor, it had the same wit and barb if a bit more muted. The time jump between the first and second books, though not significant, did not necessarily enhance the story but seemed to open the door for confusion and some unanswered questions and situations. Even though the author tried to explain these while giving us a more exciting narrative, I would have preferred a longer novel which focused a little more in the time between rather than have it be glossed over which is how it felt at times.

Every bit as masterfully written as WHITE STAG, Kara Barbieri’s GOBLIN KING feels like more than the continuation of a fabulous tale, but the beginning of a new chapter in the lives of these amazing characters!
As Janneke discovers that reining in the power she possesses is seemingly beyond her grasp. Is there a reason she is caught in limbo? Her world is dying and her tormentor may hold the key to saving it and unlocking her powers, but isn’t he dead? Janneke must play roulette with the wheel of life, her own happiness in the balance, is she worthy of the spirit of the Stag? Must she confront Lydian and trust him to help her from beyond the veil? Will it cost her everything she holds dear?

Razor-taut, filled to the brim with a world of fantasy-come-to-life, GOBLIN KING is an action-packed tale of turmoil, trust and taking chances when it is difficult to believe in oneself.

Written with passion, Kara Barbieri has clearly poured her love of her craft, her characters and her world into another spellbinding addition to the series! Original, intense and completely engaging!

I received a complimentary ARC edition from Wednesday Books! This is my honest and voluntary review.

Wow! I really enjoyed this second book in the series! We are back in the Permafrost universe on another adventure with Soren and Janneke. Their relationship is evolving and Janneke is having difficulty accessing and learning to use her powers as the Stag. They, along with the few people that they trust, end up going on a quest to Hel. Loved the adventure and will definitely go on the ride with the next book! Happy reading!